Benjamin, Miriam
1861-1947 · Contribution: 1888
Household & Domestic Inventions
Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1861-1947
- Active since
- 1888
- Category
- Household & Domestic Inventions
Impact on the world
Benjamin's signal chair anticipated the guest-service call systems used in hospitality and legislatures, giving people a way to summon help without leaving their seat.
An alternative history
What Would the World Look Like Without It?
One contribution. Many possible consequences. No single-person origin story.
Imagine this selected contribution absent, not the person or the entire field. The areas below are reflection prompts related to this discipline, not verified chains of direct dependency.
Sources
- Source lookupFind
BlackPast.org
Exact source links open the cited record. Source lookups help locate legacy references whose original records did not include a direct URL.
2 more sources and references are available to members.
More in Household & Domestic Inventions
Alexander, Nathaniel
unknown
Improved folding chair with a pivoting, integrated book rest, designed for churches, Sunday schools, auditoriums, and choirs
Ammons, Virgie
1908-2000
Fireplace throat damper
Ashbourne, Alexander P.
c.1820-1915
Spring-loaded biscuit/cake cutter (hinged molding board with interchangeable shaped plates to cut a whole batch at once); pioneering processes for refining, treating, and preparing coconut oil for domestic use
Bailey, Leonard C.
1825-1918
Folding cabinet bed (U.S. Patent 629,286, 1899), adopted by the U.S. Army; also patented an Army-adopted hernia truss and a rapid mail-stamping machine, and co-founded Washington's Capitol Savings Bank