Margaret A. Wilcox was an engineer and inventor known for developing a method for heating cars.
Biography
Wilcox was born in Chicago[citation needed] in 1838.[1][2] She went to St. Lawrence College and was a member of Pi Mu Epsilon, a society that promotes mathematics.[3] One of her first inventions was a combination clothing and dishwashing machine which she patented in 1980.[4][5]: 59 The machine could be setup to include a washboard and had a boiler to warm the water.[6]: 46–47 In 1893 she filed a patent for a car heater[7] that moved air across the engine so that it can be heated and transferred into the cabin.[8][9] The design was later put into use by Ford in 1929.[10] She presented her work at the 1893 World's Columbian Fair.[11] Her patents belonged to the Wilcox Water Heating Company of Chicago.[4][12] Subsequently Wilcox would file patents in 1896 with Robert J. Gibbons to improve how cars are started and stopped,[13][14] in 1903 with Harry S. Stewart,[15] and a later device that could be used to culture cells.[16]
In 2020, Inventor's Digest named Wilcox's patent for car heater one of their top ten patents by women.[17]
References
- ^ Pacific Outlook (July-Dec. 1907). California State Library.
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: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Gutiérrez, José Ignacio (8 March 2019). "Seat se acuerda de todas las mujeres inventoras de la industria". La Tercera; Santiago [Santiago] – via ProQuest.
- ^ "INITIATES". Pi Mu Epsilon Journal. 3 (1): 47–55. 1959. ISSN 0031-952X. JSTOR 24338101.
- ^ a b McGaw, Judith A. (January 1997). Inventors and other great women: Toward a feminist history of technological luminaries. Vol. 38. Technology and Culture; Baltimore. pp. 214–231.
- ^ Autumn Stanley (1995). Mothers and daughters of invention. Internet Archive. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8.
- ^ Jaffé, Deborah (2003). Ingenious women : from tincture of saffron to flying machines. Internet Archive. Stroud : Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-3030-7.
- ^ United States. Patent Office (1893). Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year . Smithsonian Libraries. Washington : G.P.O.
- ^ Blackstock, Elizabeth (April 10, 2021). "Meet Margaret Wilcox, The Woman Who Invented The Car Heater". Jalopnik. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ Godin, Barb (2021-04-30). "Women of Interest---Margaret Wilcox". The Voice. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ Margeit, Rob (2021-06-19). "Margaret A. Wilcox, keeping you warm and toasty in your car since 1893". Drive. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ Pilato, Denise E. (2016). "Illumination or Illusion: Women Inventors at the 1893 World's Columbian Fair". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998-). 109 (4): 374–399. doi:10.5406/jillistathistsoc.109.4.0374. ISSN 1522-1067. JSTOR 10.5406/jillistathistsoc.109.4.0374.
- ^ Autumn Stanley (1995). Mothers and daughters of invention. Internet Archive. Rutgers University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8.
- ^ Allen, James T. (James Titus) (1900). Digest of United States automobile patents from 1789 to July 1, 1899, including all patents officially classed as traction-engines for the same period. Chronologically arranged ... together with lists of patents in the classes of portable-engines, traction-wheels, electric locomotivs, and electric railway battery systems ... The Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. : H. B. Russell & Company.
- ^ The Horseless age. University of Michigan. New York : Horseless Age Co. 1895.
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: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Electrical World and Engineer 1905-08-19: Vol 46 Iss 8. Internet Archive. McGraw Hill Publications Company. 1905-08-19.
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: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ The Journal Of The American Medical Association(47). Chicago, The American Medical Association. 1906.
- ^ "Patents by Women: Our Top 10 List". Inventors' Digest. Vol. 36, no. 9. September 2020. p. 35.