Crosby's patent established her as the first recipient of a U.S. patent for a modern bra design.
The same patent grant of November 3, 1914 that awarded Mary Phelps Jacob U.S. Patent No. 1,115,674 also established her historically as the first person to hold a United States patent for a modern brassiere design.
Although prior undergarments serving similar functions had existed in various cultures and eras, none had been legally patented in the U.S. in the specific lightweight, back-fastening form that Jacob introduced. Her invention responded directly to the discomfort and impracticality of the whalebone corset that dominated women's fashion at the time.
This 'first' is widely cited across fashion history, invention history, and women's history resources as a symbol of quiet but consequential female innovation — an invention born from a young debutante's personal frustration that ultimately transformed an entire industry.
The patent's legacy persisted for over a century, as brassieres derived from this basic concept became a near-universal component of women's clothing worldwide, and Jacob's name is regularly invoked in discussions of unsung female inventors.