Maria E. Beasley
 | This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (August 2020) |
Maria Beasley | |
|---|---|
| Born | Maria Kenny 1817 |
| Died | 1891 (aged 73–74) |
| Occupation(s) | entrepreneur, inventor |
| Known for | barrel-making machines and improvements to the life raft |
Maria E. Beasley (née Kenny; 1847-1904)[1] was an entrepreneur and inventor. She is best known for her barrel-making machines and her improvements to the life raft, and she held fifteen different patents in the United States and two in Great Britain.[2]
Biography
Personal life
Maria Beasley was born as Maria Kenney in 1847 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Much of her early life is unknown, including her date of birth, her family, and her early education and upbringing. In 1865 she married a man named Samuel Beasley and changed her name to Maria Beasley. During her later life she was first credited as a dressmaker and later an inventor. She filed over a dozen patents throughout her lifetime, including fifteen in the United States and two in Britain, between the late 1870s to the late 1890s. She died in 1891 at age 73 or 74.
Career
Most of Beasley’s inventions were machines and employed her engineering knowledge. Her inventions were diverse, with some of them addressing d ay-to-day pain points such as cooking needs with her patented pots and pans. Other of Beasley’s inventions included patents that ended up saving lives later on. Several of her inventions involving strides to making transportation safer and more reliable both on ground and over sea.
Beasley started her career as a dressmaker. Many speculate that she was encouraged to start her career as an engineer and innovator by the Centennial Exhibit, more specifically the Women’s Pavilion. Over the remainder of her adult career, Beasley filed patents and created numerous innovations.[1]
Career
Most of Beasley’s inventions were machines and employed her engineering knowledge. Her inventions were diverse, with some of them addressing d ay-to-day pain points such as cooking needs with her patented pots and pans. Other of Beasley’s inventions included patents that ended up saving lives later on. Several of her inventions involving strides to making transportation safer and more reliable both on ground and over sea.
Beasley started her career as a dressmaker. Many speculate that she was encouraged to start her career as an engineer and innovator by the Centennial Exhibit, more specifically the Women’s Pavilion. Over the remainder of her adult career, Beasley filed patents and created numerous innovations.[1]
Barrel-hooping machine
Beasley, an “engineering dynamo” made a fortune off of her ingenuity.[1] Her first revolutionary invention was the barrel making machine, which she patented in 1878. This invention proved to be quite lucrative for Beasley, earning her over $20,000 a year, which today would amount to over $450,000 a year. In order to complete the barrel-hooping machines, Beasley filed six patents. Her invention sped up the process of making barrels, ultimately enabling 1500 barrels to be made a day.
[1] H. Postlethwait. Maria Beasley: Engineering dynamo https://intrans.iastate.edu/news/maria-beasley-engineering-dynamo/
Life raft design
In 1882, Beasley patented a design for improvement of a life raft. Her improvements to the existing design of the lifeboat ensured that the raft would be air-tight to protect any provisions, and also ensured that lowering the boat into the water would be easy and harmless to the boat. Beyond improving the existing hardware, she added two features that were brand new to the design.[1] This design would go on to save hundreds of lives in later years. Beasley’s life raft was used on the RMS Titanic on its fateful voyage in April of 1912. Though there were not enough lifeboats on board to save the 2000-plus passengers aboard the Titanic, the 20 lifeboats that the ship did carry saved the lives of 700 people.[2]
Train designs
Another of Beasley’s inventions was the steam generator for the trains which she patented in 1886, and an anti-derailment device for trains, both of which made train travel safer.
References
Citations
[1] J. Dray. Maria Beasley, from https://activerain.com/blogsview/5146769/maria-beasleyb
[2] H. Postlethwait. Maria Beasley: Engineering dynamo https://intrans.iastate.edu/news/maria-beasley-engineering-dynamo/
[3] Maria E. Beaslet, Paten No 258191, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/3b/f5/a6/40d112b9a867d1/US258191.pdf
[4] Dray, Maria Beasley.
Sources
- Beasley, Maria E. (1882, May 16) Patent No. 258191, retrieved from https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/3b/f5/a6/40d112b9a867d1/US258191.pdf
- Dray, J. (2017, December, 10) Maria Beasley, from https://activerain.com/blogsview/5146769/maria-beasleyb
- Irby, T. (2021, March 16) Everyday items you probably didn’t know were invented by women, from https://dentonrc.com/business/everyday-items-you-probably-didn-t-know-were-invented-by-women/article_b8168a69-5f1a-59a5-a5e2-04e8f317fceb.html
- Postlethwait, H. (2018, April 24) Maria Beasley: Engineering dynamo https://intrans.iastate.edu/news/maria-beasley-engineering-dynamo/
External links
- Life raft patent
- Means for preventing derailment of railroad cars
- Barrel hooping machine patent
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]
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| National | |
- ^ Stanley 1995, p. 348.
- ^ Khan, B. Zorina (2005). The Democratization of Invention: Patents and Copyrights in American Economic Development, 1790-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780521811354.