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A Boomer’s Journal

By Tom Anselm

Most people know something about the famous African Americans in our past such as Frederick Douglas, Harriett Tubbman, George Washington Carver, and of course, Dr. Martin Luther King. They are icons in the history of our country. The same goes for Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Louis Armstrong and Satchel Paige. These figures and their significant contributions to our culture and society are well known, if not legendary.

But as I sat down to consider Black History Month , I wondered about some of the lesser known but still important contributions to our way of life made by people of color during the last 150 years.

So I set out to learn something about not-so-famous Black inventors from a web site set up by author Ron Landrum (www.edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu).

I sat down at the computer and switched on the lamp.

It turns out that an electrical engineer from Chelsea, Mass., named Lewis Howard Latimer had a lot to do with the glow of light I received. He worked for the Edison Company in the late 1800’s and invented an incandescent light bulb with a carbon filament that far surpassed the original Edison design in durability and longevity, thus making the light bulb a practical product. He also wrote the first textbook for use by the Edison Company in their historic installations of electric light systems in such major cities as New York, Philadelphia, Montreal and London.

The phone rang, and as I picked it up, I thought again of young Mr. Latimer who also worked for Alexander Graham Bell as a patent artist on the first telephone project. Talk about hanging with the right guys! And there was another engineer from Ohio, Granville T. Woods, who patented a telephone transmitter used by the Bell Company. He went on to create his own electric company in New York, developing an induction telegraph warning system that helped ensure safe railroad travel.

The Woods Electric Company was instrumental in developing the overhead conducting system for electrified railways and trolleys. For this and the over 60 other patents he registered, Woods became known as the “Black Edison.” Unfortunately, we hear very little of him.

As I considered the importance of rail travel in the development of our nation, I came across a guy named Elijah McCoy, a son of runaway slaves, born in Canada. Here was a guy who would make his mark in the railroad industry, and ironically, his own parents may have made their way to freedom along another railway, the famed Underground Railroad, which ended for many of the travelers in Canada.

But let me get back to McCoy’s contribution. It seems that early railroad engines had to stop every few miles to have all the moving parts oiled. Not very efficient, was it? Well, McCoy developed a small oil filled container that was capable of automatically lubricating the moving parts of a machine while it was still in motion. This invention had obvious revolutionary implications to the railroad industry, as well as many other industries that would benefit from continuously running machines. Many tried to duplicate this product but his device was so much more reliable that buyers would ask “is this the real McCoy?” when evaluating an oiling device. And I thought that phrase came from the old Richard Crenna/Walter Brennan T.V. show.

As I worked on this story, I decided to take a break. I opened the refrigerator door (nice light there, Latimer and Edison) and pulled out a fresh jug of juice. Again, the work of a little known inventor affects my life. It seems that in 1935, Frederick Jones came up with an automatic refrigeration system for long haul trucks. This system was responsible for major changes in the transport of perishable foods, and ultimately had a giant impact on the daily eating habits of Americans across the country. In 1949, his company, U.S. Thermo Control, was doing a “cool” $3 million in business.

I put on my shoes to get the mail. Like many of us, I take for granted shoes that fit. There was a man from South America in the mid 1800s whose invention made it easy for you and I to do this. Jan Ernst Matzelinger developed an automatic method for “lasting shoes”.  Lasting was the procedure that created the size and shape of the shoe by use of a mold, which lent consistency to production. His invention made it possible to turn out from 150 to 700 shoes per day, compared to 50 done by hand. With these mass production capabilities came a drop in prices. He was quoted to have said, “Now everyone can afford decent shoes.”

What a selfless and noble approach to using one’s gifts for the benefit of others! His innovation was one of the greatest forward steps taken (pun intended!) in the shoe industry to date. A sad note is that Matzelinger died at the age of 37, before he could see the fruits of his labor on a large scale.

My day continued to go like this. In everything I did, I could find a link to a contribution by a Black or African American inventor.

I ironed a shirt. Sarah Boone received a patent in 1892 for an ironing board design with collapsible legs and a padded cover. Time to go to the bathroom? T. Elkins had a lot to do with the development of the indoor commode. (Thank you, Mr. Elkins!) Switching the laundry led me to thank G.T. Sampson for his work to make the clothes drier a staple in every home.

As I looked back on my day, I said a quiet “thank you” to the lesser known but no less important curious minds of these people of color from our past, who wasted nothing. In the face of discrimination and limited opportunity, they made significant and far-reaching contributions to this, our Great American Experiment.

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