Jump to content

Ellen Eliza Fitz

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Neils51 (talk | contribs) at 10:54, 11 October 2022 (replaced: Publisher's Weekly → Publishers Weekly, typo(s) fixed: ’s → 's). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ellen Eliza Fitz was an American inventor known for her design for a globe mounting system, the Fitz globe.

Early life

Ellen Eliza Fitz was born in 1835 in Kingston, New Hampshire to Asa and Susan Fitz.[1] Fitz grew up in Lynnfield and Newton, Massachusetts, graduated from West Newton State Normal school,[2] and worked as a music teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1] Fitz spent most of her adult life in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada where she served as an American governess.[3]

The Fitz Globe

Globe mounted on a stand
Fitz received a patent for her globe, known as a Fitz Globe, in 1875.

Fitz invented a globe mounting device as an educational tool to assist students in visualizing the Earth's daily rotation and annual revolution. The Fitz globe is a terrestrial globe that is surmounted by an hour pointer and encircled within two parallel brass bands that serve as daylight/twilight bands. The globe was raised on a patented Fitz turntable base that is engraved with a calendar. The globe demonstrates the changing daylight, twilight, and seasons around the globe and throughout the year. Moreover, to promote the study of physical geography, the Fitz globe shows ocean currents (white lines) and average isotherms (lines of equal temperature) for January (blue lines) and July (red lines).[4] The globe was patented by Fitz in 1875.[2]

The mounted globe was produced by a school and college textbooks publisher, Ginn & Heath,[5] and displayed at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.[6][7] Along with the globe, Fitz published “Handbook of the Terrestrial Glove or Guide to Fitz’s New Method of Mounting and Operating Gloves,” explaining and promoting her unique mounting system for education.[8] This book was a bestseller[9] and was printed four times, first in 1876,[10] with subsequent editions in 1878, 1880, and 1888.[11] An 1876 review of the book noted "it seems impossible to speak too favorably" of the book,[12] and Publishers Weekly noted that the globe was "likely to revolutionize the popular notion that woman has no inventive genius".[13]

Fitz designed a second globe allowing people to understand the location of the stars. She received a patent for this globe in 1882 (patent #263,886).[2]

Last days

Ellen Eliza Fitz passed away on October 12, 1886, in Watertown, Massachusetts.[14]

Selected publications

  • Fitz, Ellen E. (1876). Hand-book of the terrestrial globe : or, guide to Fitz's new method of mounting and operating globes, designed for the use of families, schools, and academies / by Ellen E. Fitz. University of California Libraries. Boston : Ginn Brothers.

References

  1. ^ a b "Ellen E. Fitz collected papers, 1853-1887 (inclusive)". Watertown Free Public Library. p. 3.
  2. ^ a b c Monmonier, Mark; Atterberry, Adrienne; Fermin, Kalya; Marlzolf, Gabreille; Hamlin, Madeleine (2018-01-01). "A Directory of Cartographic Inventors: Clever People who were Awarded a US Patent for a Map-related Device or Method". Geography - Faculty Publications. doi:10.14305/bk.9781985690226. ISBN 9781985690226.
  3. ^ American women : a Library of Congress guide for the study of women's history and culture in the United States. Internet Archive. Washington : Library of Congress : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O. 2001. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-8444-1048-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ "Fitz globe - Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center". collections.leventhalmap.org. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  5. ^ Curtis, Anthony (1972). The Lyle official antiques review. Internet Archive. New York, N.Y. : Perigee Books. p. 489. ISBN 978-0-399-52924-5.
  6. ^ Van den Hoonaard, Will C. (Willy Carl) (2013). Map worlds : a history of women in cartography. Internet Archive. Waterloo, Ontario : Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-55458-932-6.
  7. ^ Macdonald, Anne L. (1992). Feminine ingenuity : women and invention in America. Internet Archive. New York : Ballantine Books. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-345-35811-0.
  8. ^ "Terrestrial Globe". National Museum of American History. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  9. ^ Garfield, Simon (2012). On the map : why the world looks the way it does. Internet Archive. London : Profile. p. 340. ISBN 978-1-84668-509-5.
  10. ^ The Commonwealth 1876-05-13: Vol 14 Iss 37. Internet Archive. Out-of-copyright. 1876-05-13.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Dynamos and virgins revisited : women and technological change in history : an anthology. Martha Moore Trescott. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. 1979. p. 113. ISBN 0-8108-1263-0. OCLC 5497977.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ Richardson, L.S. (1876). Book Reviews. Vol. 2. Internet Archive. Out-of-copyright. p. 577. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Publishers' Board of Trade (U. S.), Book Trade Association of Philadelphia (1873). The publishers weekly. University of Michigan. New York : F. Leypoldt. p. 385.
  14. ^ Boston Evening Transcript. Boston Evening Transcript. October 13, 1886.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ellen_Eliza_Fitz&oldid=1115417819"