Born in 1912 in North Carolina, Mary Kenner filed five patents in her life - more than any other black woman in history. Throughout her childhood Mary was known to draw and doodle her thoughts and inventions and upon moving with her family to Washington DC, she would roam the halls of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Mary's most notable invention, which came in 1954, was the sanitary belt with a moisture proof pocket. At this time, adhesive sanitary pads had not yet been invented. However her invention wasn't able to be patented for another 30 years. When learning she was Black, the initial company who was interested rejected it. “One day I was contacted by a company that expressed an interest in marketing my idea. I was so jubilant… I saw houses, cars and everything about to come my way,” she said in Laura F. Jeffrey’s book, “Amazing American Inventors of the 20th Century.” “Sorry to say, when they found out I was Black, their interest dropped.”
This is considered by most to be the first form of modern menstruation protection, which led to the creation of the maxi pad in the 1970’s. Mary received five total patents for her household and personal item creations. She shared the patent on a toilet tissue holder with her sister, and she also held a patent on a back washer that could be mounted on the shower or bathtub wall.
We at TONE salute Mary and thank her for all her creations which stay with us as sensible solutions for problems that are still relevant today. We wanted to take the time to recognize the unsung Black women heroes. TONE celebrates women and all of their accomplishments. To learn more about how we support all women, please visit us at www.tonenetworks.com.
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