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Margaret Knight - Inventor of Paper Bags With Square Bottoms


Can you imagine what grocery shopping would be like if you had to carry envelope-shaped paper bags? Thanks to Margaret Knight, we don't have to shop that way! She received her first patent when she was thirty for a machine that would make the square bottoms of paper bags. She watched people hand make flat bottom bags and thought to herself "There has to be a way to make that happen with a machine." She developed that idea and after a man tried to steal her idea, she won a court battle giving her the patent in 1870.

Like many inventors, Margaret started inventing when she was a kid. At the age of 12, Margaret conceived a device that would automatically stop a machine if something got caught in it. By the time she was a teenager the invention was being used in the mills. Also known as the "woman edison" to many, Margaret had over 20 patents and almost 100 different inventions, including a rotary engine and a shoe-cutting machine.

 March is Women's History Month. The public celebration of women's history started in 1978 as Women's History week. In 1987 it was expanded to a month. We will be blogging about more women innovator stories throughout the month. If you know of women innovator stories, share them with us!

Print | posted on Thursday, March 12, 2009 4:28 PM

Comments on this post

# re: Margaret Knight - Inventor of Paper Bags With Square Bottoms

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patents and almost 100 different inventions, including a rotary engine and a shoe-cutting machine.
Left by tiffany jewelry on Oct 26, 2009 7:03 AM

# re: Margaret Knight - Inventor of Paper Bags With Square Bottoms

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i love this
Left by madison on Feb 04, 2010 3:09 PM

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