Anna Dormitzer (née Essroger; 1830–1903) was an inventor, mother to seven children and a member of the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National Woma ...

. She received sixteen patents in her lifetime making her part of fifteen percent of women inventors to receive multiple patents.

Early life

Patent Model for a Window Cleaning Chair

Dormitzer was born in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

on May 5, 1830. She immigrated to the United States arriving in New York at the age of 20 years in 1850. She married her husband, Henry Dormitzer the same year and they settled in

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

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where Henry made his fortune in the tobacco business. After retiring the couple moved to New York City where they were both became active in politics. Dormitzer was a suffragette, a member of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association and the

Sorosis file:Sorosis Club rules.jpg, Sorosis Club rules in 1869Sorosis was the first professional women's club in the United States. It was established in March 1868 in New York City by Jane Cunningham Croly. Origin of the club's name Sorosis is a lati ...

Society.

Professional career

While the Dormitzers were rich enough that they could afford to hire servants to do household tasks such as cleaning windows, Anna Dormitzer was sensitive to the precarious dangers of cleaning, particularly window-cleaning so much so that starting in 1878, she registered twelve patents for a variety of window washing devices. These included chairs and stepladders and a combination of both. Dormitzer included very precise and detailed drawings with her applications since all but her first application included a model. * Window-Cleaning Step-Chair, Aug. 13, 1878 * Window-Cleaning Chair, Sept. 2, 1878 * Window-Cleaning Chair, July 12, 1881 * Combined Window Cleaning Chair and Fire Escape, Apr. 18, 1882 * Window Cleaning Chair, Feb. 12, 1884 * Window Cleaning Chair, June 9, 1885 * Window Cleaning Chair, Feb. 2, 1886 * Ornamental Step Ladder, Feb. 16, 1886 * Paint and Brush Bucket, May 25, 1886 * Safety Watch Pocket, Mar. 27, 1888 * Step Ladder, Feb. 25, 1890 * Step Ladder, Apr. 7, 1891 * Ornamental Step Ladder, Jan. 3, 1893 * Chair for Washing Windows, May 30, 1893 * Napkin Holder, Sept. 24, 1895 * Napkin Holder, May 5, 1896

Death and legacy

Anna Dormitzer died on May 2, 1903, in New York City. Her husband Henry died several years later in 1911 and they are both buried in

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York.

Collections

* Patent Model - Window-Cleaning Step-Chairs, 1878, Patent no. 206,936,

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Wilmington, DE Wilmington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near w ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dormitzer, Anna 19th-century American inventors 19th-century American women inventors American women inventors 1830 births 1903 deaths People from Prague Activists from New York City Czech emigrants to the United States