Margaret A. Wilcox

Little is known about her early life,[citation needed] which was common for many women of her era, whose personal histories were often overshadowed by their male counterparts.

[1] Wilcox showed an early interest in mechanical engineering despite the social conventions of her era, which often restricted women's roles to domestic domains.

[3] By using the heat produced by cars' internal combustion engines, this device directed warm air into the passenger compartment.

[3] Although her invention, which was patented in 1893, was innovative in that it made use of the engine's residual heat, it was originally designed without a temperature control system, which resulted in overheating.

Her efforts are now seen as crucial to the development of vehicle comfort, improving not only passenger convenience but also the worldwide supply chain by being essential in the transfer of commodities that are sensitive to temperature.