Technikatörténeti szemle 15. (1985)

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

Part of the problem of assigning credit for technological change is the difficulty of differentiating between the individuals who 1) conceptualize the innovation, 2) apply the concept to a working model, and 3) receive the patent. For example, the Wright brothers are credited with building and flying the first airplane even though we know that they studied the description and diagrams of a much earlier design by Leonardo Da Vinci. More to our point here is that although Thomas Jefferson granted a patent for a cotton gin to Eli Whitney, we know for certain that the problem was posed to Mr. Whitney by Catherine Greene who also conceived the basic idea. While there is controversy about the amount of help Mr. Whitney received from Mrs. Greene in building the model, we do know that Mrs. Greene conceived the problem and that Mr. Whitney built the model. To whom should the history books assign credit, and in what proportion? In the United States it is generally conceded that modern harvesting machinery is based on a patent assigned to Cyrus McCormick in 1834. And yet three years earlier a patent was assigned to William Manning for a „Mowing Machine", also described as an ,.improvement in grass and grain cutting machines", which was certainly a predecessor to the, now famous, McCormick reaper. It is generally conceded that the Manning Mowing Machine was actually invented by William's wife Ann Harned Manning. Should modern American farmers be cheering Mr. McCormick of Mrs. Manning? The Manning/McCormick controversy leads us to another problem in assigning credit for innovations. While several inventors may contribute ideas to a major technological innovation, those who make the concepts commercially succsesful generally receive the largest portion of credit. While the antenna devised by Popov certainly was crucial to the success of the wireless radio, Marconi receives the bulk of the credit because aside from his genuine scientific contribution, he also made the concept of the radio signal a commercial success. While many flares have been patented, Martha Coston succeeded in making her version of an improvement in pyrotechnic night signals" profitable and, indeed, it was in use until quite recently (almost 100 years after its invention). During the Civil War the U.S. Government had bought the American rights to her patent for $20,000 and then contracted with her to produce the flares needed by the Navy. Not content just with the American market, Mrs. Coston had procured several European patents, and her signals had been adopted by at least five foreign governments. (3) In 1763 Polzunov formulated the concept of the steam engine. He constructed one in 1765 but was unable to maintain the boiler. By 1784 James Watt was ready to apply Polzunov's ideas as well some new technology. He achieved a commercial success and now most of the western world gives Watt credit for inventing the steam engine. Similarly neither Ann nor William Manning have been given public credit for inventing a reaper because McCormick became a commercial success. A diversity of sad irons have been patented (incremental technology), mostly by men. One, invented by Mary Potts, was clearly the greatest commercial success. This double pointed iron was said to retain heat better than other irons.