Mary Anderson (1866–1953) is depicted on the Queen of Spades. She invented the windshield wiper blade, an automatic car window cleaning device controlled inside the car. The device consisted of a lever inside the vehicle that controlled a rubber blade on the outside of the windshield. She got U.S. Patent No. 743,801 for this device in November 10, 1903.

Why the lady decided to create such thing? Once, Mary traveled to New York City in winter. While riding in a trolley there, she noticed that the motorman had to remove snow and sleet from the front window by stopping the trolley. He had to get out and clean the windows by hand. So, innovative idea came into Mary’s mind. She hired a designer for a hand-operated device to keep a windshield clear and had a local company produce a working model. In reality, her version of the device was never put into production.  Mary proposed it to one Canadian firm in 1905. But the company didn’t see any commercial success for her device and rejected. The patent expired in 1920.

Innovation Playing Cards: The Queen of Spades – Mary Anderson

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron, now commonly known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer.  He is mainly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She is considered as the first computer programmer because of her notes on the engine which included the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine.

The daughter of an English poet, Lord Byron, also developed a vision of the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching, while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on those capabilities.

Innovation Playing Cards: The Queen of Hearts – Ada Lovelace

Ida Henrietta Hyde (September 8, 1857 – August 22, 1945) was an American physiologist. She developed instruments for monitoring physiological parameters in a marine animal that could be used in seawater. Her most well-known invention was an intracellular micropippette electrode, used for stimulating cells at the micro level while recording electrical activity within the cell without disturbing the cellular wall. This device was a revolutionary invention in neurophysiology and the study of contractile nerve tissue.

Innovation Playing Cards: The Queen of Hearts – Ida Henrietta Hyde

The Queen of Diamonds is represented by Amelia Earhart (July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937). She was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record.

Mrs. Earhart was definitely brave and interesting person. But she didn’t have anything common with inventing. So, I really don’t understand why Jody decided to include her in this deck. I hope he will change his mind and substitute her with an inventor. Otherwise she will add serious inconsistency in these Innovation decks. Deeds and innovations aren’t always the same.

Innovation Playing Cards: The Queen of Diamonds – Mrs. Amelia Earhart

One of the new interesting stretch goals – black cards for the black edition. See an example.