Technikatörténeti szemle 15. (1985)

TANULMÁNYOK - Amram, M. Fred: Women’s contributions to the history of technology

several skirts could be attached in a neatly layered fashion. The full garment... was known as the .^mancipation Suit". (6) An interesting sidelight is that the financial implications of a commercially successful product became significant to the women's rights movement. Women wanted Susan Converse to lower the price of the ..Union Suit" to bring the benefits to the greatest numbers. She replied that she ..intended to use any invention for profit", and thus would not forego the 25c royalty she earned on each garment sold. Indeed, she asked, with all your zeal for women's rights, how could you even suggest that „one woman like myself should give of her head and hand labor without fair compensation"? (7) Inventions reflect the immediate environment in part because one has access to the problems. It was surprising to discover an incredibly large number of different patents for bed pans granted to women. Follow-up revealed that the inventors were hospital nurses or other women responsible for the care of bed ridden patients. Similarly, Eliza Wood's 1891 patent for a „Mop Pail and Wringer" which is still in use today, comes from intimate familiarity with a problem. Inventions reflect one's environment not only because one has access to problems but also because one develops expertise in prior technology and existing use of appropriate materials. Hence one finds a relatively large number of patents granted to women in agricultural states like Minnesota for sophisticated farm machinery and tools. Examples are Anna Trexler's 1888 patent for a ..Combined Plow And Harrow" and Lucy Easton's 1890 patent for a ..Flaxseed Separating Machine". Another issue to consider in explaining technological development and the difficulty of accurately assigning credit is that inventors need access to the marketplace to make innovations successful. Without such access the true inventor of a technological change may never be known as is the case with Ellen Eglin, a black ..charwomen", described in The Woman Inventor (April, 1890). She sold the invention to an agent for the sum of $18.00 in 1888. The wringer is a great financial success to the present owner. When asked by the writer why she sold the invention so cheap after giving months of study to it, she seplied, „You know I am black and if it was known that a Negro woman patented the invention, white ladies would not buy the ringer; I was afraid to be known because of my color ..." (8) It is noteworthy that our records show a diversity of inventions by black women, some with substantial commercial success. Yet the obstacles to market access are often much greater than for other patentees.