Download INVENTORS`

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
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Contributions at Work in Today's World
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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