Page 25 - Florida Sentinel 2-5-16 (2)

Black History: Inventions That Changed The World
SARAH BOONE
Sarah Boone received a patent on April 26, 1892 for a de- vice which would help to neatly iron clothing. This device, the pred- ecessor to our modern ironing board was made of a narrow wooden board, with collapsible legs and a padded cover and was specifically designed for the fitted clothing worn during that time pe- riod.
GEORGE MURRAY
George Murray was a teacher, farmer, land developer and federal customs inspector. A former slave, Murray became a United States Congressman and a noted inventor.
Murray was born in Sumter County, South Carolina in Sep- tember, 1853, and spent the first 13 years of his life as a slave. In 1892 Murray was elected as United States Congress-
man, representing the State of South Carolina.
One topic that Murray spoke openly about was the plight of
the Black inventor; most whites were completely unaware of the success that many Blacks had.
Murray recounted these achievements and read them into the Congressional Record. While serving in his second term, Murray secured patents for eight
inventions, including cultivating and fertilizing equipment and a cotton chopper.
After serving two terms in Congress, Murray became a real estate speculator, eventually
moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1905. He died in April of 1926 and was buried in Illinois.
THOMAS STEWART
Cleaning floors had always meant scrubbing them on your hands and knees using scrub brushes and rags. Thomas Stew- art envisioned an easier, less painful way. Using a cloth con- nected to a stick handle and held in place by a metal clasp, Stewart presented the world with invention of the mop.
MATTHEW CHERRY
Matthew Cherry developed two devices that would one day evolve into very useful items for transportation. The first device was called a velocipede and consisted of a metal frame upon which were attached two or three wheels. Someone sit- ting on the seat of the apparatus could propel themselves for- ward at considerable speeds by moving their feet along the ground in a fast walking or running motion. Cherry’s model, which he patented on May 8, 1888, greatly improved upon other similar devices and has evolved into the bicycle and the tricycle.
Seven years later, Cherry set out to solve a problem with streetcars. He patented the street car fender on January 1, 1895 and added safety for passengers and employees.
The fender, which was a piece of metal attached to the
front of the streetcar, acted as a shock absorber, thereby diminishing the force of the impact in the event of an accident. This device has been modified through the years and is now used on most transportation devices.
CLATONIA JOAQUIN DORTICUS
Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus
was an African American inventor
who received many patents. He in-
vented an apparatus for applying
dyes to the sides of the soles and
heels of shoes (patent # 535,820,
March 19, 1895), a machine for
embossing (contouring the paper
of) photographs (patent # 537,442,
April 16, 1895), a device that
helped develop photographs
(patent # 537,968, April 23, 1895),
and a leak stopper for hoses (patent # 629,315, July 18, 1899).
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