About the Invention

Ruth Adams was the first woman to be granted a patent in Canada for her invention, the Reverse Cooking Stove. She received her Letters Patent in January of 1855, just six months after the patent application was submitted. In the application, she explained her invention in detail in a three-page document that was handwritten with a quill pen. Her handwriting was elegant with neatly spaced words and beautifully formed letters. She enclosed carefully drawn plans of the Reverse Cooking Stove and five British pounds, which was a considerable sum of money in 1854.

In her covering letter, Ruth wrote "that she hath invented a reverse cooking stove, not known or used in this province by others before her invention."

The province that she mentioned was not Ontario, but the Province of Canada,which was, at that time, part of Great Britain. Confederation, from which the country of Canada emerged, was still thirteen years away, and it was the British government that granted Ruth the Letters Patent.

The cooking stove was central to life in the 1800's: it provided a warming oven, cook stove and cook top; it also served as a furnace to warm the household kitchen, and it provided boiling water for laundry. According to her application, Her invention, the Reverse Cooking Stove, was fuel efficient, easier to keep clean, and more convenient to use than other stoves since individual parts could be used separately. Addressing the many functions inherent in a stove, her design featured removable parts.

Ruth wrote, "My invention has the following advantage over other cooking stoves in use... cleanliness, beauty and convenience. Cleanliness, the smoke and ash are so secured that no inconvenience can arise therefrom. Beauty, as even the foot and kettle can be kept bright and clean. Convenient, as it's parts can be used within the whole."

It is apparent from her application that Ruth had given considerable thought to the form and function of the Reverse Cooking Stove. As a woman of the time, she identified problems associated with existing stove models and decided that improvements were necessary. Her mechanical aptitude is evident throughout her application as she specifies metals required and details construction methods. What happened after she received her patent is unknown.

About the Inventor

Little is known about Ruth Adams. At the time of the patent application, Ruth lived in Toronto. We know that she was married to the Reverend James Adams and that she was a widow by the time she applied for her patent in 1854. Was she young at the time? We know that her husband came from the Township of Esquesing in the county of Halton in Ontario. As a Minister's wife, she would have been a "working woman," helping her husband perform his church duties. We know from the writings of another Minister's wife, Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of the popular children's book Anne of Green Gables, that the workload was often very demanding.

At the time when women's and men's roles were clearly defined and women stayed home, Ruth had the confidence to pursue a patent. We can conclude that she was well educated, since applying for a patent, even at that time, was a complex task and required a high level of knowledge. Today, many inventors hire patent lawyers to navigate through the patent process. Ruth's patent application was clearly written, with excellent technical descriptions. She was obviously bold enough to approach men of great stature in the community as evidenced by the signed affidavits which accompanied her patent. We don't know if her Reverse Cooking Stove was ever manufactured.