Margaret E. Knight: A Female Inventor In The 19th Century

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Margaret E. Knight


Margaret E. Knight was a female inventor in the 19th century. She faced many difficulties, but those little difficulties never stopped her from doing what she loved most. Inventing. Young Knight was a lovely girl, she would tinker with woodworking tools, trying to create all these amazing things. One day, when she was around the age of 12 she went to her brothers cotton mill. Some say when she was there she witnessed a man being killed by a machine malfunction. Knight decided that she would help, at the age of 12 Margaret designed a mechanism that made the machine turn off if something bad were to happen. Of course, young Knight had no idea of what a “patent” was and she never profited from her invention, but the mechanism …show more content…

She was decorated by Queen Victoria, she received 27 patents in her lifetime, a huge achievement for a female inventor in the 19th century. Her later life wasn’t too big of a deal. She died at the age of 76, on October 12, 1914, and was later buried in Newton, Mass. She died of pneumonia and gallstones. When she died she had an estate valued at less than 300$. Although she had many brilliant inventions, most of them were not taken seriously due to the fact that she was a female inventor in the 19th century. Her most significant invention was definitely the machine that created ‘flat-bottomed’ paper bags. Needless to say, Margaret Knight was quite successful and had quite the interesting life. She is definitely remembered to the world today as one of the first woman to ever receive a patent, nonetheless 27.


Margaret Knight was an amazing inventor, although she wasn’t treated as a ‘true inventor’ back at home many still thought her inventions were revolutionary. Just because she wasn’t adored by everyone didn’t stop her from doing what she does best, inventing. She always tinkered with woodworking tools growing up and grew up loving to build things. Knight was born on February 14, 1838 and died October 12, 1914. Margaret E. Knight will always be

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