Beulah Louise Henry was an American inventor. In the 1930s, she was given the nickname "Lady Edison" for her many inventions.

Her inventions include a bobbin-free sewing machine and a vacuum ice cream freezer. Though she was awarded around 49 patents over her lifetime, she had around 110 inventions total.

Early Life and Education

She was born in North Carolina, the daughter of Walter R. and Beulah Henry. She was the granddaughter of former North Carolina Governor W. W. Holden and a direct descendant of Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...

. From 1909 to 1912 she attended North Carolina Presbyterian College and Elizabeth College

Elizabeth College, Virginia

Elizabeth College was a private Lutheran women's college in Charlotte, North Carolina and Salem, Virginia that operated between 1896 and 1922.Elizabeth, named after the wife of the earliest sponsor, was originally located in Charlotte where it operated alongside the Gerard Conservatory of Music...

 in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she submitted her first patents.

Career as Inventor - New York City

She moved to New York City by 1924, where she founded two companies. She worked as an inventor for the Nicholas Machine Works from 1939 to 1955. She also served as a consultant for many companies that manufactured her inventions, including the Mergenthaler Linotype Company and the International Doll Company. She lived in New York hotels, belonged to a variety of scientific societies, and apparently never married.

Inventions

A partial list of Henry's inventions includes:

• vacuum ice cream freezer (1912)
• umbrella with a variety different colored snap-on cloth covers (1924)
• the first bobbinless sewing machine (1940)
• "Protograph" - worked with a manual typewriter to make four copies of a document (1932)
• "Continuously-attached Envelopes" for mass mailings (1952)
• "Dolly Dips" soap-filled sponges for children (1929)
• "Miss Illusion" doll with eyes that could change color and close (1935)

Henry was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

National Inventors Hall of Fame

The National Inventors Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging invention and creativity through the administration of its programs. The Hall of Fame honors the men and women responsible for the great technological advances that make human,...

in 2006.

External links

• IEEE History Center Biography of Beula Louise Henry
• MIT Inventor of the Week Archive about Henry
• Bio including a picture
• Innovative lives: exploring the history of women inventors

Further reading

• A profile of Henry and her inventions is given in Stanley's Mothers and Daughters of Invention (1993, Scarecrow Press; 1995, Rutgers University Press), pp.351-2,366-7,417, 420-26.