In 1868, when she worked at a paper-bag factory, Mattie was inspired to design a machine that would cut, fold and paste a paper bag with a flat bottom. Never marrying, Mattie continued to dream up machines when she wasn't working. Mattie was only 12 when she invented this stop-motion device, preventing her from registering a patent for it, but she consoled herself with the injuries her device prevented. While captivated by the looms and other large machinery involved in spinning and weaving, Mattie recognized inherent dangers therein and designed a device that prevented moving shuttles from blasting off when threads broke. She built kites and sleds, but when she began to work in a cotton mill (still as a young girl), she put her inventing skills to greater use. As a young girl in mid-1800's New Hampshire, Mattie enjoyed building purposeful items from wood, using the tools inherited from her father who'd died when she was 3. Margaret (Mattie) Knight was one of those amazing women who never let her gender stand in her way, though others tried.
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