Margaret Knight's Bag Machine
Written by Studio AM.
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In the late 1860s, many machine-made paper bags were shaped like envelopes. A flat bottom would make them easier to fill and stand upright.
Margaret Knight worked at a bag factory in Springfield, Massachusetts. She had been interested in machines since childhood. At twelve, she saw a steel shuttle fly off a loom and hurt a worker, and designed a guard to stop it. She studied the bag machines and saw the missing step: the equipment needed a way to fold a flat bottom.
So she designed one that could. It cut, folded, and glued a bag that stood open on its own, the shape grocery bags still have today. She built a wooden model, then had a machine shop build it in iron.
At that shop, a man named Charles Annan studied her iron model and filed for a patent on the design himself. A legal dispute followed over who had invented it. Knight presented records of her work, including drawings and models. She won, and the patent was issued to her in 1871.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly about?
The answer is A: Knight invented a machine that folded flat-bottomed bags, then proved in court that the design was hers.
The passage follows Knight's invention and the evidence she used to establish that the design was hers.
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Question 2 of 4
The passage suggests that Knight won the case because
The answer is C: her long record of the design work showed it was hers
Her records documented the development of the machine and supported her claim to the invention.
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Question 3 of 4
In this passage, a "patent" is
The answer is B: a legal right to stop others from making or selling an invention without permission
A patent protects an invention by giving its holder rights to exclude others from making or selling it without permission.
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Question 4 of 4
According to the passage, what did Knight design at age twelve?
The answer is D: A guard to stop shuttles flying off looms.
The second paragraph says she saw a shuttle fly off a loom and hurt a worker, and designed a guard to stop it. The bag machine came later, at the factory.
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