Margaret Crane facts for kids

Margaret Crane's patent illustration for "Diagnostic Test Device", the first home pregnancy test

Margaret M. Crane (also known as Meg Crane) is an American inventor and graphic designer. She created the very first at-home pregnancy test in 1967. At the time, she was working at Organon Pharmaceuticals in West Orange, New Jersey. Her name is on the patents for this important invention.

Even though she invented it in 1967, the home pregnancy test wasn't available to the public until 1977. This was because there was some hesitation about selling it directly to people instead of only to doctors. However, it was tested in Canada in 1972 before its wider release.

Designing the At-Home Test

In 1967, when Margaret Crane was 26, she started working at Organon. Her job was to help design a new line of beauty products. One day, she was exploring the company's lab. She noticed many test tubes and asked what they were for. She learned they were pregnancy tests.

Each test tube held special liquids called reagents. When mixed with a pregnant woman's urine, these liquids would show a red ring. This ring meant the woman was pregnant.

Margaret Crane was inspired by this. She realized that women could easily do this test at home. This would make it much quicker and more private. Even though she didn't have a science background, she saw how important this privacy would be. This idea led her to create her first design for an at-home test.

How the Invention Came to Be

Margaret Crane decided to work on her idea at home in New York. She used simple items to build her first model. These included a paper clip holder, a test tube, a mirror, and a dropper. She put these parts together to create her prototype.

When she showed her invention to Organon, they first said no. They worried that doctors might lose business if women could test themselves at home. But Organon still applied for patents in her name in 1969.

Eventually, Organon decided to try selling the product in a test market. Margaret Crane's design was chosen for this. They hired an advertising agency to help. Ira Sturtevant, who led the advertising team, was very impressed by her clever design.

Organon chose Canada for the first test market. Margaret Crane and Ira Sturtevant worked together on this project. They became partners for over 40 years. Their advertising company helped promote the pregnancy test.

The Impact of the Test

An early advertisement for the test said, "Every woman has the right to know whether or not she is pregnant." This was Margaret Crane's main reason for inventing the kit. Before her invention, women had to visit a doctor. Their urine would be sent to a lab, and they might wait weeks for results.

In the 1960s, pregnancy tests worked by checking for a hormone. This hormone is called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Pregnant women have high levels of hCG in their urine. If hCG was found, it meant pregnancy.

It took a while for Crane's test to get approval in the United States. This was due to rules from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical devices. Her pregnancy test finally received FDA approval in 1976.

Soon after, in 1977, Crane's test was sold to the public. It was called "The Predictor." Even though her name was on the patents, Margaret Crane never made money from her design. She had to sign away her rights for a very small amount. But she was happy to have met her business partner, Ira Sturtevant.

Margaret Crane didn't get much public credit for her invention until 2012. The New York Times newspaper published an article about the history of pregnancy tests. Her name wasn't in it. She decided to speak up about her contribution. Since then, Margaret Crane has received the recognition she deserves for her important invention. Her ideas helped change how pregnancy tests are done today.

Legacy

A very early model of "The Predictor" and a packaged version from 1970 are now part of history. They were acquired by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2015.