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11/20/2020 7:44 pm  #1


Notable Women

Most women, like most men, just go along to get along, make a life as peaceful and comfortable as they can.
But every once in awhile you hear about an exception, someone who exceeds all expectations.
They may be doing for themselves or for others, it could be for financial gain or altruistic, but it is outstanding.
The story of Margaret E Knight sounded pretty impressive, a very smart and talented inventor to have accumulate 27 patents in her lifetime.
But the picture bothered me.



Googling her name brings up lots of stories about her various inventions and periods of her life and most of them have that same picture as above attached. A few others have even more preposterous pictures with them.



Seriously, all these pictures and more were tacked onto stories about her.
Reading a handful of short articles about her I’ve gathered she was born in 1838 and moved to Springfield in 1867. Some say she invented the flat bottom paper bag, she did not, they were already making them by hand and losing money. She invented the machine to automate making the bags. After making a wood prototype that was pretty flimsy but she did manage to make 1000 bags with it, she moved 70 miles to Framingham but spent most of her time at her lab/workspace in Boston. Working with two machinists to build an iron copy of her prototype a third machinist, Charles Annan, showed great interest and asked a lot of questions. Being denied a patent because Annan had filed first she sued him. There are two versions of his defense, one says he claimed a woman couldn’t have done it, the other said he claimed his machine was different than hers. But she had the drawings, notes, and witnesses to prove and win her case. She was finally awarded her patent in 1871.
 
Now when she moved to Springfield she was 29 years old. When she got the patent she was 33. That was the first fame/notoriety that would trigger a news media photograph. That picture could easily be a 30 year old woman but the hairstyle the clothes, the makeup, just general vibe of the picture strike me as not 1870, and it’s  nothing like the other post Civil war photographs I’ve seen. She died in 1914 at 76 years old.

There’s a lot of misinformation about her on the web. I can say that confidently because there is so many contradictory claims at least half have to be wrong. For instance she has been credited with 13 “Inspiring Quotes”. They’re all anti-religion, specifically Christians but that can be attributed to it’s the majority she had contact with. But I did a WTF at #7...
 “I want here to make three suggestions: first, that the doubts the ordinary man feels about religion are justified, and need not be stifled or concealed; second, that there is no ground for the view that Christianity is the only alternative to communism, or that there can be no sound character training that is not based on religion; and, third, I want to make some practical suggestions to the parents who are not believers, on what they should tell the children about God, and what sort of moral training they should give them.”
-- Margaret E. Knight

Now Ms Knight worked tirelessly in her Boston lab the commuted 20 odd miles to her home on Holis Street in Framingham. (I know where that is because Holis Street goes to Holliston where my first wife was from).
20-odd miles in 1900 was no walk in the park, it took time and was work, she got very sick in 1912, patented an automobile engine in 1913, and died in 1914. I doubt she had the time or energy to be concerned with communism.
 
After her father died she quit school at 12, then with her 2 older brothers and her mother worked in a cotton mill in New Hampshire to make ends meet. But the cotton dust made her sick so she moved to Springfield, lived with a woman called Saddie and worked at the bag company for less than a year before moving to Framingham/Boston to make the metal copy of the bag machine. Where did she get the money to live and build the machine, to buy a house in Framingham?  There’s not only conflicting stories, there’s big holes but I’m too lazy to read her biography. 

One fact remains after shedding most of the dubious material written about her, she was a remarkable woman of great personal achievement.                                                                                                                                                        

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
 

11/21/2020 8:13 am  #2


Re: Notable Women

Somebody needs to do a serious history on her.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

11/21/2020 1:01 pm  #3


Re: Notable Women

Yeah that was fascinating

 

1/12/2021 2:09 am  #4


Re: Notable Women

This interview was in 1977 when she was 108 years old.
Yes, born in 1869 during reconstruction...



 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/13/2021 11:09 pm  #5


Re: Notable Women

Serious history?!?

See THE O. P.


pffft.


Be Just And Fear Not
 

1/13/2021 11:27 pm  #6


Re: Notable Women

That's not really a serious history, I spent a few hours on it and came up with more questions than answers.


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/14/2021 1:39 am  #7


Re: Notable Women

In reality aren't they all notable although maybe not memorable.
Some we just shake our heads and look away mumbling there but for the grace... 
It's uncomfortable to think about no less talk about. You feel kind of helpless.
I'm pretty sure Mary didn't have a little lamb, and may not have even gone to school.
I wonder how her life went? I also wonder how big a pot is?

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/14/2021 7:13 am  #8


Re: Notable Women

That's what's wrong with kids today, an unwillingness to work a second job.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

1/17/2021 10:07 am  #9


Re: Notable Women

A second job and babysit siblings.

