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is the engines of our ingenuity,

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made possible by the friends of

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KUHF Houston. Today,

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we wash and wear.

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The University of Houston's College of

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Engineering presents this series about the

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machines that make our civilization run

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and the people whose ingenuity

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created them. The

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way we launder clothes has come a

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long way from trips down to the

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river, pounding fabric on rocks. We

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have washing machines, dryers, and an

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assortment of additives, specially engineered soaps,

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stain removers, and fabric softeners. And

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if we're a little careful, we

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can get by without ironing, thanks

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in large part to a woman

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named Ruth Benerito. Benarito

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was born in 1916 in

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New Orleans, a time and

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place where women were expected

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to remain at home. But

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thanks to a dedicated father,

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she entered Tulane University at

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the age of 15. There,

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Benarito was one of only two

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women given permission to take chemistry

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classes. She ultimately completed

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a PhD in physical chemistry

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at the University of Chicago.

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Almost all cotton clothing is

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wrinkled free these days. But

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without proper chemical treatment, cotton wrinkles

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badly when it gets wet. For

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most of the 20th century, ironing

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boards were household fixtures as women

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spent hours a day making our

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cotton clothes look good. So

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when synthetic fabrics like nylon appeared

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in the mid -1930s, they posed

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a challenge for the cotton growers.

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Properly cared for, synthetic fabrics are

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less prone to wrinkling than their

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cotton counterparts. Would consumers

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give up the feel of cotton for

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the convenience of synthetics? It was

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a real possibility. Enter

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Benerito. While working at

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the U .S. Department of Agriculture, she

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came up with an idea for treating cotton

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fabric. It made cotton

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molecules line up more like those

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found in synthetic polymers through a

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process called crosslinking. The result?

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permanent press. Her

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process went through many refinements. It

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was good for clothes made of

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heavy materials like pants, but weakened

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the cotton too much for thinner

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items. A big

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breakthrough came in 1993 when

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Japanese manufacturers introduced the no

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-iron cotton shirt. And new

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no -press processes are under

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constant development. Processes that

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make the cotton last longer, resist

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stains better, and keep the cotton

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fibers strong. But it

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all started with Benerito. She

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went on to file a total of 55

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patents in her career. But

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her achievements certainly aren't limited

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to patents. She received the

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Lemelson -MIT Lifetime Achievement Award

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for her work on textiles,

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but also for her lifelong

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commitment to teaching. Benerita

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was a role model for

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generations of students and taught

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well into her 80s. In

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1970, the Department of Agriculture

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conferred on her the Distinguished

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Service Award, its highest honor.

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And in 2008, she was

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inducted into the National Inventors

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Hall of Fame, one of

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only 15 women honorees. Remarkable

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achievements for anyone, but

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especially so for a young girl

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from the long ago Mississippi Delta.

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I'm Andy Boyd at the University

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of Houston where we're interested in

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the way inventive minds work.