1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So today we are 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: going to talk about a person who has been on 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: my radar for a while. She kicked up to the 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: top recently because she has shown up on a lot 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: of posts and reels about women the inventors for Women's 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: History Month, and particularly one of them. There was a 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: very well intentioned person making this reel, trying to call 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: out that we don't acknowledge all the contributions of women, 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: but they used the same image for her that is 12 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: misused almost ever reware and places that you would think 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: would know, we would know. Yeah, it cannot be her 14 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: because of timing. The woman in that picture is wearing 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: clothes that would not have existed until decades after Mark 16 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: Knight's death. We could talk a little bit more about 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: this on Friday. I really wanted to talk about her, 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: and it was a good reminder that we haven't. Because 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: Margaret E. Knight was a pretty ingenious lady. She started 20 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: tinkering with things when she was still really just a 21 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: little kid, and the first invention that really improved the 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: lives of those around her that she came up with 23 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,279 Speaker 1: happened when she was the ripe old age of twelve 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: years old, in what to me sounds kind of like 25 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: a heartbreaking situation that inspired her. But she is primarily 26 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: known today for one admittedly important invention, but she created 27 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: a lot more things than that for her entire life. 28 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: So I just thought she was due for her moment, 29 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: so we're going to talk about her today. Margaret Eloise 30 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: Knight was born February fourteenth, eighteen thirty eight, in York, Maine. 31 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: Her parents were James and Hannah Teal Knight, and she 32 00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: had two older brothers named Charlie and Jim. Margaret by Mattie, 33 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: and she showed a lot of ingenuity from a very 34 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: young age. She wasn't particularly interested in playing with things 35 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: like dolls, but she was interested in toys and made 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: them for her brothers. She also made them kites and sleds, 37 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: and apparently hers were very good. According to historian Henry 38 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: Petrotski in an article for American Scholar in two thousand 39 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: and three, a lot of other kids were envious of 40 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: her creations. Yeah, he got that information from a quote 41 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: by her which we'll have later. And when Margaret was 42 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: still very very young, her father James died and this 43 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: left the family with some pretty serious financial difficulties. So 44 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: her mother moved the family to Manchester, New Hampshire, where 45 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: there was a lot of millwork to be had, and 46 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: initially Hannah and Mattie's two older brothers went to work 47 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: to keep the family afloat, and then Mattie started working 48 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: full time in a cotton mill when she was just 49 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: twelve years old. So a quick textile brief. If you 50 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: look at a cut of wove fabric off of a bolt, 51 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: you'll see that the sides of the fabric are finished, 52 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: there's not a raw edge, and that's because on a 53 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: loom there are threads that run vertically, which are called 54 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: the warp, and then threads that run horizontally called the weft. 55 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: The weft threads are woven in and out of the 56 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: warp threads, and those warp threads are held tight on 57 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: the loom, so that woven thread rounds the last thread 58 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: and then makes a return trip back across the loom 59 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: in the opposite direction. That's how you have edges that 60 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: are already finished off and it's why there's no threads 61 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: hanging off the edge of the fabric. In the late 62 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds, the power loom was developed, 63 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: and they still had to be worked by a machinist, 64 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: but that person was throwing a lever to make each 65 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: pass of the weft thread back and forth instead of 66 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: manually passing it back and forth using a needle or 67 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: some other tool. So, again, this is about woven fabric. 68 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: Knits are a bit different, and there are still people 69 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: who weave by hand. Obviously, we were talking about industrial weaving, 70 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: and mill looms were dangerous because those shuttles which carried 71 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: the weft threads that ran across the loom back and 72 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: forth had steel tips, and if there was even a 73 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: small error in handling them, or if the thread they 74 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: were carrying broke, those heavy shuttles with a steel tip 75 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: could shoot out of the machine and hit workers like 76 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: a projectile. And apparently Mattie saw this happen at least once, 77 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: where one of the other workers on the line with 78 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: her was very seriously injured. The specifics of that injury 79 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: don't really ever come up. I read one that suggested 80 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: that somebody lost their eye, or that it was even 81 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: worse than that. But I feel like we don't have 82 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: any evidence as to the actual thing that happened. She 83 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: probably saw something like this happen more than once, though 84 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,799 Speaker 1: it may not have always been that critical in its injury. 