by Peggy Hoehne
Sometimes in our Midwest small town lives we forget that our culture is not the only one. We wonder why it is important for us to give recognition to other races and cultures. February is Black History Month. To those of us who are white we may think Black history doesn't affect us. Well we had better think again.
Imagine what your home would be like without sugar, peanut butter, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, instant coffee, Cascade dishwasher detergent, or Kodak pictures? Without African American inventors you may not have had these products. If you have ever read the Farmer's Almanac, stained or painted wood, used the telephone, had a permanent, used computer accessories like disk drives, video gear, speakers, and scanners you have profited from the work of an African American inventor.
The accomplishment of African American inventors to making our everyday lives a little easier is vast. Black men and women have taken out patents on everything from folding chairs to a bathroom tissue holder. Nearly everything we use in our lives has been influenced at one step or another by the inventions of African Americans.
The only person ever designated by the Patent Office as "a colored man" was Henry Blair. On October 14,1834, he was granted a patent for a corn-planting machine and, two years later, a second patent for a similar device used in planting cotton. It is probable he was the first black man to receive a patent.
George Washington Carver is one of the best-known inventors. Among the things he discovered or improved are some very well known products: adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain.
Born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana in 1852, Jan Ernst Matzeliger developed a shoe lasting machine that would attach the sole to the shoe in one minute. Prior to this the soles were sewn on by hand. His development revolutionized the shoe industry.
Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky in 1877. He invented a gas inhalator to help rescue some men trapped in a tunnel under Lake Erie. The US army used this device during World War I and it is a variation of this original gas inhalator that firemen today use to go into smoke filled buildings.
Morgan also invented something we are much more familiar with - the red for stop, yellow for caution, and green for go traffic signals. The traffic lights we have in all of our towns today are still based on his original signal flags.
The Cataract Laserphaco Probe, a probe designed to use the power of a laser to quickly and painlessly vaporize cataracts from patients' eyes, was patented in 1988 by Dr. Patricia E. Bath. Another of Bath's invention was able to restore the sight of people who had been blind for 30 years. She holds patents in Japan, Canada, and Europe.
In Hastings, Nebraska, Edwin Perkins invented a concentrated drink mix called Fruit Smack. It came in six flavors and a four-ounce bottle made enough for an entire family. However they were difficult and expensive to ship. He developed a process for removing the liquid and packaging the dried powder in envelopes for shipping. The customer just added water. He designed a shipping envelope and named the new product Kool Ade. Later the spelling changed to the familiar Kool Aid.
In 1929 he was marketing Kool Aid to grocery stores and food brokers nation wide. He sold the company to General Foods in 1953 and they added the smiling pitcher we know as Kool Aid's trademark yet today.
Lonnie Johnson, an Aerospace Engineer from Los Angeles, California, invented the Power Drencher in 1988. When he received his patent in 1991 it was renamed the Super Soaker. It was the first water blaster to incorporate air pressure into its design.
So, as you can see, there are many reasons why we should honor Black History month. Our lives wouldn't be the same without their inventions.
Originally published in the Independence Bulletin-Journal, Feb. 6, 2002
