Jump to content

Margaret E. Knight: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Vaselineee (talk | contribs)
132 edits
No edit summary
Vaselineee (talk | contribs)
132 edits
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Margaret E. Knight''' (February 14, 1838 – October 12, 1914) was an [[United States|American]] inventor. She has been called "the most famous 19th-century woman inventor".<ref>{{cite book|author=Petroski, Henry|year=2003|title=''Small Things Considered''|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|place=[[New York]]|page=101|isbn=1-4000-3293-8}}</ref>
'''Margaret E. Knight''' (February 14, 1838 – October 12, 1914) was an [[United States|American]] inventor. She has been called "the most famous 19th-century woman inventor".<ref>{{cite book|author=Petroski, Henry|year=2003|title=''Small Things Considered''|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|place=[[New York]]|page=101|isbn=1-4000-3293-8}}</ref>


She was born in [[York, Maine|York]], [[Maine]] to James Knight and Hannah Teal. James Knight died when Margaret was a little girl. Knight went to school until she was twelve and worked in a [[cotton mill]] between ages 12 through 1856.{{cn|date=July 2012}} In 1868, while living in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], Knight invented a machine that folded and glued paper to form the flat bottomed brown [[paper bag]]s familiar to shoppers today. She has also been credited for the idea of loot bags, which have lasted a true legacy.
She was born in [[York, Maine|York]], [[Maine]] to James Knight and Hannah Teal. James Knight died when Margaret was a little girl. Knight went to school until she was twelve and worked in a [[cotton mill]] between ages 12 through 1856.{{cn|date=July 2012}} In 1868, while living in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], Knight invented a machine that folded and glued paper to form the flat bottomed brown [[paper bag]]s familiar to shoppers today. She has also been credited for the idea of loot bags, which have lasted a true legacy. However, these loot bags are known to cause environmental issues due to the fact that they contain "baubles" which have short life spans and fill landfills with unnecessary waste.


Knight built a wooden model of the device, but needed a working iron model to apply for a patent. Charles Annan, who was in the machine shop where Knight's iron model was being built, stole her design and patented the device. Knight filed a successful [[interference proceeding|patent interference lawsuit]] and was awarded the patent in 1871.<ref> {{US Patent|116842}} ''Improvement in Paper-Bag Machines'', July 11, 1871.</ref> With a [[Massachusetts]] business man, Knight established the Eastern Paper Bag Co. and received royalties.
Knight built a wooden model of the device, but needed a working iron model to apply for a patent. Charles Annan, who was in the machine shop where Knight's iron model was being built, stole her design and patented the device. Knight filed a successful [[interference proceeding|patent interference lawsuit]] and was awarded the patent in 1871.<ref> {{US Patent|116842}} ''Improvement in Paper-Bag Machines'', July 11, 1871.</ref> With a [[Massachusetts]] business man, Knight established the Eastern Paper Bag Co. and received royalties.

Revision as of 15:42, 25 February 2014

Margaret E. Knight (February 14, 1838 – October 12, 1914) was an American inventor. She has been called "the most famous 19th-century woman inventor".[1]

She was born in York, Maine to James Knight and Hannah Teal. James Knight died when Margaret was a little girl. Knight went to school until she was twelve and worked in a cotton mill between ages 12 through 1856.[citation needed] In 1868, while living in Springfield, Massachusetts, Knight invented a machine that folded and glued paper to form the flat bottomed brown paper bags familiar to shoppers today. She has also been credited for the idea of loot bags, which have lasted a true legacy. However, these loot bags are known to cause environmental issues due to the fact that they contain "baubles" which have short life spans and fill landfills with unnecessary waste.

Knight built a wooden model of the device, but needed a working iron model to apply for a patent. Charles Annan, who was in the machine shop where Knight's iron model was being built, stole her design and patented the device. Knight filed a successful patent interference lawsuit and was awarded the patent in 1871.[2] With a Massachusetts business man, Knight established the Eastern Paper Bag Co. and received royalties.

Her many other inventions included a numbering machine, window frame and sash, patented in 1894, and several devices relating to rotary engines, patented between 1902 and 1915.[3] Knight's original box-making machine is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.. Margaret never married and died on October 12, 1914 at the age of 76.

She was awarded the Decoration of the Royal Legion of Honour by Queen Victoria in 1871.[4] A plaque recognizing her as the "first woman awarded a U.S. patent" and holder of 87 U.S. patents hangs on the Curry Cottage at 287 Hollis St in Framingham. However, Knight was not actually the first female patent-holder. The first was Hannah Wilkinson Slater, wife of industrialist Samuel Slater: she invented two-ply thread, becoming in 1793 the first American woman to be granted a patent.[5] Knight was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.[6]

Patents

  • Improvement in paper feeding machines, 1870
    Improvement in paper feeding machines, 1870
  • Improvement in paper-bag machine, 1879
    Improvement in paper-bag machine, 1879
  • Sole cutting machine, 1890
    Sole cutting machine, 1890
  • Sole cutting machine, 1893
    Sole cutting machine, 1893
  • Reel, 1894
    Reel, 1894
  • Numbering mechanism, 1894
    Numbering mechanism, 1894
  • Window frame with sash, 1894
    Window frame with sash, 1894
  • Compound rotary engine, 1902
    Compound rotary engine, 1902
  • Rotary engine, January 1902
    Rotary engine, January 1902
  • Rotary engine, February 1902
    Rotary engine, February 1902
  • Automatic tool for boring or planing concave or cylindroidal surfaces, 1903
    Automatic tool for boring or planing concave or cylindroidal surfaces, 1903
  • Internal combustion engine, 1913
    Internal combustion engine, 1913

Other media

  • McCully, Emily Arnold. Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. 32pp. ISBN 0-374-34810-3. (Children's book which was recognized as one of the "best feminist books for young readers, 2007," awarded by the Amelia Bloomer Project of the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association.)

References

  1. ^ Petroski, Henry (2003). Small Things Considered. New York: Vintage Books. p. 101. ISBN 1-4000-3293-8.
  2. ^ U.S. patent 116,842 Improvement in Paper-Bag Machines, July 11, 1871.
  3. ^ "Knight, Margaret E." Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Svs - article 9125831.
  4. ^ Challoner, Jack. 1001 Inventions That Changed The World 2009 - Flat-bottomed Paper Bag (1868), p 381.
  5. ^ "History Detectives: Women inventors". PBS.
  6. ^ "Inventor profile". National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Template:Persondatahiii

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Margaret_E._Knight&oldid=597081309"