85 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,040 Speaker 1: But she immediately saw the problem that was going on 86 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: with these shuttles, so at the age of twelve, she 87 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,559 Speaker 1: started working on a way to prevent such accidents. Soon, 88 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: just within a few weeks, she'd come up with a 89 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: restraining device for the shuttles, and it did exactly what 90 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: it was supposed to do. It kept the shuttle from 91 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: popping off of the loom in an unpredictable and fast trajectory. 92 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: And of course, this was a valuable advancement for cotton mills, 93 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: and Maddie's invention was quickly implemented, Its use started to spread, 94 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: and soon it was being used in mills all over Manchester. 95 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: In an ideal world, this would have led to Maddie 96 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: being compensated for what she'd invented. She had absolutely cut 97 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: a lot of costs and saved workers from injury, but 98 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: she was twelve, not from a wealthy or business savvy family. 99 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: She did not know she had an invention that she 100 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: could have patented. She kept working in the mill with 101 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: improved safety, but no financial gain from her invention. Yeah, 102 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: I mean the upside because it was never patented, it 103 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: got to be implemented in a lot of other places 104 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: very quickly without having to go through patent licensing. So 105 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: she probably saved a lot of lives as a consequence, 106 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: or at least a lot of people from injury. But 107 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: she should have been compensated. Unfortunately, though, because there was 108 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,359 Speaker 1: no patent filed for Knight's invention, we actually today don't 109 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: exactly know how it worked. Historians kind of debate over 110 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: what it was. The two most obvious possibilities are that 111 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: it was either one some sort of physical apparatus that 112 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: actually blocked the shuttle so it could not pop out 113 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,359 Speaker 1: of the loom, or to a mechanism that caused the 114 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: power loom to shut down or just stop if there 115 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: was a thread error. A New York Times write up 116 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: about Night from nineteen thirteen referred to this invention as 117 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: a quote covered shuttle, and that suggests either the first 118 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: of those two possibilities, or even possibly a third completely 119 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 1: different design that may have just rendered the shuttle mechanism 120 00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: less dangerous if it were to leave the loom like 121 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: it may have had something that covered that steel tip 122 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: and made it a little bit softer and less dangerous. 123 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: When she was in her late teens, Maddie left the mill. 124 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: That may have been because of an issue with her 125 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: health that kept her from continuing to work in the mill. 126 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: She took a lot of odd jobs and other temporary 127 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: work for a while. Later, she credited this with giving 128 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: her a deeper understanding of how a lot of different 129 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: mechanical things worked. She spent time working in engraving shops 130 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: with photography equipment, and upholstery. For a while, she even 131 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: worked in a business that specialized in home repairs. Yeah, 132 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: I feel like even though she had very little formal education, 133 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: she got so much practical knowledge, and she absorbed so 134 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,400 Speaker 1: much from everything she did that it kind of makes 135 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: sense that she was quite ingenious and able to apply 136 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: that information. Following the US Civil War in eighteen sixty seven, 137 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: Mattie moved away from the family and she found work 138 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the Columbia Paper Bag Company. A 139 00:07:57,960 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: year into her work there, at the age of thirty, 140 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: she started on a new project. Just as she had 141 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: innovated the shuttle restraint for looms, Mattie once again came 142 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: up with a way to improve the work done on 143 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: the factory floor. This wasn't so much about safety, but 144 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: she spent a while tinkering with the way paper bags 145 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: were made. So any paper bag starts with a flat 146 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: sheet of paper, and it's then folded and usually glued 147 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: to hold its shape, and in the eighteen sixties this 148 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: created a paper bag that was flat with one end 149 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: folded and sealed, so it looked very much like a 150 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: big Manilla envelope. These kinds of bags flat bags still 151 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:36,599 Speaker 1: exist today. Of course, you see them in places like 152 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: card shops all the time, but they were not and 153 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: are not ideal for every situation. They weren't even the 154 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: only kind of paper bag. People knew how to fold 155 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: bags that had flat bottoms, but no one had figured 156 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: out a way for a machine to make a flat 157 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,359 Speaker 1: bottomed bag. They all had to be done by hand. 158 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: So