Harriet Tracy

Harriet Ruth Tracy was born on December 6, 1834, in Charleston, South Carolina; her parents were William Brisbane (1809-1860) and Julia Hall Lowndes (1811-1847). The noted abolitionist William Henry Brisbane (1806-1878) was her first cousin once removed.[4]

Patent Model - Improved Crib-Attachment for Bedsteads, 1868, Patent Number 74,865, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE

In 1860 she married Cadwallader Colden Tracy (1830-1921),[5] a baseball player who had been a member the New York Knickerbockers in 1854.She then moved to Staten Island, in the village of New Brighton, to live with her husband in 1860. Tracy and her husband had four daughters. In 1890 Tracy and her family moved to Paris, France, and then to London, England.[3]

Tracy's first innovation was a patent for a crib attachment for bedsteads in 1868.[6] The innovation solved a problem that crib owners had been experiencing: the crib disrupting the appearance of the parent’s bedroom. The invention furnished an improved bedstead and crib that was designed in a way that when it’s not in use can present a neat and uniform appearance, giving no indication of the presence of the crib-attachment.[7]

Another one of Tracy’s prominent innovations was her lock-stitch and chain-stitch sewing machine. This sewing machine was so impressive, for its time, because “her improved bobbin which held up to 1,000 yards of thread hence reducing the number of times the bobbin thread had to be replaced, making it a time saver”.[8] These sewing machines were used in both industrial and domestic settings.

Tracy’s most prominent innovation was her Tracy Gravity Safety Elevator. The invention increased the safety measures of elevators by installing automatic platforms that kept the elevator shaft constantly closed, preventing any person falling through it. This innovation was so groundbreaking, for its time, that it was installed in Women’s Building8 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where “it was used to transport visitors to the roof-top restaurant.”[9] It was also commercialized in New York City.[10]

Tracy also received a patent for a cooking stove, and a fire escape, which she described in her 1883 patent application as a "simple, cheap, durable, compact, and efficient fire-escape ladder which may be folded into a small compass."[11]

Tracy, died on May 30, 1918, aged 83. According to her obituary she was also "gifted as a writer of verse and prose", contributing frequently to "magazines and periodicals."[3] Tracy was well known for her inventions during the late nineteenth century and was one of the first prominent American female innovators. In the nineteenth century, woman made up just 1% of all inventors who received United States patents. Unfortunately, little is known about most of these women, but Tracy is an exception. Tracy received much notoriety and fame for her innovations. So much so that many of her inventions received extensive public acclaim in Chicago newspapers. For example, “The Chicago Mail said about her sewing machine: ‘All ladies who see the machine are delighted with it and her other meritorious inventions are proud that a woman has accomplished what man failed to do….’”[12] Many of Tracy’s inventions were also showcased in expositions, such as her lock-stitch and chain-stitch sewing machine which was shown at Chicago Columbian Exposition, in the Liberal Arts Building. Despite being renowned, in her time for her innovations, she has mostly been forgotten about in modern times; there are very few books or other materials dedicated to her accomplishments.

Patent Model - Improved Crib-Attachment for Bedsteads, February 25, 1868, Hagley Museum and Library

• Stanley, Autumn (1995). Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press. p. 708. ISBN 9780813521978. Retrieved March 1, 2017.