Did you
ever have a good idea about making something but didn’t do anything about it? I
did and now someone else is getting rich on my idea because they went forward
on their idea. This is a slow way of getting into talking about inventing and
inventors. Women have been inventing (or making a better mouse trap if you
prefer) for thousands of years. Unfortunately, females could not get a patent.
That changed with Sybilla Masters when her husband received a patent from the
patent office in London, England on Nov. 25, 1715. Actually, the patent,
granted to Thomas Masters, for Sybilla’s invention for a device for cleaning
and curing Indian corn, mentions Sybilla. With her device, the corn pulverized
by a stamping method rather than by grinding, became more like a rice than a
corn meal.
The patent granted by King George I, is
as follows: "Letters patent to Thomas Masters, of Pennsylvania, Planter,
his Execrs., Amrs. and Assignees, of the sole Vse and Benefit of 'A new
Invention found out by Sybilla, his wife, for cleaning and curing the Indian
Corn, growing in the several Colonies of America, within England, Wales, and
Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and the Colonies of America.'" So Sybilla did
receive credit for her invention.
This
was the first patent but she didn’t stop there. The next year another patent,
under Thomas Masters’ name, was granted for a process of staining and working
palmetto leaves to make them into a fabric for decorating bonnets.
Both
patents were also registered in Pennsylvania.
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