Hannah Wilkinson Slater is often celebrated as the first woman to receive a U.S. patent. In 1793, she received a patent for a new method of producing cottonsewing thread. She was inspired in the mills run by her husband, Samuel Slater, who had left England as a young apprentice, undeterred by a ban preventing textile craftsmen from emigrating to the United States (Cameron, 1960; White, 1836). Interestingly, the United States issued Hannah Wilkinson Slater’s patent to “Mrs. Samuel Slater,” which has created some ambiguity regarding whether she was indeed the first American female patent inventor.1 Some historians prefer to award this merit to Hazel Irwin for a cheese-press invention in 1808 (Khan, 1996) or to Mary Dixon Kies, who in 1809 was granted a patent on a new technique for weaving straw with silk and thread to make hats (United States Government, 1888). All these women, without a doubt, were exceptional for their era. Only 72 U.S. patents were credited to women inventors between 1790 and 1859, while men obtained 32,362 patents (Khan, 1996).
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