obviously, anyone who's ever had takeout, or if you've 159 00:08:57,120 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: carried groceries or any other purchase, knows how much of 160 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: a game changer this would have been. Think of every 161 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: time you get a flat bottom shopping bag. And if 162 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: someone had handed you a bag that was flat across 163 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: and didn't have that stable bottom on it, how much 164 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: more of a pain in the neck it would be 165 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,720 Speaker 1: to carry things. Margaret, though, thought more of the bag 166 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: folding process could be automated, so she started working on 167 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: a machine that would pull in the paper, cut it 168 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: to the shape that was needed, and folded. The pneumatic 169 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: paper feeding part of this invention was patented in eighteen 170 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:34,440 Speaker 1: seventy as an improvement in paper feeding machines that on 171 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: its own was impressive. But Night continued her work on 172 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: paper feeders and automated bag folding, and in a move 173 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: that would cement her place among important inventors, she also 174 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: changed the shape of the bag that a machine could make, 175 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: so she created a machine that could produce a bag 176 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: with a flat, square bottom. So the function of this 177 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: machine was described by Petroski in that article that we 178 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, and it was described as follows quote. Knight's 179 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: machine worked by pulling from a roll of paper stock 180 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: a sheet that it immediately started to form into a tube. 181 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 1: Paste was applied where one side of the paper overlapped 182 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:13,559 Speaker 1: the other, thus completing the tube. Knight's machine performed its 183 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: greatest magic by shaping the end of the tube into 184 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: a flat bottom by means of a series of three folds, 185 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: and the drawings that delineate the three step mechanical folding 186 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: process look like instructions for industrial or agami. The first 187 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: fold formed the end of the tube into a slit diamond, 188 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: the second creased one tip of the diamond over to 189 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: make a pentagon, and the third creased the other tip 190 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: over to form an elongated hexagon. With the proper pasting 191 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: taking place simultaneously with the folding, the closed bottom was 192 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: formed quickly. The bag was completed by being severed from 193 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: the continuously forming tube, at which point the cycle was repeated. Also, 194 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: just as a side note in case you're trying to 195 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,719 Speaker 1: make this picture in your head, this bag did not 196 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,320 Speaker 1: have the fold in sides that we would associate with 197 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: like a paper grocery bag today that let you easily 198 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: flatten a bag for storage. That particular change to bags 199 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,719 Speaker 1: was invented in eighteen seventy two and is attributed to 200 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: a man named Luther Crowell. Coming up, we will talk 201 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: about how a jerk tried to steal Margaret's invention. Before 202 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: we do, though, we will hear from some of the 203 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: sponsors that keep Stuffy Miss in history Glass going. This 204 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: whole process of developing this machine that could fold a 205 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: flat bottom bag had taken a long time. At one point, 206 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: Margaret has said to have spent so much of her 207 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: time watching the machines at the Columbia paper bag company 208 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,520 Speaker 1: where she worked that her boss got irritated and thought 209 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: she was wasting time. But she told him what she 210 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: was doing and what she was working on, and surprisingly 211 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: and delightfully he supported it. Mattie was really methodical about 212 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: how she wanted to move forward with this new invention. 213 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: She had created a prototype machine out of wood, and 214 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: once she was confident that all of the mechanisms that 215 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: she had designed worked consistently, she reached out to a 216 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: machinist to make an iron version that would actually be 217 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: valuable in a factory setting. She wanted to make sure 218 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,559 Speaker 1: that when she applied for her patent, she had a 219 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 1: sturdy and functional version of this bag holder to really 220 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: ensure that her patent request would be approved. So at 221 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: this point, Knight had achieved a level of savvy regarding 222 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: her inventions and their value, but she hadn't really considered 223 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: that once she shared this design, somebody else might try 224 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 1: to claim it as their own, and that's exactly what happened. 