Morgan patents several inventions which included an improved sewing machine, traffic signal lights, a hair straightening product and a respiratory device that would be the blueprint for WW2 gas masks.
1877
1963
Claysville, Kentucky, USA
African-American, Native American and White
1907-1909 opening his first shops
Morgan opened his sewing equipment and repair shop, this was the first of several businesses that he’d establish, this included a tailoring shop that was opened in 1909. The tailoring shop that employed 32 people and turned out coats, suits, and dresses were all sewn with equipment that Morgan invented himself.
1914 The safety hood (early gas mask)
The safety hood gained Morgan two patents, the early gas mask was a smoke protector, Morgan manufactured the mask and it was sold nationally and internationally through the National Safety Device Company also known as “NADSCO” this allowed the use of a marketing strategy that avoided Jim Crow discrimination , historian Lisa Cook called it “anonymity by dissociation”. Morgan was part of the entrepreneurs who sold their inventions by conducting live demonstrations. Morgan would represent himself and pretend to be his own assistant. In 1916 a refined model was awarded a gold medal at the International Exposition of Sanitation.
1920 The Morgan Traffic Signal
By this point Morgan had moved into the newspaper business and he established the “Cleveland call”. It is rumoured that Morgan was the first African American to own an automobile in Cleveland, it was following the purchase of his automobile that the idea for the traffic light was sparked when he witnessed a collision between a car and a horse and carriage. Other inventors had experimented, marketed and even patented traffic lights, Morgan applied for a patent to produce an inexpensive way to produce a traffic signal.
“This invention relates to traffic signals, and particularly to those which are adapted to be positioned adjacent the intersection of two or more streets and are manually operable for directing the flow of traffic…In addition, my invention contemplates the provision of a signal which may be readily and cheaply manufactured.”
The traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit and featured three positions; Stop Go and all directional stop positions. The third position halted traffic in all directions making streets safer and allowing pedestrians to cross.
Morgan was the son of formerly enslaved parents whose names were unknown, his mother was of Native American, Black and White descent and his father was a half black and half white man. Morgan was the seventh of 11 children, his early life was spent attending school and working on the family farm. When Morgan was a teenager he left Kentucky and moved to Cincinnati in search of opportunities.
Although Morgan never had formal education this didn’t deter him from finding his own education he hired a tutor whilst living in Cincinnati in which he studied English grammar. In 1985 he moved to Ohio Cleveland working in several manufacturing firms in Cleveland.
Key content of their professional life / career path etc -detail of achievements – historic moments in time etc and dates
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Today in Reference: Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: March 4, 1877 – Garrett Augustus Morgan (ukylrefservices.blogspot.com)
Black History Heroes: February 2013
