In Touch With With African American Inventors
By Betty Miller Buttram FWIS Contributing Writer
Most people have an ironing board in their home or most certainly as part of their room accommodation in a hotel or motel. When a clothing item is soiled, a label can be found attached to it recommending dry cleaning only. A light bulb brightens the darkness. Elevator doors open and close automatically. Food is refrigerated on trucks. An illusion transmitter, and the development of digital media formats for imaging processing systems.
These are inventions that were patented by African Americans, and they have had an impact in our daily lives.
Sarah Marshall Boone (1832-1904) was born in Craven County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of enslaved parents. It is stated that she earned her freedom when she married James Boone in 1847, a free African American. They became parents to eight children and the family migrated to New Haven, Connecticut prior to the Civil War. Boone was a dressmaker and on April 26, 1892, received a patent for the invention of a narrow, curved wooden board that could slip into sleeves and allowed for a garment to be shifted without getting wrinkled. Her invention was padded to eliminate the impressions produced by the wooden board and collapsible for easy storage.
Thomas J. Jennings (c. 1791 - February 12, 1859) was born to a free African American family in New York City. He married a woman named Elizabeth and they had three children. Jennings was a tailor who had a dry-cleaning business in New York City. His customers complained of their clothes being ruined by stains. He started experimenting with different chemicals that could protect the fabric while removing stains. He called his invention “dry scouring.” He received a patent for his invention on March 3, 1821. With his business expertise and his invention, Jennings made a significant personal fortune. He put much of that money into the abolitionist movement.
Lewis Howard Latimer (September 4, 1848-December 11, 1928) was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children. He married Mary Wilson Lewis in 1873, and the couple had two daughters. Latimer was a self-taught draftsman and had several occupations during his lifetime: Inventor, patent consultant, author, engineer draftsman, and Navy Landsman. Latimer devised a way of encasing filament blanks inside a cardboard envelope which prevented the carbon from breaking and prolonging the life of the bulb. As a result, incandescent light bulbs became affordable to more consumers. They were safer than gas lamps and transformed the average American home after nightfall.
Alexander Miles (May 18, 1838 – May 7, 1938) was born in Pickaway County, Ohio. Miles improved the safety and efficiency of elevators. The doors of the elevators had to be closed manually by operators. If the shaft was not closed, people could fall through it leading to horrific accidents. He designed a flexible belt attachment to the elevator cage and drums that were positioned to indicate if the elevator had reached a floor. The belt allowed for automatic opening and closing when the elevator reached the drums on the respective floors by means of levers and rollers. Miles was granted a patent for this mechanism on October 11, 1887.
Frederick McKinley Jones (May 17, 1893 – February 21, 1961). Jones was born in Covington, Kentucky. Jones was self-taught and worked jobs that included garage cleaning boy, automobile mechanic and garage foreman. In 1912, Jones moved to Hallock, Minnesota where he worked as a mechanic on a 50,000-acre farm owned by James J. Hill, who was also owner of the Great Northern Railroad. He lived there for over 20 years. He received his engineering license at age 20. In 1938, Jones designed the portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying
perishable food. The unit was attached to the undercarriages of the trucks to prevent spoilage. Chilled air was transported to the inside of the trailer via refrigerant tubing. In 1939, Jones filed for a patent for Model A and received a patent for it on July 12, 1949. During those interim years, Jones had developed Model B which was smaller and lighter, but not durable; and Model C which was mounted to the front of the truck was compact, light, and withstood road travel vibrations.
Valerie Thomas (born February 8, 1943) in Baltimore, Maryland; graduated from Morgan State University in 1964 with a degree in physics. Thomas began working for NASA as a data analyst in 1964. During her years with NASA, she invented the illusion transmitter. The illusion transmitter sends three-dimensional images across a distance making them look as if they are in front of the mirror. She received a patent in 1980. She developed the digital media formats that image processing systems used in the early years of NASA’s Landsat program.
There are more African American inventors. These are just a few of them.