See a Need, Fill a Need Te driving force behind many inventions is to fill a need. Tese inventions are meant to make life easier or better. Margaret Knight’s invention did just that. She invented a machine


that made bags with square bottoms. Knight worked in a factory in the


late 1860s. Te factory made flat bags. Tey looked like envelopes. Knight thought that a bag with a square bottom might be more useful for carrying groceries. At the time, such a bag could be made, but only by hand. Knight studied the machines in the factory.


She learned how each one worked. Ten she studied how the bags with flat bottoms were made by hand. She took notes on what she saw. She also


sketched her own ideas. Her goal was to make one machine that could cut, fold, and paste a paper bag from start to finish. Knight spent two years working on her invention. At last, she had a model that worked. Knight’s machine changed the way people


shopped. Shoppers didn’t have to use heavy, wooden crates to haul their groceries any more. Nor did they have to squeeze all their food into narrow bags. Suddenly, grocery shopping got a whole lot easier. Knight was awarded a patent for her


invention. A patent is an official paper. It gives inventors the right to be the only one to make, use, or sell their inventions.


The invention of the traffic light helped to save lives.


Carrying food became easier with this type of bag.


JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2013 13


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