Phyllis is Notable...


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/17/2021 10:15 am  #10


Re: Notable Women

She is a real Badass.


I Love my country, I fear the government.
 
 

1/21/2021 5:27 am  #11


Re: Notable Women

Speaking of badass, here's an pair of them...


The Cellar House of Pervyse
Two English nurses, Elsie Knocker was bored with life, Mairi Chisholm was looking at the future and didn’t like the sound of Elsie’s description. When war broke out in August 1914, Elsie was 31 and Mairi just 18. The two women decided to leave family and friends behind and go to war. The joined British doctor Hector Munro’s  small independent ambulance corps.
Early on they realized how many soldiers were dying because they were not treated soon enough, the front lines were far from the base hospitals. Elsie and Mairi decided to do something about it. They left Munro's team, then on their own moved to the front lines of the battle in Pervyse where they set up their first aid post in autumn 1914. Most everyone in that town had fled and those that stayed didn’t last long. The first cellar house where they set up shop was known as Le Poste de Secours Anglais(The English Aid Station), and was yards away from the Belgian front line. No shit, less than 50 yards.
They had help from former colleagues but by the beginning of 1915 it was just the two of them getting shot at, shelled, and gassed, to help save those Belgian soldiers.


A big fly in the ointment was money, they were on their own with no help from any government. They were not only not paid, they had to cover their costs of the aid station. That meant traveling back to England to solicit private donations.  Back home weren't told the horrors of what was happening, it was packaged as brave women volunteers and Belgian soldiers beating the Germans, isn’t that great. Sanitized doesn’t begin to describe that version of events (Sounds like Vietnam). Nothing about the horrendous injuries and gas attacks daily, and that was the version that Elsie and Mairi wanted the public to know. It also helped donations.

After the war they both received medals from England and Belgium, they were celebrities, people would seek them out for autographs, pictures, and to thank them. After a couple years the adoration and attention died down. Mairi moved on but Elsie had a rough time going back to the humdrum life she went to war to escape.

There are several books covering these two and their exploits, I read several articles but the best one is probably...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28609597
Feisty broads doesn't begin to cover it.

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/26/2021 12:09 am  #12


Re: Notable Women

Meanwhile in Finland...



Of course Finland was allied with Hitler's Germany so we know they're capable of bad choices, however they did make attractive choices so they have that going for 'em. 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

1/27/2021 1:25 pm  #13


Re: Notable Women

I was sure the caption was going to say:  "... and her daughters."
Shame on me.

 

1/31/2021 4:24 am  #14


Re: Notable Women

L.A. Women...
 Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light
Or just another lost angel, city of night

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

2/15/2021 9:27 pm  #15


Re: Notable Women

This woman is going above and beyond...

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

2/16/2021 5:22 am  #16


Re: Notable Women

I have a friend who chose to do this. She didn't have superlactation syndrome, and was breastfeeding twins at the time, but still had some to donate.


Living life on the edge.
 

2/17/2021 1:07 pm  #17


Re: Notable Women

I bet there are a bunch of places, even whole states, where they would ban this .
Good for her.

 

2/17/2021 1:41 pm  #18


Re: Notable Women

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Meanwhile in Finland...



Of course Finland was allied with Hitler's Germany so we know they're capable of bad choices, however they did make attractive choices so they have that going for 'em. 

and not forgetting Michigan 




 


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
 

2/17/2021 4:13 pm  #19


Re: Notable Women

no wonder the shooty men are going bonkers


signature s c h m i g n a t u r e
 

2/22/2021 1:59 pm  #20


Re: Notable Women


Weaponized Funk
 

2/22/2021 6:13 pm  #21


Re: Notable Women

SMRT


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

2/22/2021 7:24 pm  #22


Re: Notable Women

why, yes, if I'm honest, I do feel a little threatened.  But nothing compared to the relief that these... young people will be in charge of the planet while I'm enjoying my dotage.

BRAVA!


Be Just And Fear Not
 

2/23/2021 7:03 am  #23


Re: Notable Women

Absolutely. This shitshow is actually in good hands.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

2/23/2021 12:35 pm  #24


Re: Notable Women

Did it take her two years to be born or did messing about with black holes expand time for her, and now her age is in some sort of quantum state?

Asking for a friend.

Last edited by footfootfoot (2/23/2021 12:35 pm)


Hey! That's me up there!
 

2/24/2021 12:09 am  #25


Re: Notable Women

She sounds like a nice person, the kind you want to work with and hang with.

Not like this one...

 


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
     Thread Starter
 

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