You can thank a woman....

[Lady Sidhe]

Liquid Paper--1951, Bette Nesmith, a secretary, invented this to paint over typing errors. She poured it into a fingernail polish bottle and kept it on her desk, and called it "Mistake Out." She tried marketing her invention with many companies, including IBM, who all turned her down, so she began making it at home, and traveling the country to sell her bottles.

Coffee Filters--1908, Melitta Bentz, a homemaker in Dresden, Germany, was frustrated by the traditional method of brewing coffee (wrapping loose grounds in a cloth bag and boiling water around it), so she tore a sheet of blotting paper from her son's schoolbook, cut it into a circular shape, and placed the porous paper in the bottom of a brass pot, which she had poked full of small holes. She poured the coffe grounds on top of this filter and poured boiling water over it. She and her husband Hugo hired a tinsmith to produce a new coffee pot for sale to the public, and in 1909, they brought the drip system to the Leipzig trade fair, selling the pots as "coffeemakers." Hello to the drip method of making coffee!

Windshield Wipers--1903, Mary Anderson made a quick drawing in her sketchbook that would permit a driver to operate a lever from inside the vehicle, activating a swinging arm, which mechanically wiped away ice and snow. She experimented until it worked to her satisfaction, and recieved a patent in 1904 for a windshield wiper. It caught on, and by 1913 was a standard piece of equipment on American cars.

Tract Housing--Kate Gleason, drawing on the model of automotive mass-production methods, utilized the concept for affordable housing construction at a time when all houses were custom-built.

Brown Paper bags--Margaret Knight, holder of 27 patents, is best remembered for inventing the machinery which made the flat-bottomed sack possible. Shortly after the civil war, she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag company in Mass.She recieved a patent in 1870, successfully defeating a man who had applied for the same patent (he'd stolen the idea and claimed that because she was a woman, she couldn't possibly have understood enough about mechanical complexities to create the machine--a court ruled against him).

Disposable Diapers--1950, Marian Donovan, a young mother who came from a family of inventors, took a piece of plastic shower curtain, cut it down to size, and lined it with inexpensive padding. She called it a "boater," because, like a boat, it was watertight. She approached several manufacturers, who all turned her down, so she began marketing them herself. They made her a wealthy woman, and she ended up selling the patent to Proctor and Gamble for more than a million dollars.

Chocolate Chip Cookies--1933, Ruth Wakefield, a restaurateur, owner of the Toll House Inn in Mass. She named the cookie the Toll House Cookie.


(From the 2005 Almanac--Sidhe)

Thanks for pulling our cover on the tract housing one - "they're all made of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same." Are you sure a man wasn't really responsible for that one?

[Undertoad]

Liquid Paper--1951, Bette Nesmith She is almost as well known for being the mom of Monkee/musician/producer Mike Nesmith. (This is a true fact.)

[xoxoxoBruce]

And they did make the men who came up with the rest of the stuff.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

(This is a true fact.)

As opposed to all those mean little false facts out there.

[jane_says]

Dammit, UT, I wanted to post that factoid! I'm always a little too slow.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Lady Sidhe

Brown Paper bags--Margaret Knight, holder of 27 patents, is best remembered for inventing the machinery which made the flat-bottomed sack possible. Shortly after the civil war, she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag company in Mass.She recieved a patent in 1870, successfully defeating a man who had applied for the same patent (he'd stolen the idea and claimed that because she was a woman, she couldn't possibly have understood enough about mechanical complexities to create the machine--a court ruled against him).

Even more interesting is her first known invention. At the age of 12, she was working 13 hour shifts in a textile mill in Massachusetts. One of her friends was killed by a sharp steel-tipped shuttle that broke off a loom. It was a common accident in those days, and was the cause of many deaths. She invented a guard that would prevent a broken shuttle from flying off the loom, and would also shut the machine down. Her invention saved many lives. As a 12 year old girl, she never saw a penny for that invention, but she was happy to know that it saved many lives.

yeah and i will thank my mother ^^

[Ernestine]

This reminds me of a documentary I saw this year on PBS about Tupperware. Mr Tupper invented the burpable plastic containers, but a door to door saleswoman named Brownie Wise took it out of the back shelves of the five and dime and made it into the million dollar business it became by inventing the Party Plan type of sales. After Brownie made him into a rich man, Tupper decided to sell the business, leave his wife, and go live in the islands. So he fired Brownie and gave her a $30,000 lump pension. THE JERK!

