Murfey's last verified patents applied her bearing materials to textile spindles, bringing her total to 23 patents plus one reissue since 1870.
On August 17, 1875, Eliza Murfey received her final two verified patents, US 166,885 and 166,886, applying her lubricated bearing-surface technology to textile spindles used in the spinning industry. This represented yet another domain extension of her core invention, moving from railroad axles and steam pistons into the machinery of textile manufacturing, one of the largest industrial sectors in the post-Civil War American economy.
These patents brought Murfey's verified total to twenty-three distinct patents plus one reissue granted between 1870 and 1875 — an extraordinary five-year body of inventive work that spanned railroad safety, steam machinery, and textile production. Few inventors of any gender achieved such a sustained and diversified patent record during this period, and Murfey's accomplishment stands as a landmark in the history of American women in engineering and industrial innovation.
The application of her bearing technology to textile spindles reflects the same underlying engineering insight that animated her earlier work: that friction and heat at rotating mechanical interfaces could be systematically reduced through carefully engineered lubricated packing materials. Her final patents thus serve as a fitting capstone to a career defined by methodical, cross-industry problem-solving. After 1875, no further patents under her name have been documented, and detailed biographical records of her later life remain elusive, leaving her patent portfolio as the primary testament to her historical significance.