Margaret E. Knight

INVENTOR of the first machine that made sturdy, flat-bottomed paper bags (apparently this was a big problem in the 19th century)
Tinkered as a child, building sleds and kites for other local kids
Worked in a textile mill at 12 years old; when a coworker was injured by an airborne metal shuttle that had become unattached from the loom, Knight INVENTED a shuttle guard that became a standard feature of looms at the time
Paper bags at the time were weak and impractical for carrying heavy loads; Knight spent 2-3 years designing and building a machine that would cost-effectively create better bags
Despite limited formal education, she eventually patented at least twenty inventions, most involving machinery of some kind

Standing Firm

When Knight completed her prototype, she brought it to a machinist to have it recreated out of iron. Another customer, Charles Annan, saw her device and, recognizing its value, copied the design and beat her to the patent office. She sued him, spending $1600 on court and lawyer fees (that's equivalent to almost $29,000 today!), but thanks to the testimony of friends and the meticulous notes she'd kept over the years, she won her case and the right to her invention.

Bibliography: Currie, Stephen. Women Inventors. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. Print.

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