Who invented the dishwasher, windshield wiper, caller ID?
March 26, 2019 12:34 AM   Subscribe

Women created these 50 inventions
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19. The First Monopoly Game
Inventor: Elizabeth Magie
Year / period: 1904
Originally designed to demonstrate the evils of unchecked capitalism, Magie's "The Landlord's Game," was patented in 1904, 30 years before a man patented a very similar game called Monopoly and sold it to Parker Brothers.
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posted by kliuless (15 comments total) 32 users marked this as a favorite
 


Can somebody make a movie about Eldorado Jones? Because she sounds amazing.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:48 AM on March 26, 2019




The globe, 1875? I assume they mean some kind of machine for mass-producing globes?
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:38 AM on March 26, 2019


The globe, 1875? I assume they mean some kind of machine for mass-producing globes?

In a bunch of cases it seems like they don't differentiate between "invented a particular type of" and "invented the first one", which is kind of annoying. Like, I was really excited to learn about the circular saw one, and now I think I need to check whether it really was the first before I go telling other people about it.

Still it's a pretty cool list.
posted by trig at 4:48 AM on March 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


Caller ID does sound like the sort of thing that, in this society, would be harder for a male inventor to realise the need for.
posted by acb at 4:56 AM on March 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


Can somebody make a movie about Eldorado Jones? Because she sounds amazing.

I haven't read the article yet, and I'd watch that movie based on her name alone.
posted by Harald74 at 5:26 AM on March 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


I'm back from reading the article, and I'd still like to see that movie, please.
posted by Harald74 at 5:37 AM on March 26, 2019 [4 favorites]


Thirteen years before she invented liquid paper, Bette Nesmith Graham invented Monkee Mike Nesmith.
posted by Killick at 6:57 AM on March 26, 2019 [6 favorites]


The Menten in the Michaelis-Menten equation, one of the most fundamental descriptors of enzymatic activity is Maud Menten, a prolific Canadian biochemist.

I sort of liked this invention for protecting against grave robberies. While men were coming up with various explosive devices, Bettie Buchanan invented a decorative shield.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:13 AM on March 26, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'll bet most of these inventors deserve their own posts. I googled Barbara Askins because it seemed odd that she invented "photo enhancement" in 1978. The details of her invention ( "Photographic image intensification by autoradiography") are quite cool.
posted by Drab_Parts at 7:50 AM on March 26, 2019


Searching on Temple Grandin lead me to this: https://youtu.be/Ifsh6sojAvg
posted by jim in austin at 9:10 AM on March 26, 2019


Related: 10 Women in Science and Tech Who Should Be Household Names (Emily Dreyfuss for Wired, March 8, 2019)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:53 PM on March 26, 2019


For centuries before Greer's invention of a one-handed syringe, medical professionals had been using syringes that required both hands to administer injections.
What the heck did syringes look like before this?
posted by Mitheral at 9:34 PM on March 26, 2019


I was really excited to learn about the circular saw one, and now I think I need to check whether it really was the first before I go telling other people about it.

At best she did what others had done previously and independently. The earliest mention of Sister Tabitha I could find dates from a History of the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts: 1732-1893 (pub.1894), which seems to be the source of the pit saw anecdote. Regardless, the saw thing wasn't a one off, she also did, albeit more prosaically, cut nails (mass producing vs one by one) and had something to do with false teeth.

re syringes - well, there was this
posted by BWA at 6:13 AM on March 27, 2019


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