100 Things You Didn't Know Were Invented by Black People (Episode 2)

welcome to the part two of our series on the  100 black inventions that changed the world in a world where the media often ignores or hides the  accomplishments of black inventors it's important to recognize and celebrate the amazing things  they have created black inventors have faced many challenges throughout history including  slavery discrimination and racism despite these obstacles they have amazed the world with  their intelligence and creativity leaving a lasting impact on our lives in t

his video we  want to highlight the incredible intelligence resilience and artistic talent displayed by black  inventors throughout history from groundbreaking technological advancements to life-saving Medical  discoveries from inspiring artistic Innovations to important social contributions this series will  showcase the wide range of black Brilliance that has influenced our world before we get right  into the video please smash the like button and subscribe to the channel so you can catch all 

the parts in this series and key keep informed of our eye-opening black narrative number 80. folding  chair on July 7 1911 an African-American man named Nathaniel Alexander of Lynchburg Virginia patented  a folding chair according to his patent Alexander designed his chair to be used in schools churches  and other auditoriums his design included a book rest that was usable for the person sitting  in the seat behind and was ideal for church or choir use while Alexander's folding chair was  not t

he first folding chair patent in the United States his Innovation was that it included a  book rest making it suitable for use in places where the back of one chair could be used as a  desk or shelf by the person seated behind this would certainly be convenient when setting  up rows of chairs for choirs so they could rest music on the chair ahead of each singer or  for churches where a prayer book Hymnal or Bible could be placed on the reading shelf during the  service number 79 automatic railro

ad car coupler African-American inventor Andrew Jackson beard  was born a slave in Jefferson County Alabama emancipated at age 15 he became a farmer and  then built and ran a Flour Mill in 1890 while living in Woodlawn beard patented improvements to  the Janny coupler making the mechanism safer and more efficient the coupler beard improved was used  to hook railroad cars together and to be operated required the dangerous task of manually placing a  pin in a link between the two cars beard himsel

f had lost a leg in a car coupling accident thanks  to his design the coupling could be now performed automatically beard received two patents on the  Innovation with the first being sold for fifty thousand dollars in 1897 equivalent to 1.8 million  dollars in today's money his improved coupler was the first automatic coupler widely used in the U.S  in 1887 the same year Beard's first Improvement of the automatic coupler was patented the U.S  Congress passed the Fed Federal safety Appliance act

which made it illegal to operate any railroad  car without automatic couplers Beard's invention was a forerunner of automatic couplers used  today number 78 stainless steel scouring pad the scouring pad is an important part of any kitchen  process it is undeniably one of the easiest ways for cleaning off burnt on messes from cast iron  pots and pans broilers and stove burners they can be used for a variety of cleaning jobs like hard  water stains in the bathroom cooked on grease on grills or soa

p scum in the shower this helpful  invention was developed by an African-American named Alfred Benjamin on June 19 1962 Alfred  Benjamin patented the stainless steel scouring pad which would Inspire many improvements including  the plastic needle surface sourcing pad which is now more commonly used number 77 synchronous  Multiplex Railway Telegraph Granville Taylor Woods was one of the most famous African-American  inventors with over 50 patents to his name styled as the black Edison Woods famou

s invention is  the synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph which allowed Communications between train stations from  moving trains by creating a magnetic field around a coiled wire under the train in 1887 woods  used notes sketches and a working model of the invention to secure the patent the invention was  so successful that Woods began the woods electric company in Cincinnati Ohio to Market and sell  his patents Thomas Edison later filed a claim to the ownership of this patent stating that he

had  first created a similar Telegraph and that he was entitled to the patent for the device Woods was  twice successful in defending himself proving that there were no other devices upon which he could  have depended or relied upon to make his device number 76 foil electric microphone along with  Gerhard sessler James Edward Macio West invented the foil electorate microphone in 1962 while  developing instruments for human hearing research compared to the previous condenser microphones  the ele

ctric microphone has higher capacitance and does not require a DC bias West and sessler  optimized the mechanical and surface parameters of the system creating a better microphone  device today nearly 90 of the microphones produced annually are based on the principles of  the foil electorate and are used in everyday items such as telephones camcorders hearing aids baby  monitors and audio recording devices among others number 75 self-lifting Farm elevator around 1930  African-American inventor W

