Margaret Crane

What she did

Invented the first home pregnancy test, Predictor, by turning an existing laboratory procedure into a kit women could use at home.

Impact and significance

Her design made information about pregnancy available privately without first arranging a laboratory test through a doctor. She invented the home kit, building on established pregnancy-testing chemistry.

This is Matria’s interpretation, not a quotation or personalised advice.

Works recorded in the archive

• Predictor home pregnancy test prototype (late 1960s)
• US Patent 3,579,306, Diagnostic Test Device (filed 1969, issued 1971)

Sources and access

• Predictor pregnancy test design prototype, Smithsonian collection record
• Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History. Predictor Pregnancy Test Design Prototype, object nmah_1803285.Bibliographic reference. Consult the named edition through a library or publisher.
• Lord, Alexandra. Antibodies Are a Girl's Best Friend. National Museum of American History, 2017.Bibliographic reference. Consult the named edition through a library or publisher.
• Olszynko-Gryn, Jesse. Predictor: The First Home Pregnancy Test. Journal of British Studies, 2021.Bibliographic reference. Consult the named edition through a library or publisher.
• Crane, Margaret M. Diagnostic Test Device. US Patent 3,579,306, filed 22 January 1969, issued 18 May 1971.Bibliographic reference. Consult the named edition through a library or publisher.

This label concerns the sources on this record. It does not validate every argument an author makes or establish what is true for a reader. Bibliographic coverage does not mean every passage or quotation has been verified. Specialist review remains pending.