Sybilla Righton Masters

GB Patent 604 (1715), Cleaning and Curing Indian Corn, applied for by Sybilla Masters but granted to her husband Thomas Masters because women could not be legally recognised.

Sybilla Righton Masters (c. 1676 – 23 August 1720)[1] was an American inventor. Masters was the first person residing in the American colonies to be given an English patent, and possibly the first known female machinery inventor in America of European ancestry. Masters was given a patent for a corn mill in 1715 in her husband's name, as women were not allowed to have their own patents.[2] She also patented a process for making hats.[2]

  1. ^ Blashfield JF Women Inventors, Volume 4 Capstone, 1996 ISBN 9781560652779 [1]
  2. ^ a b Samuel C. Inventors and Inventions in Colonial America. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003 [2]