225 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: While her design was being produced by a Boston metalworker, 226 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: a man named Charles f Annon saw it, and he 227 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: quickly submitted a patent application for it in his own name. 228 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: To be clear, this was not the machinist she had 229 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: hired to do this work. According to one version of 230 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,719 Speaker 1: the story, it was another one of his clients who 231 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: happen to spot it while visiting the shop. Annon is 232 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: said to have returned to the shop several times after 233 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: initially seeing Knight's bag machines, so that he could surreptitiously 234 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: get more information about it. There's also a version of 235 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: the story that says that Annon was also a machinist 236 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: who worked with the one that Margaret hired. It's really 237 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: not clear whether which of these two things is true, 238 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: if either of them. Whatever it was, though, he stole 239 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: her work and Mattie discovered Annon's theft of her idea 240 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,960 Speaker 1: when she tried to submit her own patent application and 241 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: she was informed that the device she was filing a 242 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: patent for was already under application by Charles Annon. She 243 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: knew that he had used her designs and so she 244 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: sued him. This was not a small move on her part. 245 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: She is said to have paid a great deal of 246 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: money in legal costs by the time everything was over. 247 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: That amount is reported differently. In some it's listed as 248 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:56,320 Speaker 1: one hundred dollars, in some it's one hundred dollars a day. 249 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: And this hearing took sixteen days, that would have been 250 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,240 Speaker 1: sixteen hundred dollars, which was a lot of money at 251 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 1: the time. But regardless however much she spent, it was 252 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: worth it because when it came time for the hearing, 253 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: Maddie showed up ready to describe every single piece of 254 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:13,960 Speaker 1: the machinery in question in detail. She had a raft 255 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: of physical evidence to support her claim, including her sketches 256 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: and her notes on the invention, information about her prototype, 257 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: as well as entries in her diaries about her work. 258 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: She also had her boss and landlady come in as 259 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: witnesses to corroborate that, yes, she worked with machinery all 260 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: the time and knew what she was doing and had 261 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: been working on this very project. On the other hand, 262 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: Annan showed up with nothing but the claim that a 263 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: woman simply could not understand machinery like his alleged invention. 264 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: But it was so evident to the courts that Margaret 265 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: knew exactly what she was talking about, and she won 266 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: the case, so she was able to go ahead with 267 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: her patent application and Annon's was withdrawn. The writing of 268 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: knights patent is very smart. It makes it clear that 269 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: this is just one way that the mechan is works, 270 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: and that she's patenting not the machine exactly, but the 271 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: mode of operation. This meant somebody else could not change 272 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: one little part of it and claim that as an improvement. 273 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: Her application concludes with quote, I wish to have it 274 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: understood that, believing myself to be the first to invent 275 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: a device to hold or push back a point or 276 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: portion of one edge of the paper tube while the 277 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: blade or tucking knife forms the first fold represented in Fig. Ten, 278 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: which is the basis of the flat bottom bag, I 279 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: do not confine myself to any particular form, position, or 280 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: mode of attaching the device referred to which I have 281 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: designated a guide finger, nor limit myself to making it 282 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: fixed or movable, as long as it performs the function 283 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: for which I have devised and used it. I have 284 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: made it in various forms and fixed as well as 285 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: movable and having a rear word projection like a heel. 286 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: The guide finger here and before described I believe to 287 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: be the best form, but other forms will end her 288 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: with the necessary modifications of the accompanying mechanism without altering 289 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: the principle of operation by which the fold represented in 290 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: figure ten four. I love that she was smart enough 291 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: to do that, like don't be coming along with your 292 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: with your eye moved the folding arm, and like claim 293 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: you changed my machine. The patent for her bag machine, 294 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: which was all it was called, was granted on July eleventh, 295 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one, and once Night had her patent in hand, 296 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: she needed capital if she was going to get a 297 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: manufacturing process for the invention up and running. She found 298 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: a business partner in Newton, Massachusetts who could finance her efforts, 299 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: and she co founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company. As 300 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: part of the founding of the new company, which was 301 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: based in Hartford, Connecticut, Maddie got an initial payout of 302 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: twenty five hundred dollars. She also got stock in the company, 303 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,600 Speaker 1: and she collected royalties on sales, which were capped at 304 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand dollars. So this was lucrative at the time, 305 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: and it probably like an awful lot of money to Margaret, 306 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,040 Speaker 1: but it was a little bit shortsighted because once again 307 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: Night had perhaps not considered all of the variables in 308 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 1: the situation, and in this case, she didn't build in 309 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: ongoing income for herself from the company long term. She 310 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,679 Speaker 