Beulah Louise Henry was born in North Carolina back in 1887 to Walter and Beulah. She was a direct descendant of Patrick Henry and the granddaughter of North Carolina’s Governor W.W. Holden. From 1909 to 1912 she attended the North Caroling Presbyterian College and Elizabeth College in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It was while she was in college she began to do something that almost every family uses if not daily at least several times a week. You see she was an inventor; it is reported she invented around 110 inventions but only applied for patents for 49. She moved to New York City in 1924 where she founded two companies. I’ll give you a partial list of those inventions however did you know they were invented by a woman? I know I didn’t, one just never knows who invented the things we take for common these days.
Are you ready well here goes. A vacuum ice cream freezer, the first bobbin-free sewing machine, continuously-attached envelopes used for mass mailings, hair curler (I really need one of those), sealing device for inflatable bodies, duplicating device for typewriting machines, typewriting machine, duplex sound producer and the can opener. She belonged to several scientific societies and never married. She died in 1973 and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. Truly a woman of vision.
Comments (20)Subscribe to CommentsComment