In 1904, during her visit to Europe, Bly saw Glycerin containers made of steel. In 1901, Pan-American trade fair, Iron Clad factories were promoted as being, “Owned exclusively by Nellie Bly – the only woman in the world personally managing industries of such a magnitude.” She turned the businesses that she inherited, into multimillion-dollar companies and continued her social reforms by paying her workers well. As metal became an inexpensive substitution for wooden containers, she invented a steel barrel that became a replica for the widely used 55-gallon drum.

After her husband’s death, she ran his business, the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., where she again established her creativity. She was still in her twenties, while he was 72, but the marriage seemed contented and provided the monetary security she always wanted. By the time she was in her twenties, she was a world renowned journalist. In 1895, Nellie retired from reporting for a while when she married businessman Robert Seaman, in unusual haste, only a few days after they met. Nellie Bly was only 18 when she so overwhelmed a newspaper editor at The Pittsburgh Dispatch that she was asked to begin her journalism career immediately. It is rumoured that her ground-breaking spirit became more pronounced after the death of her father when she was only 6 years old. Nellie Bly was often looked at as an iconic character who encouraged women to become journalists. American journalist, Elizabeth Cochrane, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly had her 151st birthday on May 5th, 2015 in celebration of which, Google released a harmonious doodle.

Inventor steel