1: knew that she didn't want to run a factory. She 311 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: had no interest in being a manager, so she wasn't 312 00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: collecting any kind of salary, and those royalties, like we said, 313 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: were capped. It took a while for things to get 314 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: up and running. Of course. On October seventeenth, eighteen seventy three, 315 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: the Boston Evening Transcript ran a single sentence update that 316 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 1: signaled that things were about to get up and running 317 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: on that bag production front. It read, quote, the Aims 318 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: Manufacturing Company have just finished the paper bag machine, the 319 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: invention of Miss Margaret E. Knight of Ingleside. Yeah, so 320 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: that was presumably the company that was actually making all 321 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: of these multiple production machines at scale so that an 322 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: actual factory could begin. And once this was all up 323 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: and running, that new machine was a marvel for paper 324 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: bag companies, it meant that they had a much faster 325 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,879 Speaker 1: way to produce stock than having employees handfold flat bottom bags, 326 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:12,440 Speaker 1: so they had a vastly enlarged revenue stream. For grocers 327 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: and shops, and easier means of carrying purchases home meant 328 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: that shoppers were willing to buy more things, and for 329 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: department stores, it meant that clerks didn't need to wrap 330 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: goods for customers and tie them with twine. I read 331 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: one thing that said that Macy's was very quick to 332 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: adopt this because they were like time savor. The global 333 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 1: impact of Margaret Knight's invention was so great that she 334 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: was given a decoration of the Royal Legion of Honor 335 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,199 Speaker 1: by Queen Victoria. Margaret was interviewed about her work for 336 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: Women's Journal in eighteen seventy two. That article opened by 337 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,879 Speaker 1: explaining that initially, as the machines are being manufactured quote, 338 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: the workmen employed were at first skeptical, but she cured 339 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: them of this by going daily and working among them, 340 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,120 Speaker 1: detecting mistakes and improving plans with a keener eye than 341 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: any man in the works. And when questioned about her 342 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: desire to work with machinery, from a young age. Margaret said, quote, 343 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: it is only following out nature. As a child, I 344 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: never cared for things that girls usually do. Dolls never 345 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: possessed any charms for me. I couldn't see the sense 346 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: of coddling bits of porcelain with senseless faces. The only 347 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,400 Speaker 1: things I wanted were a jackknife, a gimlet, and pieces 348 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: of wood. I sighed sometimes because I was not like 349 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: the other girls, but wisely concluded that I could not 350 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,359 Speaker 1: help it, and sought further consolation from my tools. I 351 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,200 Speaker 1: would always make things for my brothers. Did they want 352 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,160 Speaker 1: anything in the line of playthings, they always said, Mattie 353 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: will make them for us. I'm not surprised at what 354 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 1: I've done. I'm only sorry I couldn't have had as 355 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 1: good a chance as a boy and have been put 356 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: to my trade regularly. That write up concludes by saying 357 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: about Mattie quote, she can no more help making machinery 358 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,199 Speaker 1: than Anna Dickinson can help making speeches. Following the launch 359 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 1: of the Eastern paper Bag Company, Knight decided she was 360 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,679 Speaker 1: going to be an inventor full time. She kept an 361 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: office in Boston and lived outside the city, first in Ashland, Massachusetts, 362 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 1: which is about twenty eight miles west of Boston. Been 363 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: in Framingham, which is a little bit closer to Boston proper, 364 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: at about twenty two miles west of the city. Margaret 365 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: did not abandon the paper bag making business. She continued 366 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: to work on improvements to the machine's process. In eighteen 367 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,120 Speaker 1: seventy nine, she was granted patent number twenty two nine 368 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:31,159 Speaker 1: to two five for an updated version of her bag machine. 369 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: This update made changes to the folding blade and the 370 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: feeding blade to make the machine more reliable and even faster, 371 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: and the model that was submitted with that patent request 372 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:42,719 Speaker 1: is now part of the collection of the National Museum 373 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: of American History. Coming up, we will talk about some 374 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,919 Speaker 1: of Maddie's other inventions, but first we will pause for 375 00:20:49,000 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. There's a bag folder is Margaret Knight's 376 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,840 Speaker 1: most talked about invention. It's just one of many she 377 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: ventured into a lot of new areas. In eighteen eighty three, 378 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: she was granted a patent for a skirt protector. This 379 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: was essentially a raincoat to go over the large, bustled 380 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,239 Speaker 1: and draped skirts of the day. It kind of like 381 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: was a raincoat that went from the waist down, and 382 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,360 Speaker 1: the intention was to keep fine fabrics from being damaged 383 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,479 Speaker 1: by inclement weather. Knight described her invention to me somewhat 384 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,360 Speaker 1: quaintly as quote a shield which is capable of being 385 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: expanded to nearly a flat position for the reception of 386 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: the skirts, and then of being closed and held upon 387 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: the latter while being worn. In eighteen eighty four, she 388 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: was granted a patent for a new type of clasp. 