Empowering Women Inventors in Innovation

Women have made remarkable contributions to various fields throughout history, and the world of innovation is no exception.

Despite facing numerous challenges and prejudices, women inventors have pushed through and have made remarkable contributions to science, technology, and society. From household items to cutting-edge medical advancements, their inventions have improved our daily lives in countless ways.

As we celebrate World IP Day this year on April 26, 2023 with a theme of “Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity”, it is essential to acknowledge the achievements of women inventors and encourage the next generation of women to continue making their mark in the world of innovation. It is also crucial to recognize the importance of protecting and valuing the intellectual property of all inventors, regardless of their gender, race or other such elements.

We highlight here some of the most extraordinary women inventors in history and their inventions that have had a profound impact on our world. These inventors not only created ground-breaking products but also paved the way for future generations of women to succeed.

Mary Kies, became the First Woman to receive a U.S. Patent in 1809. Kies, a Connecticut native, invented a process for weaving straw with silk or thread.

Sarah Boone, was an African American inventoUS473653r and dressmaker who revolutionized the process of ironing with her improved ironing board design. On April 26, 1892, Boone was granted a patent for her invention, with the patent number  entitled “Ironing-board”.

Mary Anderson, was a multi-talented American woman who invented the windscreen wiper. She obtained a patent for her invention in 1903 with the patent number US743801 entitled “Window-cleaning device.” Her invention was controlled by a lever and was similar to modern-day windscreen wipers. Despite early rejection, Anderson’s invention has had a significant impact on the safety and comfort of drivers worldwide.

Helen Augusta Blanchard, was an American inventor who specialized in sewing machines and sewing technology, and was granted 28 patents between 1873 and 1915.

The majority of her patents, 22 in total, were related to industrial sewing machines and included innovations such as the automation of the zigzag stitch. In addition, she also created a variety of other useful items, including a pencil sharpener, surgical needle, corset cord fastener, and improved elastic goring for shoes. Blanchard’s numerous patents reflect her diverse range of ideas and below are few of them:

US141987 – Improvement in sewing-machines

US162019 – Improvement in elastic seams for garments

US1089816 – Method of selvage-sewing

US276344 – Spool-case

US659999 – Sewing-machine needle

Marion Donovan, was an American inventor and entrepreneur who made significant contributions to the field of child care. Her invention of the disposable diaper was a game-changer in the 1950s, and it has since become an essential item for parents all over the world. She was one of the most prolific female inventors of her time having received 20 patents in total for her inventions, including a patent entitled “Diaper wrap” (US2556800). Other notable inventions are waterproof diaper cover, a disposable paper bib, and a toilet training seat.

Melitta Bentz, was a German entrepreneur and inventor who is best known for inventing the first coffee filter in 1908 with the patent number DE653796 entitled  “Filter paper insert for coffee brewing filter”.
At the time, coffee was commonly made by boiling coffee grounds in a pot, but the resulting coffee often had a gritty texture and unpleasant taste. Melitta was determined to find a way to brew a cleaner, smoother cup of coffee. She experimented with various materials, including blotting paper from her son’s school notebook, until she found that a circular piece of paper with a hole in the middle could effectively filter out coffee grounds.

Beulah Louise Henry, was an American inventor, known as “Lady Edison” for her prolific and diverse inventions. Over her career, she received over 49 patents, including a vacuum ice cream freezer, a bobbin-free sewing machine, and a doll with a sleeping eye mechanism.

Elizabeth J. Magie, was an American game designer, inventor, and writer. She is best known for creating “The Landlord’s Game,” which would later become the inspiration for the board game Monopoly. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted her patent US748626 in 1904. In 1924, Elizabeth patented a revised version of the game and received US1509312.

Florence Parpart, was an American inventor and businesswoman who held over 22 patents in her lifetime. In addition to refrigeration, she invented several other devices throughout her career, including an improved street-cleaning machine, a hair-curling iron, and a portable electric generator. Her patent number US649609 entitled “Street-cleaning machine”.

Patricia Bath, was an accomplished ophthalmologist and inventor who made significant contributions to the field of medicine. Her invention, an apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses, was a breakthrough in the treatment of cataracts, which are a leading cause of blindness. Bath’s invention was granted a patent US4744360 entitled “Apparatus for ablating and removing cataract lenses”.

Lynn Ann Conway, is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer and transgender activist. The prolific inventor, Lynn Conway has received multiple patents:

US5046022 – Teleautonomous System and Method Employing Time/Position Synchrony/Desynchrony

US5444476 – System and Method for Teleinteraction

US5652849 – Apparatus and Method for Remote Control Using a Visual Information Stream

US5719622 – Visual Control Selection of Remote Mechanisms

US5745782 – Method and System for Organizing and Presenting Audio/Visual Information

Temple Grandin, is a renowned American animal scientist, autism spokesperson, and inventor. She is best known for her ground-breaking work in animal behavior and animal welfare, particularly in the area of animal handling and slaughter. In 1998, Temple Grandin filed for a patent on her invention of an animal stunning system prior to slaughter. After a thorough examination process, Grandin’s invention was granted in US with the Patent number US5906540 in, 1999.

Marissa Ann Mayer, is an American businesswoman and investor. She is an information technology executive, and co-founder of Sunshine Contacts. Mayer formerly served as the president and chief executive officer of Yahoo, Mayer’s patent portfolio does contain 63 patents, many of which are related to technologies such as news content distribution, search engines, advertising, and user interfaces. The patent, US7096214, is indeed one of her notable patents. It pertains to a system and method for supporting editorial opinion in the ranking of search results, and it has been cited by a number of companies including Facebook, Factual Inc, AOL, OneSpot Inc, and Microsoft Corporation.

