sarah boone

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blboone.htm Very hard to find anything else.

African American, Sarah Boone, patented an improvement to the ironing board (U.S. Patent #473,653) on April 26, 1892. Sarah Boone's ironing board was designed to be effective in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies' garments. As you can see from the patent drawing below, Sarah Boone's board was very narrow and curved, the size and fit of a sleeve, and it was reversible, making it easy to iron both sides of a sleeve. Below you can view the original patent drawing of Sarah Boone's ironing board and on the next page you can view and read the full patent that includes Sarah Boone's description and claims.

Hi there,

My name is Marcus and I am doing a presentation on Black history month inventors. I wanted to showcase an actual picture of Sarah Boone on an overhead projector while a person acts as her with a costume and wooden ironing board. However, I am having trouble finding a picture of her (the person). Her invention is easily accessible on the internet, but a picture of the lady herself is no where to be found. Could you help me in finding a picture of her? Or is it possible that she doesn't have one because of the time period?

Thanks,

-Marcus

Hi Marcus,

We've done a lot of research on Sarah Boone. Unfortunately, there just isn't very much source material available on the web. I don't know where to point you for a picture of Sarah Boone. I'm not sure one even exists. Here's another thread on Sarah, which will provide you with some additional links. That's the best I can do.

Best of Luck!