The above led me to this from the US Patent Office:
" Martha J. Coston perfected then patented her deceased husband's idea for a pyrotechnic flare. Coston's husband, a former naval scientist, died leaving behind only a rough sketch in a diary of plans for the flares. Martha developed the idea into an elaborate system of flares called Night Signals that allowed ships to communicate messages nocturnally. The U. S. Navy bought the patent rights to the flares. Coston's flares served as the basis of a system of communication that helped to save lives and to win battles. Martha credited her late husband with the first patent for the flares, but in 1871 she received a patent for an improvement exclusively her own. "

I didn't search for the patent but Ms. Coston does have a Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Coston