When was the last time you looked at the paper bag that held your groceries? Although it is not as popular as it once was, the paper bag still holds a special place in our history. For the bag, we can thank Margaret Knight, reports Faribault Daily News.
It was while working in a paper bag factory just after the Civil War, that Margaret came up with the idea for a machine that would fold, cut and glue flat-bottomed bags.
While Knight and a co-worker were building the prototype, a man spied on them, stole her idea, and received a patent. Feisty Margaret took Charles Annan to court, and against his arguments that a woman could never design such a clever machine, won back her rights to the patent.
Over her lifetime, she acquired more than 80 patents, many of them related to machines that improved the clothing and shoe manufacturing processes.
Margaret’s obituary, in 1914, refers to her as a “woman Edison†but of course, she was not. She was woman inventor, Margaret Knight.
Over the years, the invention process was much more difficult for women than for men. In addition to the usual challenges of inventing, women were faced with the stereotypes and skepticism of a world that didn’t believe women could create something useful and innovative. Thanks to Margaret Knight and hundreds of women like her, we now know better.
Photo by Timothy Vollmer