Paper-Bag Machine Patent Model
1879

Folding and pasting the "satchel bottom class"
In 1879, Maine-born Margaret Knight patented this machine for folding and pasting paper bags of what was called the "satchel bottom class." Knight is one of the few women involved in inventing and patenting machinery in the United States in the mid-1800s. By the time she died in Massachusetts in 1914, she held at least 27 patents. Her models were among the hundreds of patent models received by the Smithsonian from the U.S. Patent Office in 1858. Brown paper bags are still made with machinery based on Knight's original concept.

	U.S. Patent No. 220,925, 1879
	Margaret E. Knight, born February 14, 1838, York, ME; died October 12, 1914, Framingham, MA
	Knight also invented machines relating to paper, textiles, costumes, and rotary engines and motors.
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