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MDAWN'S black history AFRICAN -AMERICAN By Therese Lanigan -Schmidt Imagine standing on a corner in new shoes, waiting for the traffic light to change. You look at INVENTORS' your your watch, see a passerby take a lick of his ice cream cone and notice an ad for potato chips. A driver brakes at the light, then puts on the left turn signal. What 3o all these have in common? They were all invented by African Americans, from the machine that automatic ally attaches soles to shoes (Jan Matzeliger, currently featured in the Black Heritage United States postage stamp series) to the automatic street - Contributions at Work in Today's World . travel He is also credited with the automatic air brake and the electric incubator for hatching chickens. Woods took on the powerful Edison Company who challenged his inventions in patent court. He not (and consequently getting Edison off the ground). While an engineer with the Edison Company, Latimer supervised the installation of the first electric light system in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal and London. light (Garrett Morgan). Richard Spikes invented the automatic-can directional signals, the "fail safe" brake for motor vehicles and the automatic car wash. Augustus Jackson, Philadelphia confectioner, is called the "father of ice cream," Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and mathematician, is said to have invented the first watch used in this country and Hyram Thomas is responsible for the potato chip. African Americans either invented or perfected many existing innovations that are very much in use today. Their recognition has not always been forthcoming-it is appropriate to applaud their - accomplishments only during Black History Month, but throughout not the year. When I wait for the subway, I can thank Granville T. Woods of Columbus, Ohio for modernizing railroading with the invention of the "Third Rail." Machinist, blacksmith, railroad fireman and engineer, Mr. Woods, with little formal education, took college courses in electrical and mechanical engineering. He patented a phone transmitter (1885) later bought by Bell Telephone, and invented the induction telegraph system (1887) which informed an engineer of trains right in front and right behind him, ensuring safer rail Madame C J. Walker was the first Black millionaire. Her excellence in entrepreneurship often put her in the company of well-known Black men such as Booker T. Washington (center). Photo courtesy of the Walker Collection of the Indiana Historical Society. only won those patent rights, but was also able to prove his earlier rights to inventions claimed by Edison. Interestingly enough, after his second legal loss to Woods, Edison offered him a position. Woods turned him down, going on to found the Woods Electric Company which manufactured and sold phone, telegraph and electrical instruments. Woods registered 50 patents, many jointly invented with his brother, Lyates. The American Catholic Tribune in 1888 called him "the greatest electrician in the world." While on the subject of Edison, Lewis Latimer of Chelsea, Massachusetts, gave us the carbon filament (1882), making light bulbs possible on a mass production basis DAWN/JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1992 10 He also wrote the first textbook on the lighting system used by the Edison Company. Alexander Graham Bell employed him te make patent drawings for the firsttelephone an4j-j&ime£ was'nater chief draftsman for General Electric; and Westinghouse. And let us not forget the^reat Benjamin's gong and African-American women inventors: Miriam E. signal chair (1888) was the United States Representatives adopted by House of for Congresspeople call pages to run errands for them. J.H. Hunter invented the portable weighing scale (1896) that is still very much in use in post offices, businesses and hospitals today, as well as in my own home. to