Inventing Women

Your Summer 1992 issue, with its piece on Charlotte Smith (“The Champion of Women Inventors”), held special significance for me. Autumn Stanley’s fine article, recalling Ms. Smith’s struggle to gain recognition for women’s roles as inventors, noted that Smith implored the Patent Office to set aside a hall for the exhibit of women’s inventions during its centennial celebration in 1891. Charlotte Smith’s dream of such an exhibit was not to become a reality for another hundred years.

As the chairperson of the Women Inventors’ Committee, I had the honor of beginning the Patent Office’s 1990 bicentennial celebration with a ceremony and reception showcasing the works of women inventors. Titled “A Woman’s Place Is in the Patent Office,” this special exhibit was on display for six months. It spotlighted inventions by modern-day female Edisons as well as by Charlotte Smith’s own contemporaries. To please Charlotte’s spirit, which we were certain was browsing among the display cases, a panel proclaiming her 1891 appeal for such an exhibit was prominently featured.

Even today women inventors garner only a modest 6 percent of the U.S. patents granted each year. The opportunities for women have improved a bit over the past two centuries, but the need for champions the likes of Charlotte Smith continues.

Anne Kelly
Director
Office of National and International Application Review
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Washington, D.C.