Not so long ago, women were considered to be good for managing household duties. However, Mary Dixon Kies in 1809 changed the way they were portrayed in a progressive male dominated society. She became the first woman in the US to receive a patent for inventing a process that weaved straw with silk and thread. This invention boosted the nation's hat industry, during an era when hats were in vogue. By 1840, about 20 women inventors followed suit, and earned patents for their inventions related to tools, cooking stoves, fire places, and apparel. However, women soon mastered other complicated fields, and came up with some useful contributions. Great Inventions by Women Women like Sally Fox had an intelligent mind to come up with something innovative. She designed the process to produce naturally colored cotton, which not only helped her build a USD 10 million dollar business, but was also found to be environment friendly. Margaret Knight thought of a device that could automatically stop a machine if a mill worker got caught in it. She conceived this idea when she was only 12 years old, and went on to invent a machine that helped to make the flat-bottom paper bags that are used even today.

Invention by Women	Women Inventors	Year
Circular Saw	Tabitha Babbit	1812
Submarine lamp and telescope	Sarah Mather	1845
Cooking Stove	Elizabeth Hawk	1867
Paper-bag-making machine	Margaret Knight	1871
Night Signals' or flares that helped ships communicate messages at night.	Martha J. Coston	1871
Dishwasher	Josephine Cochran	1872
Globes	Ellen Fitz	1875
Locomotive Chimney	Mary Walton	1879
Alphabet blocks	Adeline D. T. Whitney	1882
Life Raft	Maria Beaseley	1882
Folding cabinet bed	Sarah E. Goode	1885
Fire Escape	Anna Connelly	1887
Rolling pin	Catherine Deiner	1891
Ironing board	Sarah Boone	1892
Car Heater	Margaret Wilcox	1893
Medical syringe	Letitia Geer	1899
Street-cleaning machine	Florence Parpart	1900
Dandruff shampoo	Josie Wanous Stuart	1903
Windshield Wiper	Mary Anderson	1903
Rotary engine	Margaret Knight	1904
Refrigerator	Florence Parpart	1914
Engine muffler	El Dorado Jones	1917
Electric Hot Water Heater	Ida Forbes	1917
Microelectrode	Ida Henrietta Hyde	1930
Chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies	Ruth Graves Wakefield	1930
Micro-thin barium stearate film invention that can make glass completely non-reflective and "invisible".	Kathering J. Blodgett	1938
Girdle made of latex for women	Ruth Kapinas	1938
Disposable Diaper	Marion Donovan	1946
Liquid Paper®, quick drying liquid to correct printed material	Bessie Nesmith	1951
Apgar tests, which evaluate a baby's health upon birth	Virginia Apgar	1952
6-marcaptopurine	Gertrude Belle Elion	1953
Scotchgard™ fabric protector	Patsy O. Sherman	1956
Barbie doll	Ruth Handler	1959
Satellite-propulsion system that satellites stay in orbit for longer periods	Yvonne Brill	1960
Direct and Return Mailing Envelope	Beulah Henry	1962
Snugli® baby carrier	Ann Moore	1965
Kevlar, a steel-like fiber used in radial tires, crash helmets, and bulletproof vests	Stephanie Kwolek	1966
Pansy-ette Bath Aid that is sponge bathing pillow which is used to help support a baby in the tub	Pansy Ellen Essman	1969
Cytanovich Reading System for dyslexics, and children with learning disabilites	Kay Cytanovich	1977
Apnea Detection Device, an alarm that helps detect when an infant stops breathing	Mary Horn	1984
Drinking Fountain Device	Laurene O'Donnell	1985
Blissymbol Printer	Rachel Zimmerman	mid-1980s
Battery Container	Nancy Perkins	1986
Wristies	K.K. Gregory	1997
Geobond	Patricia Billings	1997
Disposable Cell Phone	Randi Altschul	1999

Dr. Giuliana Tesoro is known to have obtained over 125 patents. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Yale University. She came up with a process that prevented static accumulation of synthetic fibers, flame resistant fiber designs, etc. Dr. Mary Grace Hooper was a B.A in mathematics and physics. She designed the famous computer language - COBOL. Dr. Temple Grandin got a Ph.D. in animal science, and designed livestock handling facilities. She also invented the objective scoring system that helped in assessment of handling of pigs and cattle at meat plants. Babara Askins won the National Inventor of the Year Award by the IPO Education Foundation in 1974. She is known to have invented a new film developing method.