Lisa Seacat DeLuca, is an American inventor, author, TED speaker and entrepreneur. She is the most prolific female inventor in IBM history with portfolio including over 1,000 patents filed in the United States and abroad, of which, over 650 have been granted, to date. The topic of her innovations cover a wide range, including cloud computing, mobile technologies, the Internet of Things (IoT), social media, security, artificial intelligence (AI), e-commerce, blockchain, and web3.

Katalin Karikó, is a Hungarian biochemist and researcher who has made significant contributions to the field of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Her work has been instrumental in the development of mRNA-based vaccines, which have been crucial in the fight against COVID-19 and other vaccines, as well as prospective therapies for cancer and heart disease. Her patent includes

US8278036 entitled “RNA containing modified nucleosides and methods of use thereof”

EP2510099 entitled “Rna preparations comprising purified modified rna for reprogramming cells”

Mary-Dell Chilton, is a pioneering plant geneticist known for her work in genetic engineering and the use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens to introduce new genes into plants. She has been granted several patents in the field of plant genetics, including US6051757, which is titled “Regeneration of plants containing genetically engineered T-DNA”.

Sumita Basu Mitra, (born 1949) is an Indian-American inventor developed the nanomaterials used in state-of-the-art 3M dental composites, which have been used in billions of procedures around the world. Mitra holds 98 US patents and her inventions have led to a number of breakthrough dental technologies, including nanocomposites, resin-modified glass ionomers and dental adhesives. Few patents are

US6730156 – Clustered particle dental fillers

US6572693 – Aesthetic dental materials

US6387981 – Radiopaque dental materials with nano-sized particles

EP1229886 – Dental compositions containing nanozirconia fillers

Esther Sans Takeuchi, is a highly accomplished materials scientist and chemical engineer who has made significant contributions in the field of energy storage systems and power sources for biomedical devices. Her invention of the lithium/silver vanadium oxide (SVO) battery has revolutionized implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs), which are saving the lives of millions of heart patients. She has an impressive patent portfolio with 584 patents belonging to 153 unique patent families, highlighting her expertise and innovation in the field. Her most cited patent, US4964877, has received 188 citations from industry-leading companies like Medtronic, LG Chemical, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc., and NanoGram Corporation, underscoring the significant impact of her work on the healthcare industry.

Vishalini C, from India, inventor of IN366431 entitled “Automatic Multi-Functional Life Rescue Flood House” shows exceptional creativity and problem-solving skills at such a young age. Her invention can be very useful during floods to save the lives of people and pets and protect important objects.

Indu Pal Kaur, is a true inspiration for the field of pharmacy in India, being honored with the prestigious ‘National Intellectual Property Award 2021 & 2022’ for her exceptional work in patents filing, grant, and commercialization. With her innovative ideas and extensive knowledge, she has been granted five patents and has five filed/published patents in the academic year 2020-21. Few patents are

IN355216 – Solid nanolipidic particulates of vitamin D3 and retinoic acid (RA)

IN354336 – Topical tazarotene solid lipid nanoparticles

IN351437 – An ocular formulation & a method for its preparation

IN349184 – In situ forming lipidic nanoparticles

IN341360 – Autoclavable nanovesicular composition

Ramya Jose, from Kerala India 14-year-old Indian schoolgirl invents a pedal-powered washing machine for those with no electricity. The Indian patent number IN207634 entitled “A MANUAL WASHING MACHINE”

Lalitha Eswara, who is based in Bangalore, India and her expertise reflected in her eight patents. One of her favorite patent is US7609874 entitled “System and method for prediction of pitting corrosion growth” and few other patents are

US8542875 – Image processing based on visual attention and reduced search based generated regions of interest

US2007053595 – Multi-resolution signal decomposition level selection

US8475050 – System and method for obstacle detection using fusion of color space information

Amruta Misra, is an accomplished inventor who has made notable contributions to the field of power management and workload optimization. Few patents are:

US20230037609 – Power and temperature management of devices

US20230027516 – Method and apparatus to perform packet switching between services on different processors in a compute node in a server

US20220329450 – Device wake-up technologies

US20220011843 – Software entity power consumption estimation and monitoring

Kavitha Nagarajan’s contribution to the field of electronics is remarkable, having filed a total of 19 patent applications. Her latest patent application, US20220300048, is titled “Thermal management systems for electronic devices and related methods,” which is an innovative solution to address the challenges of thermal management in electronic devices. Her patent application demonstrates her expertise in the field of IC package architecture and highlights her commitment to innovation.

Vidya Ranganathan, is an accomplished cloud software architect who has made significant contributions to the field of computer science. With 28 granted patents and many more in the pipeline, her innovative ideas and problem-solving skills have earned her widespread recognition. Some of her notable patents are:

US10241838 – Domain based resource isolation in multi-core systems

US9329953 – Reducing application downtime during failover

US9189643 – Client based resource isolation with domains

US8402245 – System and computer program product for dynamically resizing file systems

US8392913 – Method and apparatus for threaded background function support

Women inventors have made significant contributions to innovation and creativity throughout history, despite facing numerous challenges and prejudices.

From Ada Lovelace’s early work on computer programming to Stephanie Kwolek’s invention of Kevlar (a fiber), women inventors have improved our daily lives in countless ways.

By empowering women to participate fully in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), we can unlock their unique perspectives and ideas to create a better world for all.

It is crucial to continue promoting gender equality in innovation and creativity to ensure that our world is more equitable and every one gets an opportunity to contribute.