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March 15, 2009
Dental Patent:: 1892 - A Women Inventor
"I, Alice Edith Emily Johnson, of the Terrace Downham Market, Norfolk, Spinster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention ... "
In the 1800s and early part of the 20th century the idea of a woman as an inventor was to many incongruous and perhaps even laughable. However, while patents awarded to women were not in the majority, there was a solid presence from "the gentler sex". This is but one example, with others to follow.
Because the patent application process required providing your profession, it is interesting to observe the labels people provided for themselves in this context. Here, Miss Alice identifies her profession as "Spinster," a label we would now try to avoid.
A new or improved toilet set for tooth powder, tooth brushes, and the like:
See more images from this patent here:
Patent-UK-1892-6840: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/patentuk18926840/
Posted by pfa at March 15, 2009 04:37 PM
Comments
Patricia, I think this is a super project. I will be attending the Amrican Academy for the History of Dentistry (http://www.histden.org) meeting in Chicago in June. I will be happy to share the news about this upcoming (hopefully) project with them. There were impressed with the digitizing of the Dental Cosmos by the UM Library and I am sure they would be equally impressed to learn of this resource. I didn't even know that you guys had these patents nor how to utilize them. The Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry definitely would use these for research and identification of our collection and background on inventors.
RE: women as inventors. In doing research on burial garments used by the undertaking industry in the late 19th century, I found many women designers were involved in patenting their designs. It seems as if it was appropriate for women to patent items that definitely fell within their domain of expertise--like sewing or hygiene. The product here appears to be related to the home and hygiene. What would be exciting to find is a patent for a dental tool or piece of equipment that includes a woman as patentee. If you find one let me know!! -- Shannon O'Dell
Posted by: shannono at May 8, 2009 10:32 AM
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