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Year: 1888
Who: Ellen Eglin
Where: Washington, DC
What: In 1888, Ellen Eglin, a housekeeper and clerk from Washington, D.C., transformed the exhausting chore of laundry with her ingenious invention of the clothes wringer. Born in 1849, Eglin spent long hours scrubbing and wringing clothes by hand, an experience that inspired her to design a device to simplify the process. Her wringer, with its two wooden rollers and crank mechanism, squeezed water out of clothes, making them easier to dry and significantly reducing the labor required for laundry.
Eglin’s invention was a groundbreaking advancement in domestic technology, widely adopted in homes and laundries well into the 20th century. Yet, despite the success of her design, Eglin herself did not share in its financial rewards or recognition. In an era marked by racial and gender discrimination, Eglin knew that her identity as a Black woman would hinder the marketability of her invention. She sold the patent for her wringer to a white agent for just $18, explaining, “You know I am Black, and if it was known that a negro woman patented the invention, white ladies would not buy the wringer.”
Her design was later acquired by the American Wringer Company, which profited immensely from its popularity. Meanwhile, Eglin remained in the shadows, her name omitted from the history of an invention that revolutionized daily life.
Despite these challenges, Eglin did not give up her inventive pursuits. She began work on another design and planned to unveil it under her own name at the Women’s International Industrial Inventors Congress (WIIIC), a rare platform open to all regardless of race or gender. Tragically, Eglin never made it to the Congress, and her second invention remains a mystery.
Sources:
Journal Articles:
Swanson, K. W. (2022). Centering Black women inventors: Passing and the patent archive. Stanford Technology Law Review, 25, 305.
Colored Woman Inventor. (1891, April). The Woman Inventor (D.C.), 3.
Websites:
BlackPast. (n.d.). Ellen Eglin (1849-?). https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/ellen-eglin-1849/
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