Although her two patents were in her husband's name, Sibilla, or Sybilla, Masters was among the first, if not the first, American to receive a patent. No record of Masters' date or place of birth exists, but it may have been in the mid to late 1670s and probably in Bermuda. Her parents, William and Sarah Righton, were Quakers. Her father was a merchant marine who may have emigrated to New Jersey from Bermuda in 1687. Sibilla married Thomas Masters, a successful merchant from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, around 1695. After they were married, he had a large mansion built in Philadelphia overlooking the Delaware River, the fruit of overseas land investments. He held several political posts, including mayor of Philadelphia from 1707 to 1708.

Sibilla Masters travelled to London between 1712 and 1715. During this time, she designed a corn pulverizer which cleaned and cured Indian corn grown in the American colonies. Master's invention consisted...