In 1809, a Connecticut resident received the first US patent issued to a woman, but it would not be until after 1840 that women’s patents made their mark in the United States Patent Office. Between 1790 and 1930, Connecticut residents were issued the most patents in the US per capita, many of them inventions by women. From improvements in skirt elevators, to the invention of a rotary cutter, to a combined bath and bureau, women’s patents helped change the way we lived, worked, and played both in the state and around the country.
![]() Ann F. Stiles, Case for Daguerreotype Pictures |
![]() Sarah Jane Wheeler, Curry Comb |
![]() Sarah A. Baldwin, Door Plate and Card Receiver |
![]() Catharine Allsop Griswold, Improvement in Skirt Supporting Corsets |
![]() Jane E. Gilman, Improvement in Combined Dressing Bureaus and Bath Tubs |
![]() Mary Ann Boughton, Forming Air Chambers in Dental Plates |
![]() Carrie Jessup, Culinary Vessel |
![]() Catharine A. Griswold, Improvement in Corsets |
![]() Mary M. J. O’Sullivan, Improvement in Dinner Plate Covers |
![]() Emily M. Norton, Improvement in Step Ladders |
![]() Ann Harrison, Improvement in Sleigh Bells |
![]() Elizabeth E. Norton, Improvement in Skirt Elevators |
![]() Annie Maria H. Moss, Dust Pan |
![]() Leila C. Harrison, Hitching Device |
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![]() Emma J. Swartout, Machine for Sewing Hat Tips |
![]() Mary F. Bishop, Means for Operating Egg Beaters |
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![]() Corinna Thatcher Rogers, Sachet Bag |
![]() Mathilde Schott, Surgical Knife |
![]() Mathilde Schott, Die and Dice Box |
![]() Alice M. Hobson, Steam Cooker |
![]() Jennie Snyder and Fred Lockwood, Culinary Vessel |
![]() Lucilla Mallory, Garment Stretcher |