Mothers of invention

You know that old saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Apparently, in the 1800s, a few Maine women took that adage to heart, did some clever thinking, and applied for and received patents for inventions of their own.

Henrietta C. Ingersoll of Bangor received Patent No. 35,759, dated July 1, 1862, for a broom, a domestic item one might expect a woman of that era to invent. Maybe it was her way of making a clean sweep of things.

Anna French, on the other hand, wasn't thinking about housekeeping in this life. This Bangor woman was thinking about beauty in the afterlife. Her patent, No. 169,898, received Nov. 16, 1875, was for an improvement to a method of placing floral ornaments on tombstones. Here's how it worked: A recess was hollowed into the marking stone and fitted with an apparatus where an ornate hand- beaded wreath, similar in style to a hair wreath, could be anchored. Over that was fitted a piece of glass. It isn't known whether French was successful at marketing her idea to tombstone buyers or makers, but this much is certain: She used her invention on her own tombstone in a local cemetery, where it is visible to this very day. A few of the beads in the intricate wreath are a bit bedraggled, but otherwise it's as glorious as it was the day the stone was set in place over French's grave and that of her husband.

Sarah A. Hoskins, a widow living on Center Street in Bangor, had more earthly things on her inquiring mind. She held Patent No. 244,898, July 26, 1881, for a lunchbox that could hold cutlery, cloth napkins, dishes and everything one needed for alfresco dining at a picnic. It featured a foldout panel supported by collapsible legs to serve as a table. It's easy to imagine her, accompanied by fun-loving friends, climbing into a buckboard and driving off to Riverside Park in Hampden, her lunchbox packed with good things - long before Martha Stewart appropriated the term - to spend a Sunday afternoon rusticating by the Penobscot River.

Then there's Bangor's Julia Penley, who may have been a dressmaker since she held Patents No. 337,016, March 2, 1886, and No. 410,695, Sept. 10 1889, for a dress chart. This invention, apparently, allowed a seamstress to size a pattern piece to fit just about anyone, taking the guesswork out of fitting clothing.

Blanche Willis Howard, I suspect, loved frolicking in the water. She also played the piano. The Bangor woman invented a bathing shoe, Patent No. 393,563, that buttoned around the ankle and across the instep, which both revealed and concealed - though probably not skin since stockings would have been worn as part of the bathing costume. What a sly boots she must have been to think up that invention. I wonder if it drove the boys wild. She had a serious side, too, because she also invented a music rack for pianos, Patent No. 393,562, which clamped to the top edge of an upright piano and was adjustable, perhaps to accommodate both near- and farsighted pianists. Both patents were issued Nov. 27, 1888.

But it wasn't only Bangor women who were applying their nimble minds to invention. In 1889, Lena R. Studley of Rockland patented a clothes dryer that hung from a wall peg. It opened and closed by means of a cord pulled through a J-shaped hook. She must have felt very pleased with herself when she saw a line of wet mittens or dish towels drying on her rack, which surely was hung near the wood stove in the kitchen.

Maria L.H. Smith of Wiscasset patented the "art of illustrating books" in 1880. The drawing of her invention shows a kitchen table with an open book on it, and three tiny human figures - two female, one male - as if they had just stepped out of the book pages. Perhaps they were little paper doll characters she drew to accompany a story she wrote that a child could manipulate to act out scenes.

Susanna Burns of Eastport invented an improvement to a corset, patented in 1875. It featured two wide, laced panels placed at the upper back. That placement may have meant slightly more comfort for the wearer and allowed for weight loss or gain.

Mary F.W. Blaisdell of Franklin devised a trunk that doubled as a couch in 1893. Was this her attempt to add extra seats to the wagon that conveyed a large family to visit relatives, perhaps in Hancock? Or had she spent too much time waiting uncomfortably in poorly furnished stations while waiting for a train?

Charlotte Fuller of Lincoln must have had hygiene in her thoughts when she invented a bread board featuring a storage compartment, removable front piece and a lid in 1889. The lid would keep the mice from enjoying any lingering dustings of flour when the bread board was stored away.

Such inventions are what one might expect women of that era to invent, but Ethel O. Harvey of Eastport had hardware on her mind. In 1875, she invented an improvement to a clevis, a metal fitting with holes in it and through which a pin is placed in order to attach one thing to another.

In southern Maine, women were tinkering and inventing, too. E.A.B. Judkins crafted a handloom for weaving fringe in 1839; Sarah Ulmer dreamed up an eggbeater in 1880; Sara Stanley concocted a dress pad in 1892 to protect clothing from underarm perspiration; and Helen Augusta Blanchard invented the zigzag sewing machine and held patents for 26 sewing machine improvements. All four women were from Portland.

Mary Bryant of Freeport came up with an improvement for an ironing board in 1876. It clamped to a table. Hannah Joy of South Berwick figured out an improvement to knitting holders in 1873. Emma Huot of Lewiston invented a dress skirt chart for seamstresses in 1890. And in 1891 Caroline Johnson, along with Myron Moore, invented an invalid bed that could be raised and lowered, with a backrest that could be set at different levels of incline by means of a hand- operated ratchet device.

To view drawings of these and other inventions by Maine women, visit http://www.lib.muohio.edu/epub/govlaw/FemInv/, scroll down the page and click on "Search by State," then click on the state of Maine when the U.S. map appears. Susan E. Hocker of Miami University Libraries established the Web site in 2003. For a historical overview of women inventors, read Susan Davis Herring's essay at http://www.uah.edu/womensstudies/inventor.html.

(C) 2006 Bangor Daily News Bangor, ME. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved