Beulah Louise Henry (September 28, 1887 â February 1, 1973) was an American inventor who made extensive contributions to consumer products and manufacturing technology. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and later based in New York City, Henry was a pioneering figure who held 49 patents and developed over 110 inventions, significantly advancing technology while breaking gender barriers in her field.
Her inventions include a bobbin-free sewing machine and a vacuum ice cream freezer. She received 49 patents and had around 110 inventions; when she died, she held far more patents than any other woman. In 2006, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Beulah Louise Henry was born on September 28, 1887, in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of Walter R. and Beulah Henry. She was the granddaughter of former North Carolina Governor W. W. Holden and a direct descendant of President Benjamin Harrison and Patrick Henry.
Henry was a creative and inquisitive child. At nine years old, she was drawing sketches of inventions. She enjoyed painting and music, but her favorite hobby was to point out things that she saw wrong and mention changes or innovations that could be made to improve them. One of her first ideas for an invention was a mechanical hat tipper that would tip a man's hat automatically when he greeted someone.
From 1909 to 1912, she attended Elizabeth College in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1912, prior to graduating, she was awarded her first patent (No. 1,037,762), for a vacuum ice cream freezer that required minimal ice.
After graduating, Henry moved with her mother to New York City to pursue her inventing career. There she founded the Henry Umbrella and Parasol Company, and, later, the B.L. Henry Company. From 1939 to 1955, she worked as an inventor for the Nicholas Machine Works. She also served as a consultant for many companies that manufactured her inventions, including the Mergenthaler Linotype Company and the International Doll Company.
She lived in New York hotels, belonged to a variety of scientific societies, and never married. From her hotel, she would hire model makers, draftsmen, and patent lawyers to turn her ideas into commercial inventions.
Different than most inventors of the time, Henry's inventions did not always follow the same theme or category. But many of her inventions were to improve the quality of life for women, including a hair curler, vanity case, and a rubber sponge soap holder. One of her more prominent inventions was a "snap-on" parasol, which would allow women to change their parasol's pattern to match their outfit without needing to buy an entirely new parasol.
For children's toys, Henry invented a new method for stuffing dolls. As a substitute to using traditional, heavy stuffing, she devised a way to inflate lifelike dolls and toys with rubber tubing, significantly reducing the toys' weight.
One of Henry's most famous inventions is the "Double Chain Stitch Sewing Machine". She wanted to make a sewing machine that would not tangle the thread. Bobbins were the traditional method of feeding the bottom layer of thread in a sewing machine but need to be rewound frequently and the thread was prone to snapping. Her invention doubled the speed of the typical sewing machine and allowed the user to use smaller threads, while the stitch was just as strong. This invention allowed seamstresses at the time to do larger loads and take on more jobs by eliminating time unnecessarily spent on fixing and untangling threads twisted by the bobbin. This invention is still used today in an adapted form. It is primarily used in factories as it is faster than the typical sewing machine and breaks less often.
A Henry invention, patented in 1936, was a tool that enabled the writing of multiple copies of a document on a typewriter without the use of carbon paper.
Henry didnâÂÂt have any formal education in engineering, which made her more creative when it came to solutions. She claimed that the design would generally come to her fully formed in her head, but because she didnâÂÂt have any education in engineering, she had someone make the product for her. She made great use of prototyping with things she could find around her home such as soap, clips and buttons. If the engineers told her it couldnâÂÂt be done she would build it with on hand supplies to try and further convince them.
A partial list of Henry's inventions includes:
"If necessity is the mother of invention, then resourcefulness is the father"
"I invent because I cannot help it â new things just thrust themselves on me"
Henry received recognition during her life for her many inventions, working for many different companies as an innovator in New York City, such as the Mergenthaler Linotype Company as well as International Doll Company. Even though these companies often put their names on her work, she still was able to profit from these inventions and still received credit from these companies for her work on the inventions. At the time of her registering her patents, only 2% of all those patents were registered by women, making her truly impressive in her particular field and era. She is still considered one of the most successful female inventors of all time. After death, Henry was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.