9 Everyday Inventions From The Minds of Women

Aside from appealing to my naturally engrained love of Disney, this video, witty as it may be, makes a sadly all too relevant point about the state of professional gender equality in today's society. It may sound odd to many of us that in 2013 women could be paid less for doing the exact same job as their male counter-part, but seriously, it happens, like a lot! This year’s National Management Salary Survey revealed that female managers are not only still lagging behind men in terms of pay parity, they also stand to miss out on £141,500 worth of bonuses compared with men doing the same role over the course of a working lifetime.

So, to keep you ever inspired and in honour of those women who have gone before us who stood up to these obstacles and worse, to pursue their own careers; here is a list of the pioneering females who held their middle fingers firmly skywards to the glass ceiling to bring us some of the greatest inventions off the modern world!

1) Wireless Communication/Spread Spectrum Technology

 

Australian silver screen starlet Hedy Lamarr became a pioneer in the field of wireless communication in the 1930/40s. The internationally recognised beauty, along with co-inventor George Anthiel, devised a “Secret Communications System” to aid the fight against the Nazis in World War II. By manipulating radio frequencies at irregular intervals, the pair devised an unbreakable cloaking method for sending classified messages without interception. The spread spectrum technology, invented partly by Ms Lamarr, was to act as a foundation for the development of all future digital communication.

2) The Modern Brassiere 

 

Emancipator of breasts worldwide, Mary Phelps Jacob's exasperation with whale bone and steel corsetry lead to the creation of the worlds first modern designed brassier. Originally created from two silk handkerchiefs and ribbon, the early design was incredibly popular with the braver women of the time who, disregarding social conventions chose an undergarment for its comfort, not to mention the general health benefits which occurred from the lack of extreme restriction endure on a daily basis by most women.

3) Computer Programming

Augusta Ada Byron, the Countess of Lovelace, was a self titled “Analyst and Metaphysician” who in recent years has been uncovered as the founder of scientific computing. Renowned scientist of the era, who would become a lifelong friend to the Countess, Charles Babbage has been fairly credited in history as the inventor of the first mechanical computer. However, without Lovelace's notes concerning Babbage's early analytical engine, the first general computer in 1843 would have been unable to process information and act as a platform for development into the format used today.

4) The Engine Muffler

In 1913 El Dorado Jones of Manhattan, New York (*cue award for most fantastic name in history) devised the auto mobile engine muffler. Inspired by an extractor fan above a stove in a restaurant, Jones' invention was a reaction to her offence at the excessive noise produced by the early Ford motor vehicles. Containing a series of pin-wheels, she devised the first muffler that was able to quieten an exhaust without clogging the engine with excess fumes. In 1930, she adapted her invention for use with aeroplanes.

5) Suspension Bridge Supports

Born in Birmingham in 1770, Sarah Guppy's inventions and technical concepts heavily impacted the shaping of Britain's infrastructure. Included in the ten patents taken out by Ms Guppy in the first half of the 19th century, was a method of producing safer piling for building bridges. The use of this patent was granted to Thomas Telford, free of charge, to aid in his construction of suspension bridge foundations.

6) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dietician and guest house owner Ruth Wakefield became the unintentional creator of the chocolate chip cookie whilst preparing recipes for guests at her lodge, The Toll House Inn. After realising that she had run out of baker's chocolate, Ms Wakefield substituted the ingredient with Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate bar. The chocolate did not melt into the mixture as hoped, but the new texture created a phenomenon which drove sales of Nestle's chocolate bars higher than ever before and led to a partnership between Ms Wakefield and Nestle which eventually spawned the internationally recognisable “Toll-House” Cookie.

7) Tippex/Liquid Paper

As a reaction to the invention of the electric typewriter in 1950s America, high school drop-out and secretary Bette Nesmith Graham designed a product which was to become one of the most widely used stationary items of the 20th century. Frustrated with the inability to erase or correct the carbon printed text of the new style typewriters, Ms Graham used a technique of applying a solution of white water based tempera paint on top of typing mistakes. Originally named Mistake Out and later Liquid Paper, the solution was fine tuned over time and met with overwhelming demand. A patent was applied in 1958.

8) Kevlar 

American chemistry graduate Stephanie Kwolek worked with the DuPont company as one of the country's first female research chemists. Her discoveries in the field of textile technology and chemistry received national recognition and in 1971 the researcher developed a liquid crystalline polymer solution. The solution's properties, such as incredible strength and rigidity, provided the building blocks for the invention of Kevlar, a material with five times the strength of steel, internationally utilised in the manufacture of the bullet proof vest.

9) Processing Corn

Ho ho ho, Green Goddess! In 1715 the British government recognised that American colonist Sybilla Masters had invented a new method of cleaning and curing the Indian corn growing in several colonies at the time. King George I praised her invention as having played an important role in developing the Pennsylvania economy, which relied heavily upon the harvest of consumable produce. However, bowing to social convention, the patent was duly issued to the name of her husband, Thomas.