Black History Month: African American Inventors

As we continue to celebrate Black History Month, let's take time to recognize a few African American inventors who changed the world with their ideas.

Garrett Morgan: Inventor of the Three-Position Traffic Signal

On November 20, 1923, the U.S. Patent Office granted Patent No. 1,475,074 to Garrett Morgan, a 46-year-old inventor and newspaperman, for his three-position traffic signal. Morgan's was not the first traffic signal (that one went up in London in 1868), but it was an important step forward. By adding a third position besides "Stop" and "Go," it handled crossing traffic more safely than earlier signals.

Granville T. Woods: Inventor of the Induction Telegraph System

On November 29, 1887, Woods received a patent for his Induction Telegraph System, also called the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph. Before this, communication between moving trains, and between a train and a station, was poor.

A telegraph needs a continuous wire between the sending key and the receiving sounder. Telegraph wires usually ran along the tracks, but for the system to work on board, part of the train had to stay in constant contact with those wires.

Because trains bounce and sway, most messages came through incomplete. Warnings about washed-out bridges, rock slides and other dangers often failed to reach a train in time. Other times, trains learned too late, or not at all, where other trains on the same track were.

Matthew A. Cherry: Inventor of the Streetcar Fender

On January 1, 1895, Cherry received a patent for the streetcar fender. Before this device, streetcars were often damaged when they hit other objects.

Cherry saw the problem and invented the fender, a piece of metal attached to the front of the streetcar that worked like a shock absorber. It protected the front of the car from costly repairs and absorbed some of the impact of a collision. You can see the same basic idea in the bumpers on cars today.