Margaret’s Invention
by Mary Evelyn McCurdy
Margaret Knight was born in Maine on February 14, 1838. Margaret loved to invent and
create. Her brothers Charlie and Jim enjoyed the sleds and kites she made for them when
they were young. The children’s father died when the three were still young. Margaret and
her two brothers were raised by their widowed mother in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Margaret never received much formal education.
Manchester was home to the Amoskeag
Manufacturing Company, which was one of the
largest textile factories in the world at that time.
Margaret and her brothers went to work at the
factory as children. Conditions in the factory
were hard, and employees were frequently
injured and sometimes died. When Margaret
was twelve, she saw a young boy who worked
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, 1878
at the factory badly injured by a machine.
He later died from his injuries. Margaret was
determined to do something to keep this from
happening again. She worked until she came
up with a device that would quickly stop the
machinery if something became caught in it
while it was operating. The mill owner soon
put her invention to use. Margaret’s device
eventually became a standard part of looms
made for cotton mills, though Margaret never
received any money for her invention. She
didn’t seem to mind, however, knowing that
her invention saved many workers from injury
Historic Looms in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in
and death.
Lowell, Massachusetts
Notgrass History Bites: Margaret’s Invention © 2015 Notgrass Company
After Margaret was grown, she moved to Massachusetts
and began working at a paper bag factory. The machines
fascinated her. At the time, paper bags were flat with no
square base to make them stand up. After working long
hours in the factory, Margaret went home to the boarding
house where she lived and worked on drawings and models
for machines that could do the job better. Margaret came
up with a machine that could fold and glue the bags into
the practical shape we know today. She hired a machinist
to build her invention and she received a patent on it, but
she did not receive her patent without a fight. While she had been working on the machine,
another inventor stole her idea and tried to get a patent on it first. Margaret took the man
to court. He tried to argue that a woman could never invent such a clever machine, but
Margaret was able to present evidence that the invention really was her own. She was granted
the patent in 1871.
Margaret co-founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in Hartford, Connecticut. She
continued to invent and create for the rest of her life. By the time she passed away in 1914,
she had received around twenty-six patents for a variety of inventions.
Table Talk
Use these ideas to start some fun conversations around the dinner table.
1. Can you think of a time you carried something extra special in a paper bag?
2. What have you seen paper bags used for?
3. What is something you would like to invent?
Notgrass History Bites: Margaret’s Invention © 2015 Notgrass Company
Fate
by R. K. Munkittrick
The following poem appeared in The Wit and Humor of America Volume VIII, edited by
Marshall P. Wilder (1907). “Peachblows” refers to a type of potato.
Once I planted some potatoes
In my garden fair and bright;
Unelated
Long I waited,
And no sprout appeared in sight.
But my “peachblows” in the cellar,
On the cold and grimy flag,
All serenely
Sprouted greenly
In an ancient paper bag.
Amazing Potato Sprouts
Credits: Amoskeag Manufacturing Company (Library of Congress, Manchester Historic Association, Manchester, New
Hampshire); Looms (Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs
Division)
Notgrass History Bites: Margaret’s Invention © 2015 Notgrass Company
The Paper Bag
Shake Game
by Bethany Poore
You need:
• 26 paper lunch bags
• marker
• 26 paperclips, binder clips, or clothespins
1. Write one letter of the alphabet in large print on one side of each paper bag toward the bottom.
2. Divide the bags evenly among the players. Set aside any extra bags.
3. Players scatter through the house and secretly put in each of their bags one item that starts with the
letter on the bag. You might need to take turns for this to avoid peeking! You might try sending each
person to a different room. Set any rules necessary about breakable objects, sharp objects, etc.
4. Players fold down the top of each paper bag and secure with a paperclip, binder clip, or clothespin.
5. Sit around a table with each person’s bags in front of him or her.
6. In turn, players select one bag from another player, picking it up and holding it only by the paperclip,
binder clip, or clothespin. The player shakes the bag to try to get clues about what is inside, then makes
a guess. The player then opens the bag to find out if he or she guessed correctly. If the guess was correct,
the player keeps that bag and places the object in the center of the table. If the guess was wrong, the
player sets the bag aside and places the object in the center of the table.
7. After all bags have been selected and opened, the player who has the most bags is the winner.
8. Put all the objects away, then divide the bags and play again!
NOTE: Letters X and Z will be difficult to find objects for. You can set these aside or allow those letters to
be in the name of the object (not only starting with those letters).
Notgrass History Bites: Margaret’s Invention © 2015 Notgrass Company
Imagine that you own a grocery store. Design a logo for your store on this paper bag.
Notgrass History Bites: Margaret’s Invention © 2015 Notgrass Company