illiam Chester Ruth improved on the farm elevator a steel Chute with  chain and slat movement to carry grain or feed bags hay bales ear corn and other products up  into a truck corn crib or haymo Ruth's version of the electric powered elevator had closely  fixed but separate gears for activating the chain conveyor and for raising the elevator the  simple pull of a lever transferred the power of the motor between conveyance and elevator height  adjustment Ruth's self-lifting Farm elevator saw wid

espread adoption including in the commercial  mushroom industry next door in Chester County number 74 automatic lubricator for steam engines  while working in a home-based machine shop in Ypsilanti Michigan Elijah McCoy would invent an  automatic lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and ships patenting it in 1872  as Improvement in lubricators for steam engines automatic lubricators were a boon for railroads  as they enabled trains to run faster and more profitably with less ne

ed to stop for lubrication  and maintenance by 1899 the Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial statistics reported that the  McCoy lubricator was in use on almost all North American railroads number 73 amputee self-feeding  device while working at the Bronx Hospital in New York at 37 years old Bessie Blount invented an  electric self-feeding apparatus for amputees she used plastic boiling water to mold the material  a file ice pick hammer and some dishes to create a prototype of her invention t

he device had a  tube to transport individual bites of food to the patient's mouth the patients would bite  down on the tube and then the next portion of food would dispense to the mouthpiece from the  attached machine this allowed patients to control how much they would eat without assistance from  others today she is known for pioneering the first electric device for feeding amputees number 72  control unit for the artificial cardiac pacemaker the artificial cardiac pacemaker is a medical  dev

ice that helps regulate the heart's electrical activity and maintain a normal heart rhythm  it consists of two main components the pulse generator and the control unit the control  unit also known as the programmer or external programmer is a device used by Healthcare  professionals to interact with and program the settings of the artificial cardiac pacemaker  it allows them to adjust various parameters of the pacemaker to meet the specific needs of  the patient Otis Boykin an African-American i

nventor is credited with inventing a control  unit for the artificial cardiac pacemaker number 71 x-ray spectrometer George Edward Alcorn is an  African-American inventor best known for inventing the X-ray spectrometer which earned him the NASA  Goddard space flight center award for inventor of the year in 1984. the X-ray spectrometer is an  important scientific instrument with numerous applications across various Fields scientists  can use x-ray spectrometers to determine the composition of unk

nown materials identify  impurities or contaminants and assess the quality and purity of substances x-ray spectrometers  also play a significant role in archeology and art restoration they are employed to analyze  ancient artifacts paintings and cultural heritage objects without causing damage by determining  the elemental makeup of these objects researchers can gain insights into their origin age and  authenticity in 2015 Alcorn was inducted into the national inventors Hall of Fame for his inve

ntion  of the X-ray spectrometer number 70. illusion transmitter African-American inventor Valerie  Thomas would devise one of the most impressive inventions of the 20th century that still has  applications today she is credited as the inventor of the illusion transmitter a device that would  send three-dimensional images across a distance making them look as if they are in front of the  mirror in simple terms imagine your television could project the on-screen image directly into  your living r

oom as a three-dimensional image in operation concave mirrors are set up on both  ends of the transmission to produce the illusion the net effect of this is an optical illusion of  a three-dimensional image that looks real on the receiving end this brilliant Innovation placed  Thomas among the most prominent black inventors of the 20th century NASA continues to use her  technology and is exploring ways to use it in surgical tools and possibly television and  video number 69 gas masks Garrett Mor

gan is already well known as the famous mind behind the  modern three-light traffic signal his witnessing of an accident would lead to improvements of  the existing traffic light signal inspiring the green yellow and red traffic lights we all  know today however this was not Morgan's only achievement he filed a patent for the first gas  mask convention in 1912 but it wasn't until two years later that the idea really took off when  a group of workers got stuck in a tunnel below Lake Erie after an

explosion Morgan and a team of  men donned the masks to help get them out after the rescue was a success requests for The Masks  began pouring in his device used a moist sponge to filter out smoke and cool the air it took  advantage of the way smoke and fumes tend to rise to higher positions while leaving a layer  of more breathable air below by using an air intake tube that dangled near the floor the hood  used a series of tubes to draw clean air of the lowest level the tubes could extend to s

moke being  hotter than the air around it rises and by drawing air from the ground the safety Hood provided the  user with a way to perform emergency respiration in 1914 he received a patent for the invention of  the gas mask and was awarded a gold medal by the International Association of Fire Chiefs Morgan's  safety Hood was used to save many lives During the period of its use number 68 mechanical planter  both the seed planter and cotton planter which inspired modern day mechanical farm tools