389 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: The invention was, in the words of Knight's patent application, 390 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: quote an improved device for clasping one or more thicknesses 391 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: of robes or textile fabric for the purpose of holding 392 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: the same in any required position, either as a detached 393 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: clasp for uniting the otherwise the edges of said robe 394 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: or sheet of fabric, or as a means of attachment 395 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: from the end of a flexible connection to a fixed point, 396 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: or from said connection provided with means for securing its 397 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: other end. The illustration for this clasp and the document 398 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 1: is sort of fabulous that shows the clasp being used 399 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 1: to secure a blanket over the lap of a man 400 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: driving a carriage, and the clasp itself is really interesting. 401 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: It uses two circular spring loaded ends of a tethered mechanism, 402 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: and then they nestle inside one another. Once the fabric 403 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: is situated on top of one circular loop of the clasp, 404 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: the other one can be reduced in size enough to 405 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: fit over the fabric and then inside of the other 406 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: circular loop. Once the spring is released, the nestled loop 407 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 1: opens up wide enough that it can't pass back through 408 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 1: the other one. So think of this sort of as 409 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 1: like an embroidery hoop, if the smaller hoop was intended 410 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: to pass entirely through the larger one and then expand 411 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: out to the same size, so catching the fabric in 412 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 1: between them. I really really love this illustration because not 413 00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 1: only does it show the man driving his carriage with 414 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: his blanket clasped on either side with this, but like 415 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: it even has like the horse hoofs drawn in with 416 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 1: like clouds of dust like pigpen around it. It's really 417 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:21,959 Speaker 1: really fun. Another area of interest for Margaret was the 418 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 1: manufacture of shoes. In eighteen ninety, she was granted a 419 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 1: patent for a sole cutting machine, and this was a 420 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: design that carried sheets of rubber along a conveyor belt 421 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: that quote intermittently moves horizontally beneath a pattern and cutting 422 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: device which have a vertical reciprocating movement and intermittently descend. 423 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: Clamp the material upon the apron and cut out a 424 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: complete sole upon each of the tablets or beds while 425 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,720 Speaker 1: it is at rest, and then once a shoe sole 426 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,400 Speaker 1: was cut, the belt would just move along and take 427 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: away the shoe sole and the waist rubber. At the 428 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: end of the nineteenth century, Margaret turned her attention to 429 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,439 Speaker 1: steam engines and Janey Wary of nineteen oh three, she 430 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: was granted a patent on her rotary engine. She explained 431 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: its function as follows quote. The improvements relate particularly to 432 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,639 Speaker 1: the construction and arrangement of pistons and their abutments for 433 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: rotary engines, either single acting or compound, and the combination 434 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: of two or more pistons in a manner to obviate 435 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: vibration of the engine when in operation. And the invention 436 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: consists in hanging a plurality of pistons upon bearings eccentric 437 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,360 Speaker 1: to the center of the piston chamber. When two pistons 438 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: are used, they are arranged with their eccentricity diametrically opposite 439 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: to each other, and when three are used. The two 440 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,679 Speaker 1: end pistons are hung with the eccentricity diametrically opposed to 441 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,919 Speaker 1: the middle position, and the steam pressure area of the 442 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 1: middle piston and its centrifugal force when in motion should 443 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,280 Speaker 1: be substantially equal to that of the two end pistons. 444 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:57,439 Speaker 1: The invention further consists in making the so called steam 445 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: abutment of a plate of metal and attaching its upper 446 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: edge securely to the engine casting above the cylinder, while 447 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,199 Speaker 1: the lower edge projects downward into a slot formed in 448 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,679 Speaker 1: each piston, in which it slides as the pistons revolve 449 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: around their eccentric bearings about the engine shaft. This engine 450 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,159 Speaker 1: was intended to run things like the various machines she 451 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: had invented in her career. Yeah, so, taking away less 452 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:28,639 Speaker 1: of a need for mill workers and enabling them to 453 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: have just an easier time of running the various machines 454 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: that she had created. In nineteen thirteen, an article that 455 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,399 Speaker 1: was titled Women who are Inventors appeared in the New 456 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:43,159 Speaker 1: York Times, and although it covered the achievements of multiple women, 457 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,959 Speaker 1: Night was important enough that the subtitle called out only 458 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,120 Speaker 1: her by name, reading, Miss Margaret E. Knight is now 459 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: at work on her eighty ninth invention, and other women 460 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: who have shown inventive genius. The section from the article 461 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,480 Speaker 1: that's about Margaret opens with quote, the oldest of them 462 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: and the one having the most to her credit, is 463 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: Miss Margaret E. Knight, who, at the age of seventy 464 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: is working twenty hours a day on her eighty ninth invention. 