In 2012, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched a series of cards –The Inventor Collectible Card Series– to participate in the US Science and Engineering Festival.
These letters consist of caricatures of twenty-one male and female inventors from different backgrounds, and contain some detail that has to do with the discoveries they patented.
Of the twenty-one people selected, seven are women. Below we show the letters that correspond to them with the brief biography dedicated to them from the USPTO. We have already talked about some of them in Women with Science.
Ellen Ochoa
Inventor of optical analysis systems
Born: May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Ellen Ochoa – a veteran of three NASA space shuttle flight missions and the first Hispanic-American woman in space – is the co-inventor of three patents for an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method, and a method to eliminate noise in images.
Her inventions have significantly increased the ability to capture and analyze images in great detail, including applications in space and on Earth.
Stephanie Kwoleck
Organic chemist and inventor of materials
Born: July 31, 1923 in New Kengsington, Pennsylvania, USA
Stephanie Kwolek invented polyparaphenylene terephthalamide, a polymeric material that is five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis. This material, marketed under the brand name Kevlar, has many applications, ranging from bicycle tires and sports equipment to vests used by police and military personnel.
Inventor and pioneer
Born: October 31, 1860 in Savannah, Georgia, USA
Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts organisation and was the inventor of two patents. She received a utility patent for a liquid container for use in garbage disposals, and a design patent for a clover-shaped badge symbolising the three parts of the Girl Scout Promise made by joining the association.
This clover-shaped design is now a registered trademark of the Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA), having identified its members for over a hundred years.
Ruth Benerito
Physical chemist and inventor of textile processes
Born: January 12, 1916 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Ruth Benerito was a research chemist at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – at the Southern Region Research Laboratories in New Orleans – where she led the team that invented wrinkle-free cotton. She has more than fifty US patents, most of them related to cotton.
She also pioneered a method of giving intravenous food to wounded soldiers too sick to eat. This food supply system was used during the Korean War.
Helen MurrayFree
Chemist and inventor of diagnostic tests
Born: February 20, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Helen Murray Free and her husband Alfred Free developed the first dip-and-read test strips for use in diagnostic tests. Her work revolutionized the field of urinalysis and led to many self-testing systems for people with diabetes.
Free holds numerous patents and is a strong advocate for science education and outreach. The American Chemical Society created the Helen M. Free Outreach Award in her honor.
Beulah Louise Henry
Self-taught inventor and entrepreneur
Born: September 28, 1887 Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Beulah Henry was a prolific inventor with forty-nine US patents and over one hundred inventions credited to her name.
She received the first patent from her at the age of twenty-five for a vacuum sealed ice cream freezer. Her numerous inventions included improvements to sewing machines, typewriters, cash registers, umbrellas, dolls, and toys. Henry founded two companies of her own and served as a consultant to many more.
