Garrett Morgan - The Forgotten Inventor

Life for black people in a time when racism weighed heavily on American society was not easy, but Garrett Morgan overcame it all to have pioneering inventions in the early 20th century.

However, at that time very few people knew about his achievements.

Overcoming difficulties to rise

Born in 1877 in Kentucky (USA), Morgan was the middle child in a family of 11 children. Although his family was difficult, he overcame many obstacles to rise up in life. After finishing elementary school, Morgan left home for Ohio to work as a tutor for a white employer, using the money he earned to hire tutors to continue his education.

Before long, Ohio's factories caught Morgan's attention. He got a job in a sewing machine factory. During this time, he tinkered with how the machines worked and found ways to repair them. As a result, he received a patent for an improved sewing machine and opened his own repair business in 1907.

Occasionally his sewing machines would scorch fabric due to the speed of the needle. To overcome this shortcoming, Morgan tested a chemical solution to reduce the friction created by the needle.

After finding this solution also worked for hair straightening, he tested it on dog hair and this led to the creation of GA Morgan Hair Refining Company, which sells hair conditioners to black customers. , bring high profits.

Create a gas mask

Garrett Morgan (1877 - 1963).

In 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory that killed 150 garment workers prompted Morgan to think about how to reduce casualties in fires.

Knowing that during a fire the cleanest air could be found at ground level, he created a hood with dangling tubes to help the wearer breathe in more fresh air.

Morgan patented the safety hood in 1914. More than 500 cities purchased the product, but Morgan found it difficult to sell his invention in many states, because he was black.

Undeterred, he hired a white actor to play the inventor, while hiding his identity inside a safety hood, he entered a smoky tent to demonstrate the product's effectiveness. The idea worked and he sold many products.

In 1916, a bag of natural gas exploded in the tunnel of a waterworks under Lake Erie, Cleveland, killing many of the workers trapped inside. Rescue teams rushed in to save them, but more than half of them died from asphyxiation.

Cleveland police called Garrett Morgan, and the inventor rushed to the scene wearing as many safety hoods as he could. With his brother Frank, Morgan entered the tunnel and saved two people and recovered four bodies, before the rescue effort was stopped.

The next day, however, front-page stories in the New York Times and other major newspapers made no mention of Morgan. The foreman and others were awarded large sums of cash, medals, and headlines, but Morgan was not.

It took many days for Morgan's heroic act to be recognized by the media, but this was "beneficial and harmful". Many of Morgan's clients, who were unaware of his race before the stories spread, began boycotting his products.

However, this loss is not great. His sharp mind and strong work ethic gave Garrett Morgan the financial stability to continue his invention research.

Traffic signal improvement

Over the course of her life, Morgan created a lot but received so little in return. Racism at the time made his efforts unknown to many people. However, Morgan has gone above and beyond, by inventing things to help others, and by making humanitarian efforts for his community.

Although Garrett Morgan did not patent the first traffic signal, his contribution is a major change in the improvement of these signals. In those days, there were signs on the road indicating when drivers should stop and when they should go, but Morgan saw the need for something more advanced.

An accident in the early 1920s prompted him to research and add a yellow light between the green and red lights, alerting drivers to an impending stop.

In 1923, Morgan patented his new traffic signal, attracting the interest of General Electric, who offered a handsome sum to buy the idea. Morgan donated $40,000, patent royalties to black universities.

Morgan joined the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and founded the Cleveland Call, a black newspaper. He also opened a black club and gave his best support to his community's colleges.

After an unsuccessful first marriage, in 1908, Morgan married Mary Anne Hasek, a German, with whom she had three children.

Morgan began developing glaucoma in 1943 and lost most of his vision as a result. The pioneering inventor died in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 27, 1963, just before the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, an event he had been waiting for.

Shortly before his death, Morgan was honored by the United States Government for his invention of traffic signals and restored to his place in history as a hero who saved Lake Erie.