Women Inventors Who Improved Travel

Did you know that a woman invented some of the auto features we use in our cars? It’s Women’s History Month and this year for International Women’s Day (March 8th) we are celebrating female inventors who helped advanced travel, making it a little safer for everyone to get from point A to point B.

1) Ellen Fitz (1875) -Mounting System for Globes: Born in Westerly, R.I., Fitz was working as an educator in New Brunswick, Canada when she invented a globe mount that could display earth's daily rotation in relation to the path of the sun by day and night and throughout the year.

2) Mary Walton (1881) -System to Reduce Noise by Trains: In addition to the pollution-minimizing locomotive chimney, New York native Mary Walton also invented a way to reduce the noise of New York City's elevated railways by insulating the tracks with boxes filled with cotton and sand.

3) Maria Beasley (1882) -Life Raft: Beasley, a Pennsylvania native already known for several other inventions, designed an improved life raft with guard rails that was fireproof and foldable for easy storage. These life rafts were used on the Titanic and saved hundreds of lives.

4) Margaret A. Wilcox (1893) -Car Heater: Using the heat already generated by engine combustion, Wilcox invented a way to heat cars by shifting air from the engine and into the cab.

5) Mary Anderson (1903) -Windshield Wiper: After receiving a patent for her invention, Anderson tried to sell her windshield cleaning device to a manufacturer, who refused, stating that her invention didn’t hold practical value. Crazy right? Years later, a similar device became standard on all cars.

6) El Dorado Jones (1917) -Airplane Muffler: Nicknamed "Iron Woman," El Dorado Jones owned her own metalworking factory where she employed mostly women over 40. She never received the funding to actually manufacture it but, she invented the airplane engine muffler.

7) Gladys West - (1986) Mathematical Modeling of the Shape of the Earth: As a trained mathematician from Varginia State University, Gladys West was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Va as a computer programmer and project manager for processing systems for satellite data analysis. While there Gladys used her unique mathematical skills to develop a mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth which was used to create the Global Positioning System (GPS).

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