465 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: And it goes on to tell the story of her 466 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:13,679 Speaker 1: early cotton mill days and how her bag folding machine 467 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: brought her accolades from the British crown. As Night's name 468 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: became synonymous with invention, it was also increasingly associated with 469 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,600 Speaker 1: something else entirely, and that was the early women's equality movement. 470 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: As the nineteenth century came to a close in the 471 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: twentieth century began, Margaret's name was frequently invoked in articles 472 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: that showcased the accomplishments of women as a way to 473 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,119 Speaker 1: make the case for equality. Based on her eighteen seventy 474 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: two article quote we mentioned earlier, it's clear that she 475 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: felt that women and girls should be given the same 476 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:49,640 Speaker 1: opportunities as men. Obviously, the time when that binary structure 477 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: was the only way that those kinds of discussions were 478 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: really framed but none of the later articles that used 479 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: her as an example of the ingenuity of women were 480 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: at her and they didn't include quotes from her, so 481 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: we don't really know how she felt about it. Yeah, 482 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: her actual thoughts on the movement itself are kind of 483 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:13,679 Speaker 1: a mystery. On October twelfth, nineteen fourteen, Margaret died at 484 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,199 Speaker 1: the age of seventy eight in Framingham Hospital. Her obituary 485 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,919 Speaker 1: mentioned that her death came quote following an illness of 486 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: several weeks of a complication of diseases, which is pretty nebulous. 487 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: We don't really know the cause of death. She had 488 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: been working right up to the end of her life, 489 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,160 Speaker 1: continuing to spend long hours in her workshop, which seemed 490 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: to be exactly where she wanted to be. When Margaret 491 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: Knight died, her obituaries honored her achievements, but they've also 492 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,959 Speaker 1: caused some problems in terms of the historical record. For one, 493 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: a lot of them claim she was the first woman 494 00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 1: to receive a US patent, and this is untrue. Although 495 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: she may have been the first woman to have her 496 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: portrait exhibited in the US Patent Office, do we have 497 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,640 Speaker 1: this portrait? We do not, Okay, that's why it's maybe 498 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: people have referenced it in other writings, but I don't know. Yeah, 499 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: I had this moment of like, why don't we know 500 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,920 Speaker 1: what it looks like. Some obituaries stated that she held 501 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: eighty seven patents, which is also untrue, although she probably 502 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: had that many inventions under her belt, just not necessarily 503 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 1: patenting all of them. What's true is that at the 504 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,119 Speaker 1: end of her life Margaret Knight held twenty seven patents. 505 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,360 Speaker 1: She had changed the retail world with her bag folder 506 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: when she was barely in her thirties, and she made 507 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: a life for herself working solely as an inventor when 508 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,400 Speaker 1: that was really a career path that was almost unheard 509 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: of for a woman. She is often noted as having 510 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: died with less than three hundred dollars to her name, 511 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: as sort of a sad coda to her life story, like, oh, 512 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: she died destitute, but in nineteen fourteen, that wasn't exactly 513 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: living destitute. By relative worth calculations, it would have been 514 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: more than nine thousand dollars today. So she didn't have 515 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: a huge fortune. No, but she was, and she had 516 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: supported herself by patenting her inventions and then selling those 517 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 1: patents and then being paid royalties on their use. She 518 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 1: never married or had children, so she didn't need to 519 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: leave a financial legacy to support anybody else. For someone 520 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: who had started life incredibly poor and had had to 521 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 1: work a full time job as a child just so 522 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: her family could eat, you didn't make the cases. She 523 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: had really achieved quite a lot in being financially independent 524 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: and just able to live as she wished. In two 525 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: thousand and six, Margaret Knight was posthumously inducted into the 526 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,719 Speaker 1: National Inventors Hall of Fame. I wish I knew more 527 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: about her personality. That's my family. We don't have a 528 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: lot of that. Yeah. I have such a fun listener mail. 529 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: Oh good, oh, I love this one. This is from 530 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:50,719 Speaker 1: our listener Liz, who says I made my family go 531 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,480 Speaker 1: see the