First Woman to Get a Patent in the New World, Sybilla Masters 1715

 

1.       1715 -  It won’t be until The U.S. Patent Act of 1790 that women will be allowed to file a patent in their own name here in the United States but, in 1715 Colonial America;  meet Sybilla Righton Masters. She lays claim to being the first woman to an invention that was patented in the New World. She created a ‘machine’ that produced grits. Previously grinded from corn by hand, her machine automated the process using wooden cylinders, heavy pestles and mortars and powered by the use of horses or water wheels.

   Because the New World was still under British rule the patent was issued by King George of Great Britain making her the first woman in the English Colony of America to be issued a patent..

   Sybilla Masters went on to be issued a second patent for a process of making hats and bonnets. This patent was then adapted by others for the use in making baskets, mattings and furniture covers.

This is an excerpt from the book, "Women's History: Trivia, Firsts, & Musings by Paula C. Henderson https://amzn.to/3C2WWN2