In my first Lady Bits column a few weeks ago, I told you about Sarah E. Goode, the first African American woman to be granted a U.S. patent. She invented a foldaway bed, that could be tucked up into a cabinet while it wasn’t in use, and many versions of her original idea are still made today.

This got me thinking about other things that have been invented by women. With the exception of a few really famous inventions, we rarely talk about who actually created so many of the products we use. Turns out there are a lot of female inventors that most people have never heard of. Click through the gallery to meet these women and check out their inventions – from the revolutionary, to the useful, to the bizarre.



Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

[Lead image via]