Beulah Louise Henry
Beulah Louise Henry was one of America's most prolific inventors, having received 49 patents while developing around 100 inventions across many industries. She also started multiple companies to help her inventions thrive in the marketplace. And Beulah did this all mostly during the first half of the 20th century, when just 2% of patents were held by women, and strict social and political rules defined their lives.
The following is Beulah's story.
Beulah was born on September 28, 1887, in Raleigh, North Carolina, into a family of much political esteem. Her grandfather had been governor of the state, and her father was a politically active lawyer. She was also a direct descendant of President Benjamin Harrison and one of America's founding fathers, Patrick Henry.
Not much is known about Beulah's upbringing, but family lore speaks of her fascination with everyday objects that began in early childhood. She liked to tinker with devices around the house, probing to understand the mystery of their workings. All gadgets seemed to catch her eye.
This innate curiosity and a supportive environment eventually led Beulah to her first invention at just 25 years old, when, in 1912, she received a patent for a vacuum-sealed ice cream freezer. The device she came up removed the need for manual cranking, which traditional ice cream freezers required to churn the mixture. This process often needed upper body strength and took much time to achieve the desired consistency. Beulah's innovation simplified the work, making it more accessible and less laborious for everyone.
Building on this momentum, Beulah created one of her most celebrated inventions in the late 1910s: an umbrella with interchangeable, colored snap-on covers. This design allowed people to coordinate their umbrellas with different outfits, blending practicality with personal style. The concept even captured the attention of a retail magnate, who remarked, "This chameleon-like umbrella is one of the inventions of the age. No one but a woman could have invented it—a woman who knew what it was to want a blue umbrella for her blue gown, a brown one for her brown suit, and a black one for black, and so on. Here is the answer—all in a single umbrella."
However, bringing the product to market proved challenging initially. Manufacturers didn't believe the concept would be possible to make. So, with her family's help, Beulah started a company that built umbrellas on her own. Just a few years later, she sold the rights to this invention for $50,000 (about $900,000 today).