Women hold 13% of patents worldwide, and 85% of all patents never reach commercialization. I hold 10 US patents and 6 international patents, and 9 of the 10 US patents are commercialized. The record below runs from 1985 to the last US grants in 2021, with the dates and numbers from my book Invent It and Be Your Own Boss.
The Health Problems That Came First
I grew up in one of the most contaminated regions in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1 summer I grew 9 inches, which stressed a spine that was not ready for it; a car accident then added persistent pain and limited mobility. Severe allergies, chemical sensitivities and fatigue persisted into my engineering career.
In 1985 I began a personal healing quest, testing diets, supplements and detox protocols on myself. In August 2011, at age 50, I earned my Nutritional Balancing degree, and the hair analysis practice that followed has reached clients in 91 countries. While working with those clients, I identified equipment problems and solved them by designing better equipment, starting with the near infrared sauna in 2011.
The 1980s and 1990s in Male-Dominated Fields
I worked in 3 male-dominated roles: nuclear quality engineer, residential land developer and home builder. At the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, workers defied my inspections, vandalized coworkers’ property, threatened me and damaged my motorcycle; on construction sites, some men refused to take instructions from a woman. Through the 1980s and 1990s I worked twice as hard as my male counterparts in all 3 roles, and over time people recognized me for the quality of my work and my persistence.
That background is why the 13% figure matters to me. In the book I name 2 causes of the low number of patents issued to women: society has given women fewer opportunities than men, and some women who seek advice from men have their ideas stolen. My answer is 2 practices: non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) as the norm whenever an idea is shared with a partner, manufacturer, investor or attorney, and women mentoring women, which protects intellectual property and passes on knowledge and experience.
From Problem to Patent: The 10 US Grants
These are my 10 US patents, with the filing and grant dates from the patent list in the book.
- Water Container with an Ozone Diffuser, 10967335: filed August 26, 2016, granted April 6, 2021.
- Cushioning Posterior Fulcrum Back Shaper, 10966552: filed March 28, 2019, granted April 6, 2021.
- Plasma Air Purifier (Breathe Safe), 10881757: filed January 11, 2018, granted January 5, 2021.
- Weighted Target Applicator, 10779665: filed September 28, 2017, granted September 22, 2020.
- Portable Radiant Exercise and Sauna Tent, 10010477: filed September 5, 2017, granted July 13, 2018.
- System for Transporting a Sauna Device, 10449113: filed June 28, 2016, granted October 22, 2019.
- Water Sterilization System with Multipurpose Degasser, 10786758: filed October 2, 2018, granted September 29, 2020.
- Back Roller (design), D915613: filed July 1, 2019, granted April 6, 2021.
- Back Roll Spinal Brace (design), D859668: filed October 2, 2017, granted September 10, 2019.
- Neck Roll Spinal Brace (design), D858779: filed October 2, 2017, granted September 3, 2019.
The sauna tent patents are also granted in Canada, China and Australia, and I assigned the ozone diffuser patent, granted April 6, 2021, to my company, Creatrix Solutions LLC. 3 of the products came straight from customers. One customer turned my 4-foot by 4-foot by 5-foot sauna tent on its side to lie down in it, which led to the convertible tent that fits a person 6 feet 5 inches tall. Another customer with back and leg pain stood up to take a coffee enema, which led to the Enema Fix: a glass jar, adapter and pump assembly with long tubing, used standing in the shower. A third customer measured ambient ozone at work and showed me that the ozone generators I sold emitted unsafe levels, which led to the Breathe Safe purifier with no ozone emission and the Tri-Oxy Refresh ozone degasser.
What the Patents Cost
All but 3 of my patent grants included rejected claims that had to be defended and revised before the patent issued; each response cost fees that were outside my original budget, so I borrowed money to pay them and keep the applications alive. For the posterior support equipment, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application had to hold every claim at once, because the PCT allows no later additions; I worked 36 hours without sleep to get every claim and detail into it.
The research and development (R&D) tax credit recovered part of that cost: I learned about it after filing my 2019 taxes, amended that return within the 3-year window, amended 2020 and 2021, and claimed the credit in my original 2022 filing. The credits came to just over $55,000, against more than $9,000 in CPA fees.
Women Inventors Who Came Before
In the book I name 5 women inventors who have inspired me:
- Marie Curie: research on radioactivity that earned 2 Nobel Prizes, achieved against discrimination in academia.
- Hedy Lamarr: with composer George Antheil, a frequency-hopping system during World War II that laid groundwork for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
- Dr. Patricia Bath: an ophthalmologist who patented a laser treatment for cataracts.
- Mary Phelps Jacob: the first modern brassiere, which replaced restrictive corsets.
- Stephanie Kwolek: the discovery of Kevlar, the lightweight, high-strength material in bulletproof vests.
The book lists the 4 barriers these women and I have faced: gender discrimination, limited access to education and funding, patent bias and theft of intellectual property.
Where I Teach This
I speak on these subjects under 3 talk titles. PINK covers 4 ways to empower women: Perseverance, Intuition, Navigation and Knowledge. HIT covers 3 motivations for STEM: Helping, Inventions and Transform. BACK SMART covers 5 steps to reduce workplace back pain and injury costs. I have appeared on 3 networks: ABC, CBS and NBC. The full method, from the prior art search to commercialization, is in Invent It and Be Your Own Boss and its 20-section Action Workbook, which includes a 90-day inventor action plan.
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This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is also not legal, patent, tax or financial advice; consult a registered patent attorney or agent and a tax professional for your own situation.
