Ann Moore (inventor)

Ann Moore (born 1934) is an American nurse credited as the inventor of the Weego and Snugli child carriers.[1]

Moore was a pediatric nurse by training and, following humanitarian work in Germany and Morocco, she was one of the earliest volunteers for the Peace Corps.[1] She served in Togo during the 1960s and was accompanied by her husband and fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Mike Moore, who had once been her French language teacher.[1][2]

After the birth of the couple's first daughter, Mandela, following their return to the United States, Ann attempted to carry her child in the style used in West Africa by using a long shawl as a sling to strap the infant to her back. Finding this method to be ineffective, as the child would slip, Moore and her mother, Agnes Lucille (Lucy) Auckerman,[1] developed a backpack harness that would become the forerunner to the Snugli.[1] Initial sales were through word-of-mouth contacts, though in 1966, the Snugli was advertised in the Whole Earth Catalog.[1] The Snugli was patented in 1969.[1][3][4]

Moore's modifications to the infant carrier resulted in additional patents.[5][6] In 1988 and 1989, she was issued patents for the Air Lift, a soft-sided backpack carrier for portable oxygen dispensers and high-tech instruments;[7][8] the Moore's created a Colorado-based eponymous company to commercialize the invention.[1]

Moore grew up on a farm in Ohio and was raised in the Dunkard tradition.[1] She taught for a time after completing her training in pediatric nursing at Columbia University's Babies Hospital in New York City.[1] Moore has three daughters, the eldest of whom they named Mandela (aka Mande), after Nelson Mandela.[1]