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Early Life
Sybilla Righton lived in Colonial times. She married Thomas Masters.
Thomas was a Quaker merchant. They lived in Philadelphia.
Thomas Masters was
quite important. He was a Judge on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He was
elected mayor of Philadelphia in 1707 and 1708.
Inventions
In colonial times women worked very hard. They kept their homes clean.
They cared for their children. They prepared the meals. The colonists ate
ground-up Indian corn. They ground the corn between two big stones. This
was hard to do. Sybilla watched the Native American women. They did not
grind their corn. They pounded it with wooden posts. This worked well.
Sybilla invented a mill that used hammers. The hammers pounded the corn
into corn meal. She called the corn meal “Tuscarora Rice.”
Sybilla was clever
with her hands. She worked with straw and palmetto leaves. She invented a
way to weave these materials together. She used them to make hats and
bonnets.
Patents
In early times anyone could copy anyone else’s idea. Some people did not
like that. They said that their idea was their property. Some countries
started giving patents. A patent said that no one could use an idea
without permission. Sybilla wanted to patent her inventions. She decided
to go to England. The King sometimes gave patents. Sybilla sailed to
England in 1712.
Patents were still
very new. There was no regular way to get one. Sybilla had to wait. It
took three years to get the first patent. Sybilla opened a shop in London.
The shop made and sold hats from her design. People liked them.
In 1715 King George I
gave patent #401. It was for the corn grinding idea. In 1716 he gave a
second patent. This was #403, for weaving straw into hats. Both patents
were given to Thomas Masters. Women were not allowed to hold patents.
Back to America
Sybilla went home in 1716. Thomas Masters built a mill using Sybilla’s
idea. It worked well. Sybilla had hoped that people in England would like
Tuscarora rice. They did not.
Why Sybilla
Masters is important
Thomas Masters was an honest man. He never claimed that the inventions
were his work. He always gave credit to his wife.
Many other women
probably invented things, too. Their names were never written down. The
men in their families got credit for their work. Since Thomas said that it
was Sybilla’s work, we know about her. Sybilla Masters is remembered
because she was the first woman we know about who was an inventor. |