HENRY, Beulah, American inventor, b-1887. At the age of 25 she invented an ice-cream freezer with a vacuum-seal, in 1912. Then Beulah commenced devising all manner of products, specially a hair-curler, a football inflater, and a bobbin-free sewing machine. Typewriter accessories such as her protograph were successful, this attachment produced an original plus 4 duplicate copies. Many toys were devised by her, most had moving parts, and many were sold off to toy and doll manufacturers. Beulah is believed to have patented/invented hundreds of products. Referred to by some as the Lady Edison (c.f. Margaret Knight). Even at age 37 she had so many things under development that she formed two companies. One was to manage and promote her range of inventions. However, the other was purely to manufacture and market an umbrella she had invented which proved exceedingly popular. This brolly had snap-on covers in interchangeable colours, it was all the rage for some time. She also invented more than a dozen typewriter components, and in 1940 claimed to have designed a silent typewriter (relatively quiet).

Inventor