Mary P. Carpenter

Mary P. Carpenter or Mary P.C. Cooper (1840 – 1900) was an American inventor from Buffalo, New York.

Mary P. Carpenter
Born1840
Buffalo
Died1900
NationalityUnited States of America

Carpenter was probably raised in a well-to-do family of Buffalo. She was educated in mechanical drawing and had a specific insight into the manufacturing process for textiles. She was probably born in the 1840s, though she was possibly a Scottish immigrant and thus no record of her birth in Buffalo has been found. She is known for 13 US patents that all have in common methods to save time among various domestic tasks. She also founded two companies, the "Carpenter Sewing Machine Needle Co." and the "Carpenter Straw Sewing Machine Co.".[1]

Patents
  • Her first patent dates from 1862 for creating an ironing or "fluting" machine, meant to simplify the creation of fluted pleats in clothing that was fashionable at the time.[2]
  • Her next patent dates from 1871 for "a useful Improvement in the Feed-motion of Sewing-Machines".[3]
  • Her next patent dates from 1872 for "sewing-machines which are especially designed for sewing straw-braid and consists mainly in the construction of the hooked needle employed for drawing the loop through the braid, and also in the mechanism for giving certain peculiar movements to said needle".[4] It is worth noting here that the first US patent filed by a woman was for a cost-improving innovation regarding making women's straw hats, by Mary Dixon Kies, who died before she could profit from her patent. Her original 1809 patent was burned in a fire in 1836, so this 1872 patent is possibly the first patent regarding improvements for straw hat making after that one.
  • She filed a patent for a coal shovel in 1885.[5]
  • She also filed a patent for a mosquito-net bed canopy in 1885.[6]
  • She was clearly still working on mosquito problems five years later when she was awarded a patent for a mosquito trap.[7]
  • She filed a patent for a strong and effective holder for stretching and supporting thin fabrics or material during the operation of embroidering its surface with a stitched pattern, or otherwise ornamenting the same in 1893.[8]
  • In 1895 she filed a patent for a device or attachment which will improve the hang of such organ-pipe or goddet skirts, causing them to hang in the desired folds and causing the material to return to the proper folds 'after being disarranged, and by which the folds will be preserved as long as the dress is worn, and which device shall render the use of hair-cloth or similar material heretofore used in such skirts unnecessary, and shall be light, inexpensive, and comfortable and convenient.[9]
  • Her last known patent was for a hair comb in 1904.[10]
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References
  1. Mary P. Carpenter in Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology, by Autumn Stanley, Rutgers University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8135-2197-1
  2. US35138 Improved ironing or fluting machine, publication date, May 6, 1862
  3. US112016 Improvement in sewing-machine feeding mechanisms, publication date, February 21, 1871
  4. US131739 Improvement in Sewing Machines, publication date, October 1, 1872
  5. US316623 Grated Shovel, publication date, April 28, 1885
  6. US364415 Netting Canopy for Beds, publication date, July 8, 1885
  7. US455403 Mosquito Trap, publication date, June 6, 1890
  8. US517860 Work Holder, publication date, May 2, 1893
  9. US549269 Attachment for Skirts, publication date, April 1, 1895
  10. US792266 Hair retaining-comb, publication date, December 29, 1904
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