Idea Design Studio Presents the Top Inventions by Women

Idea Design Studio salutes women inventors throughout history. Here are a few favorite inventions that were created by women. You may be surprised to learn about some of the origins of these popular items.

1.       Circular Saw – In 1810, Tabitha Babbitt, a member of the Shaker community in Massachusetts, created new way to cut wood. Instead of the pit saw, which required two people, the circular saw only needed one. Babbitt never applied for a patent, due to her religious beliefs.

2.       Chocolate Chip Cookies – Ruth Wakefiled, a dietitian and food lecturer, stumbled across the time-tested recipe in 1930. Wakefield and her husband had purchased an old toll house outside of Boston. She used a Nestle chocolate bar, and later Nestle began selling Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels with Wakefield’s recipe on the back.

3.       Liquid Paper – Bette Nesmith Graham was the executive secretary of the Texas Bank and Trust when the electric typewriter was introduced. As secretaries were having to retype entire pages due to one error, Graham realized there was a problem. Using paint as inspiration, she mixed up a water-based paint with dye that matched the stationary. She was then able to fix mistakes quickly. Later fired for spending too much time focusing on the product, she received a patent in 1958 for the product.

4.       Square-bottomed paper bags – The original paper bag was pretty useless, it was shaped like an envelope and didn’t have much space. Margaret Knight fixed that and added a square bottom, allowing more things to be carried when evenly distributing weight. In 1870 she created a machine to cut, fold, and glue the bottoms to bags. She had to fight for her patent, but was granted it in 1871. She was awarded more than 20 patents.

Women have proven extremely creative throughout history and many things we use every day can be attributed to women inventors. Idea Design Studio is excited to help each and every inventor take their creation to completion.

Good Trademarks Can Last a Lifetime

Idea Design Studio knows it is hard to create something that will be useful and important forever, but when it comes to trademarks, it is a real possibility. In 2000, 15 trademarks hit the century mark. Some of them are very common and seen in houses every day, the true mark of a successful trademark.

A trademark, or servicemark when referring to services instead of goods, is a word, name, or symbol that distinguishes the product from others. A good example of trademarks are the symbols car manufacturers put on their models. Trademarks associated with international trade may be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office as well. Slogans, titles, and jingles are covered by trademarks, not copyrights.

Nabisco’s Cream of wheat, the picture of a chef holding a bowl of hot cereal, and General Electrics’ ‘GE medallion’ are two of the most popular ones. They have been immersed in America’s culture for over 100 years. Two other well-known trademarks are Carnation Brand condensed milk and Pabst Milwaukee Blue Ribbon Beer.

The first trademark was registered in 1870, and now words, phrases, symbols, designs, shapes, and colors have been established to identify companies, sources of goods, and consumers to the world. Idea Design Studio encourages trademarks and servicemarks to be patented, just like inventions. Almost 1 million registered trademarks are in use today, including the oldest US trademark. Samson, with a design of a man and a lion, was registered in May of 1884, for use on cords, line, and rope.

Some inventions or ideas may need both a copyright and a trademark, and the team at Idea DesignStudio is prepared to help clients determine that. There are a lot of details and intricacies and the patent procedure is extremely time consuming.

 The Idea Design Studio experts want to free up as much time

 as possible for you to create your next idea.