THINGS WOMEN INVENT PART 3

... continued from Part 2;

#11 Alice H. Parker: The Gas Heating Furnance 

 

 

Parker was an African-American inventor who in 1919, filed the first U.S. patent for the precursor to a central heating system. The system was able to regulate the temperature of a building and carry heat from room to room.

The drawings included for the patent show a heating furnace powered by gas. An entire house required several heating units, each controlled by individual hot air ducts. The ducts directed heat to different parts of a building structure.

Many people now no longer needed to chop or buy wood and coal to stay warm. There's not much more known about Parker's life, but her invention of the heating furnace has revolutionized how we live today. 

#12 Sarah E. Goode: The Foldaway Bed 

Goode was the first African-American woman to be granted a U.S. patent in 1885 for the invention of the Foldaway Bed! The bed could be tucked-up into a cabinet while it wasn’t in use. It made an attractive piece of furniture that could also be used as a roll top desk or a stationary shelf, in fact Goode was likely aware of design as she owned and ran a Chicago furniture store.

Born around 1800, bibliographies speculate that Goode was born a U.S. slave and emancipated after the Civil War. After the invention of the Foldaway Bed, her life records are sparse, but what we do know is that many versions of her original bed design are still made today. 

#13 Martha Coston: Colored Signal Flares 

 

When her husband died suddenly in 1847, Martha Coston discovered the concept for colored flares in her husband's notebooks. She spent 10 years working with scientists and military officers to figure out how to make a flare that would be long-lasting but easy to use.

On a family outing while viewing a firework display, she was inspired to incorporate pyrotechnics into the design. The results turned out to be what we today know as the red, white, and green "Pyrotechnic Night Signal" system.

The U.S. Navy bought the rights to the signals from her, but it's said that she was only paid a fraction of what was owed. Her system was also adopted by the governments of France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Haiti. 

#14 Dr. Ellen Ochoa: Optical Analysis Systems 

Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic female astronaut, and is also a research scientist for NASA. Her invention patented in 1987, can be used for quality control in the manufacturing of various intricate parts. Ochoa later patented an optical system which can be used to robotically manufacture goods or in robotic guiding systems. She's received 3 patents, the most recent one in 1990. In addition to being an inventor, Dr. Ochoa is a veteran of three space flights. 

 

#15 Dr. Maria Telkes: Home Solar Heating System 

The biophysicist who invented the first home solar heating system grew up in Hungary and moved to the U.S. in 1925. Telkes became an American citizen and joined Westinghouse Electric as a research engineer in the area of energy conversion, in this case, converting heat energy into electric energy.