Martha j costco biography of albert

American inventor of Coston flare

Martha Jane Coston (December 12, 1826 – July 9, 1904) was an American inventor and businesswoman who invented the Coston flare, a device for signaling at sea, and the owner of the Coston Manufacturing Company.

Early life

She was born Martha Hunt in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Philadelphia in the 1830s. At age 15 or 16, she eloped with Benjamin Franklin Coston, age 21, who had already acquired a reputation as a promising inventor.

He was born in St. Theodore d'Acton, Quebec, Canada on Nov. 1, to the late Omer & Yvonne (Dion) Desautels.

As a young man, he became director of the U.S. Navy’s scientific laboratory in Washington, D.C. At the Washington Navy Yard, he developed a signaling rocket and a percussion primer for cannons. He also experimented with color-coded night signals to allow communication between ships, which at that time was limited to visual signals such as flags during the day and lanterns at night.

After a dispute over payment for his work on the percussion primer, Coston resigned his commission with the Navy