Mary Walton (c.1821-unknown) was an inventor who came up with methods to minimize the effects of pollution caused by the industrial revolution.
Mary Walton (c.1821-unknown) was an inventor who came up with methods to minimize the effects of pollution caused by the industrial revolution.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about innovators – women who helped shape the world we live in today.
During a time when the most notable inventors were called upon to fix the issue of railway noise and pollution, today’s innovator was the only one able to provide a solution. Please welcome Mary Elizabeth Walton.
Because of the disregard for women’s contributions to society in the 1800s, little is known about Mary Walton’s life outside of her inventions. We do know Mary was raised in a household of strong women. In an 1884 issue of the Lexington Kentucky Weekly Transcript, Mary said, “My father had no sons, and believed in educating his daughters. He spared no pains or expense to this end.”
In 1870, The Second Industrial Revolution brought great economic and financial success to the United States. But it also brought the enduring issue of pollution. With the invention of mass-production machines and the implementation of the factory system, there was an influx of workers into major cities. These workers often commuted on new elevated trains, which were incredibly noisy and released toxic fumes into the air.
Many inventors tried to stifle the noise of the train tracks. Thomas Edison, for example, spent six unsuccessful months attempting to remedy the problem. But Mary had a personal investment in the issue. She owned a boarding house in New York City that neighbored the newly built Gilbert Elevated Railway. Unable to ignore the din of the railway and the smoke that left soot everywhere, she had to do something.
Her first order of business was disrupting the flow of the railway fumes. Mary designed an apparatus that diverted noxious smoke from its point of release into water tanks. The tanks then held and dissolved the pollutants before discharging the residue into the city’s sewage system. Mary received her first patent for this invention on November 18, 1879. It was used to eliminate airborne pollution from locomotives, factories, and residential chimneys.
Mary wasted no time getting started on her next project. She rode the elevated rails for three days to get familiar with the system. She listened intently to what could be the cause of the uproar. And after three days of careful inspection, Mary realized that the bare wooden supports that the tracks ran through actually heightened the noise.
Upon this realization, Mary transformed her basement into a staging ground for a mini model railroad. With this model, she could test out various noise reduction methods. Mary was savvy and used logic and the resources at her disposal to problem solve. She ultimately discovered the key to a solution - sand. First, she built a wooden box-like structure for the rails to run through and then she lined the box with cotton and filled it with sand. The combination of the sand and cotton eliminated the vibration of the rails against the tracks and deadened the sound.
After Mary presented her idea, the city built a full-sized version of her box system to test on the elevated train. It was a great success and on February 8, 1881, Mary received her second patent. She sold the rights to her invention to New York City’s Metropolitan Railroad for $10,000. Its success was widespread as other elevated railway companies adopted the environmentally-friendly system, inevitably changing train technology forever.
Mary’s anti-noise pollution system solidified her as a STEM hero, feminist icon, and role model. Twenty years later, the Woman’s Journal affirmed this with the statement "The most noted machinists and inventors of the century had given their attention to the subject without being able to provide a solution, when, lo, a woman's brain did the work..." During a time when women were undervalued and praised for being submissive, Mary distinguished herself as an innovative, strong-minded woman. When her son recommended she name her invention after him, she responded, “Make your own inventions, and have your name put to them.”
For more information and pictures of some of the work we’re talking about, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan, who asked me to guest host this episode.
Talk to you tomorrow!