It was a fantastic documentary. I'm hoping for a movie version, starring Joan Allen, who looks just like her.
-----
Another PBS documentary had led me to believe that the Ticky Tacky song was about none other than Philly's own Levitt Town. (sp?) America's first "suburb".

Could it be true that I'm the only person who watches these things?

Originally Posted by Ernestine

-----
Another PBS documentary had led me to believe that the Ticky Tacky song was about none other than Philly's own Levitt Town. (sp?) America's first "suburb".

Could it be true that I'm the only person who watches these things?

Yup, you're the only one. The rest of us watch "The Simpson's."

[xoxoxoBruce]

From "The American Experience"

Success Breeds Resentment
While Earl Tupper hated the limelight, Brownie Wise loved it. With Tupper's blessing, the company's public relations staff promoted Wise extensively. Female executives were rare, and the strategy worked. As the company grew, Wise was on talk shows, quoted by newspapers, and pictured on the cover of numerous magazines (she was the first woman to make the cover of Business Week). But when the press suggested Wise was responsible for Tupperware's success, and that she could be equally successful selling any product, Earl Tupper grew jealous. Over time, Wise became increasingly high-handed, and she was less patient with Tupper's micro-management and unpredictable temper. In 1958 Earl Tupper unceremoniously and abruptly fired her, booting her from the multi-million dollar company she had helped build; she held no company stock and was given just one year's salary.

That's what happens when the hired help gets upitty.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Another PBS documentary had led me to believe that the Ticky Tacky song was about none other than Philly's own Levitt Town. (sp?) America's first "suburb".

Reynold's song "Little Boxes" isn't specifically about Levittown, but certainly applies, since Levittown is the mother of all suburban sprawl.
In defense of Levittown, it gave thousands of young couples a home of their own, for about $10 grand. They didn't have to live with the in-laws anymore.

[Ernestine]

Yup, you're the only one. The rest of us watch "The Simpson's."

Doh! Never fear, marichiko, I wouldn't miss "The Simpsons," if Krusty was having one of his comeback specials on another channel.

Bruce, I wasn't putting down Levitttown for one second. ( I was just so vain, I thought the song was about something I knew of.) I loved the whole idea of affordable housing after WWII, the "common land" in the subdivisions for the kids to play in, the patios, etc. After I learned about Levittown, I decided that it must have been the "someplace green" Audrey was dreaming of in Little Shop of Horrors.

Thanks for the Brownie info. Her story just breaks my heart. Not that many documentaries make me cry. She was supporting herself, an ailing son and her mother when her little empire fell.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My defense of Levittown was because it was affordable housing when there wasn’t any, but as suburbanites moved upscale, it became affordable housing for people at the bottom end and generally looked down on.
Also, it is spurned as the origin of tract housing, nothing you said, Ern.

Audrey might have been dreaming of Levittown, NY, out on Long Island. Certainly a step up from NYC, for a plant lover.

In 1958, a woman making $30k, and high profile in the business world, shouldn't have a problem finding a job with a company wanting marketing skills.

I grew up in a big ol' tract development built in the 50's - post WWII spawning ground. It was pretty damn sterile. Given the choice, I'd rather have grown up on my grandparent's tobacco farm in Kentucky. I suppose my mother wouldn't have thought much of the option, but that's another story.

Ernestine, my sad eyed friend, I think part of the reason I love "The Simpson's" is because it pokes fun at that whole suburban tract home life style and resulting manner of thought. As an adult I have never lived ANYWHERE that even faintly smells of a tract home. I'll go to the extremes of 30 miles out in the country or the depths of the city - anywhere BUT suburbia! I do manage to catch the occasional show on PBS between "Simpson's" episodes. I just don't discuss them because I'm never sure I remembered them correctly.