"The Electric Motor" and "Ingenious Inventions by Women"

You may not know it, but electric motors are everywhere! They are found in hundreds of devices that are used by people every day.

Given how much we depend on the electric motor today, it’s hard to even imagine what life was like before it was invented.

In the early 1800s, the main source for electricity was batteries.

However, batteries cost a lot of money, so many people could not afford to have electricity in their homes.

This experiment became the first example of a machine capable of generating electricity better than a battery.

Faraday’s electric motor eventually led to Thomas Edison’s construction of an electric power plant in New York City in 1882.

Edison’s massive plant provided enough electricity to power 1,200 light bulbs, essentially allowing everyone to have access to reasonably priced electricity.

Many scientists continued to improve on these earlier versions of the electric motor, and the ongoing advancements have undoubtedly made our lives much simpler.

However, their ingenious ideas have made our lives both safer and simpler.

Read on to learn more about how and why each of these brilliant women developed devices that we still rely on so much today.

The driver struggled to see the road in front of him through the frost-caked glass.

It was because Mary felt sorry for the driver and realized the potential danger to her fellow passengers that she was inspired to create a device that would make people’s lives better.

Unfortunately, manufacturers did not see the value of her idea and she allowed the patent to expire.

At the time, most people could only afford large wooden crates or poorly crafted envelope-shaped bags to transport their goods from the grocery store to their homes.