Ellen F. Elgin
Personal Information
Born: 1849
Died: 1915
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: Black
Education
Unknown
"“You know I am black and if it was known that a Negro woman patented the invention, white ladies would not buy the wringer; I was afraid to be known because of my color in having it introduced in the market, that is the only reason.”(Wikipedia); "I am working on another invention and have money to push it after the patent is issued to me, and the invention will be known as a black woman’s. I am looking forward to exhibiting the model at the Women’s International Industrial Inventors Congress to which woman are invited to participate regardless of color lines." (theblackwallsttimes.com); "
— Ellen F. Elgin
Professional Life
Field of Study: Inventor
Institution/Corporation: None found
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Women's National Industrial League
Awards & Achievements
Awards: None found
Achievements: invented the clothes-wringing machine 1888
If not for Elgin’s statements in Woman Inventor in April 1890, the first publication devoted entirely to women inventors, she may have been completely unknown
worked as a clerk in a D.C. census office & as a domestic
sole her invention for $18
was last known to reside in D.C. in 1915 & it is presumed she died sometime that year as she doesn't appear in any future census reports
some sources report she was born in Maryland in 1836 but most sources list her birth in Washington D.C. in 1849