Tabitha was not alone in inventing during her lifetime of 1781 to around 1853. In 1809, Mary Dixon Kies invented weaving straw with silk to create hats (Stanley, 1995). This mixture revolutionized the hat making industry in America. In 1843, Ada Lovelace wrote a paper theorizing computer software and artificial intelligence (Stanley. 1995). The understanding and technology to see this paper come to life would not be realized or possible for century or more after publication. Helen Blanchard had her first patent of her zig-zag stitch sewing machine in 1873 to save the family property which was eventually lost. She had invented before 1873 but never patented them. Her ideas and company was so profitable she was able to buy back the family estate. Besides her inventions in sewing machines, she also created the pencil sharpener (Asano, 2015). The improvement of female availability to education created an environment of possibilities for women in science. Which can be seen by the patents issued during the years of 1877-1895 there were 33 female patent recipients (Connelly, 2014). Tabitha was a pioneer in the industrial circular saw development in America. As there are little stats of women in science during Tabitha’s time, the 1800’s gave way to allowing females in college and growing female contribution to science (Stanley, 1995). Tabitha will unfortunately never be inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame due to her lack of any patents but history will always remember her contribution to progress (Asano, 2015).
