Four more great female inventors from the Civil War era
Margaret E. Knight born in York, Maine (1838), “Maggie” was most famous for a machine she built when she was 30 which folded and glued paper to create a flat-bottomed paper bag, yes just like those we use today. She took the man, who stole her idea and patented it, to court and won. His claim in court that a woman "could not possibly understand the mechanical complexities" was rejected. She invented well over a hundred machines but her paper bag will always be with us.
Josephine Cochrane born Ashtabula County, Ohio (1839) came up with the idea of a mechanical dishwasher that would hold dishes securely in a rack while the pressure of a water spray cleaned them. Her company became part of KitchenAid after she died and she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF).
Maria E. Beasley born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1847) is best known for her barrel-making machines and her improvements to the life raft, creating one that was "fire-proof, compact, safe and readily launched". When the Titanic sank she had on board twenty of Beasley's life rafts, which enabled over 700 men, women, and children to survive until rescue arrived.
Martha Jane Coston born in Baltimore, Maryland (1826) was an inventor and businesswoman best known for her invention of the Coston flare, a device for signaling at sea. Coston flares were used extensively by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War; they proved particularly effective in the discovery and capture of Confederate blockade runners during the Union blockade of southern ports. Coston flares also played an important role in coordinating naval operations during the battle of Fort Fisher in North Carolina in January 1865. Like Cochrane she was inducted into the NHIF.