Originally published in the Spring 1986 Framingham Historical & Natural History Society Newsletter by Steve Herring
Margaret E. Knight (1838-1914), one of the most prolific woman inventors in America, was also a Framingham resident. But the “lady Edison” has remained as somewhat of a mystery figure in local history, and we are always pleased when new information about her turns up.
Professor Fred Amram of the University of Minnesota, who is working on a book about woman inventors, visited the Old Academy recently to learn more about Miss Knight. While we were able to share some of our information with the professor, the historical society also gained information including copies of Miss Knight’s 1871 patent for a machine that makes flat-bottom paper bags, and her obituary from the Boston Transcript.
Margaret Knight, a native of Maine, resided for the last twenty-five years of her life in a rented house at the corner of Hollis and Charles Streets in South Framingham. In that neighborhood at that time there were other families with the name of Knight who may have been relatives. She spent most of her time in her Boston laboratory, and when not tinkering with new inventions was successfully fighting off law suits challenging her patents.
Apparently Miss Knight was totally absorbed in her work right up to the time of her final illness at the age of 76. In 1912, at the age of 74, she developed an advanced automobile engine known as the Knight-Davidson motor. In all she had 87 patents to her credit, although it seems that she made little profit from them. Her estate at the time of her death was valued at $300.
There is also the mystery of Miss Knight’s portrait. Some accounts of her life claim that her portrait hung in the US Patent Office in Washington. In recent inquiries to the Patent Office, however, no record of such a portrait or other likeness of Margaret Knight, it may well be that she never had the time to have her picture taken.
Update – a newspaper photo of Knight was rediscovered in 2021 thanks to the recently published book “Downeast Genius: From Earmuffs to Motor Cars, Maine Inventors Who Changed the World” by Earl H. Smith. Smith located Margaret’s likeness in the Boston Sunday Post from 1912 pictured below.