Amazon Rainforest carousel at the Philadelphia Zoo and 532 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: also the animals. Liz writes, Hi, Holly and Tracy. Recently 533 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: some friends of me and my husban been reminded us 534 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: that we could still be social in the winter. We 535 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: agreed and set a date to bring our kids up 536 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: to visit, with no particular plan in place. Then I 537 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: listened to an older Saturday classic, The History of carousels, 538 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: and these friends live near Philadelphia, so naturally I texted 539 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: them immediately and said, we're going to the zoo. We 540 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: packed up our car and our three kids, all under three, 541 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: and drove two hours from Central Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. I 542 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: told the kids it was to see the zoo. It 543 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: kind of was, but it was to see the carousel. 544 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: The zoo itself is an interesting place. They're very proud 545 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 1: of the fact that they are considered the first zoo 546 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,120 Speaker 1: in the US. There are parts that definitely feel older 547 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: and definitely more like people were guessing what animals needed, 548 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: which I guess they were. There are different kinds of 549 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 1: really cool birds where there might have been larger animals 550 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: one hundred years ago. I'm sure if I really wanted to, 551 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: I could look into that more, but I think it 552 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 1: would just make me sad. Way, do I understand that sentiment. 553 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: I've attached pictures for tax I took a lot of 554 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: pictures of the carousel while also trying to hold one 555 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: of my kiddos for safety. The rest are some of 556 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: the animals we saw, though many were inside because it 557 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: was cold. I do love that the zoo celebrated the 558 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,320 Speaker 1: snapping turtle's birthday by putting stickers up. I guess he 559 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 1: doesn't move that much because those stickers were on the 560 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: outside of the tank. They had four Galapagos tortoises, but 561 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: this big boy pictured was huge. Sorry for the long email, 562 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 1: but I just wanted to share how fun it was 563 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: to bring my family to a piece of history I 564 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: only knew about because the pod. I love the pod 565 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: and the knowledge and perspective you guys bring. I'm eager 566 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,600 Speaker 1: to share it with my kiddos when they're a bit older. 567 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: Right now, it's wheels on the bus or bust. I'm 568 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: afraid it was a long two hour drive, Liz, I 569 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: love everything about this email. One. I just love that 570 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:42,840 Speaker 1: you were like, we're going to see that carousel. Two 571 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 1: the pictures of this carousel are so beautiful. By the way, 572 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: to explain the reference of the tortoise and the stickers, 573 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: they put up like stickers that look like a birthday 574 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: hat and a gift, And if the tortoise is standing 575 00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: in just the right position, it looks like he's wearing 576 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: the hat and the gift. And apparently he moves so 577 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 1: little that it was safe to put up stationary stickers 578 00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: that he will often look like he is wearing the 579 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 1: hat and receiving the gift, which I love. This carousel 580 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: is so beautiful and I have honestly not seen very 581 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: many pictures of it, so this was a real treat. 582 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: Like you can see clearly that there's like a beautiful 583 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: snake carved into it in one place, and like there 584 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: are there's so much foliage, and there are paintings of animals, 585 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: and it's just a really, really beautiful thing. And I 586 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: cannot tell you how much I appreciate that you took 587 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: the time to take all of these photographs and share 588 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 1: them with us, as well as sharing some very cute 589 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 1: animals from the zoo. I'm still laughing about the tortoise 590 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: because he really does look very funny. There's a great 591 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: rhino picture. I love a rhinosiris, and of course one 592 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,560 Speaker 1: of the best of the wild animals, the red panda, 593 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,640 Speaker 1: which I think everyone wishes we could all just have 594 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,920 Speaker 1: one as a pet, right we all wish that. No, 595 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: this is absolutely gorgeous, and I love that you are 596 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: going on little history field trips. It makes me so 597 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,640 Speaker 1: happy in my dark little heart. So thank you, thank you, 598 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: thank you for sending us this email. If you would 599 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:08,600 Speaker 1: like to write to us, you can do so at 600 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: History Podcast at iHeartRadio. You can also find us on 601 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: social media as missed in History and if you have 602 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: not yet subscribed to the podcast and want to so 603 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,200 Speaker 1: you don't miss out on a single new or old 604 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: episode as we release classics and maybe get inspired to 605 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: go travel somewhere, you could do that on the iHeartRadio 606 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Stuff 607 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,040 Speaker 1: you Missed in History class is a production of iHeartRadio. 608 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 609 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,