African American Scientists and Inventors by Tish Davidson

Author:Tish Davidson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Highlights Inc

Drawings from Andrew Jackson Beard’s 1897 patent application for an improved railroad car coupling system.

The actual automatic car coupler, which was credited with preventing many accidents on the railroad. You can see a video of how the coupler works at www.youtube.com/watch?v=UANaUVybl1w.

CARS CREATE NEW PROBLEMS

Eventually cars would replace trains for long-distance travel. But in the early 1900s when the first car appeared, there were no traffic laws. Soon there were problems. At an intersection, how would people know who should stop and who should go? Garrett Morgan thought he had the answer.

The Morgan traffic signal was a pole shaped like a cross. The arms had STOP painted on one side and GO on the other. First, cars on one street would go. Then the pole would be cranked around to let cars on the other street go. When both arms of the cross were pulled all the way up, all cars stopped, and people could safely cross the street. Morgan received a patent for his traffic signal in 1923. It was used until the electric red-yellow-green traffic light we use today was invented. Garrett Morgan died in 1963.

Garrett Morgan’s Gas Mask

Another of Garrett Morgan’s inventions was a safety hood, or gas mask, that could filter dust, smoke, and harmful gasses out of the air. No one paid much attention to this invention until July 1916. An explosion in a tunnel in Cleveland, Ohio, trapped 32 men. Rescuers could not safely enter the tunnel because of smoke and harmful gasses in the air.

Morgan brought his gas mask to the tunnel. He put it on and went in. Some reports say he saved all the trapped men. Others say he was able to save only a few. Whichever story is true, the gas mask worked. After the tunnel explosion, fire departments and mining companies began to purchase the masks.

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