were  developed by a black inventor at a time where racial bias and discrimination were at the peak  Henry Blair would be the second African-American inventor to receive a U.S patent he received two  patents for his outstanding inventions his first invention was the seed planter patented October  14 1834 which allowed Farmers to plant more corn using less labor and in a shorter time on August  31 1836 he obtained a second patent for a cotton planter this invention worked by splitting the  groun

d with two shovel-like blades which were pulled Along by a horse a wheel driven cylinder  followed behind which dropped the seed into the newly plowed ground Blair had been a successful  Farmer for years and developed the inventions as a means of increasing efficiency in farming  even more remarkable was the fact that Blair was illiterate and had no formal education but would  go on to devise inventions that are applicable today number 67 street sweepers street sweepers  as we know them today ma

ke the job of keeping the streets clean less tedious with them the process  of Sanitation and waste removal is achieved faster and more efficiently we can all thank the  brilliant mind of African-American inventor Charles Brooks for this amazing invention Charles  Brooks idea for the street sweeper was meant as an improvement to the already existing but less  efficient street sweeper that were in operation at time unlike other sweepers at that time Brook  sweeper was the first self-propelled str

eet sweeping truck his design had revolving brushes  attached to the front fender and the brushes were interchangeable so that when snow fell scrapers  could be attached for snow removal he received a patent for his invention on March 17 1896 a  few months later on May 12 1896 he patented a dust proof collection bag for the street sweeper  although little information is available about his life we do know that funding for the production  for his sweeper was provided by George M Halstead and Plum

mer s page the production took place  in Scranton Pennsylvania where each sweeper was priced at around two thousand dollars it proved  to be so successful that the Pennsylvania state government gave a hundred thousand dollars  contract to the manufacturing company the maintenance superintendent of Buffalo New York was  so impressed with Brooke's design that he adopted the model for his City number 66 clothes ringer  in 1888 Ellen Eglin invented her groundbreaking device a special type of clothes

ringer which was  a machine that had two wooden rollers attached to a crank after being washed and rinsed wet  clothes were fed between these rollers and an immense amount of water was squeezed out  the clothes were then hung to dry a process which took significantly less time due to the  ringer although the design was perceived as a popular product well into the 20th century Eglin  received almost no credit or financial success of her own invention due to being black at a time  when racial dis

crimination was at its peak she was forced to sell the rights of the invention for  just 18 dollars to an unknown white agent eglin's ringer could go on to inspire the design for mops  that we still use today number 65 bread kneader Joseph Lee was an African-American inventor whose  experience in the baking industry would lead him to create the bread kneader an improved method for  making bread with more efficiency and less effort Lee was interested in automating the process of  making bread to

ensure a uniform quality with less time and effort than it took to need by hand  he invented a machine that did that and received a patent on August 7 1894. this needer was more  efficient and faster than kneading by hand the next year on June 4th 1895 Lee received a patent  for a machine to make bread crumbs this invention was prompted after Lee's machine started making  too much bread the Royal Worcester breadcrumb company used Lee's invention to make breadcrumbs  for restaurants Lee's breadcr

umber was widely adopted and recognized the national inventors  Hall of Fame writes that within five years of its invention it was used by many of America's  leading hotels and was a fixture in hundreds of the country's leading catering establishments in  2019 Lee was inducted into the American national inventors Hall of Fame number 64. pastry Fork  while it might sound like a simple invention and imagine's innovation of the pastry Fork would  simplify the manner of making pastry and lead to oth

er Innovations of household tools before  the invention kneading pastry dough by hand was a grueling process that caused arm cramping and  other pains mange and Innovation ensured for maximum efficiency and required less effort from  the user the pastry Fork was designed for a wide range of uses including beating eggs thickening  Foods making drawn butter mashing potatoes making salad dressings and most importantly kneading  pastry dough the pastry Fork improved the lives of many people and even

tually led to more electric  mixing inventions that are used to this day number 63 steam operated propeller while being enslaved  in Mississippi Benjamin Thornton Montgomery would invent a design of a steam operated propeller to  provide propulsion to boats in shallow water the propeller could cut into the water at different  angles thus allowing the boat to navigate more easily through shallow water while his design was  efficient he would not be able to acquire a patent for it on the basis tha

t he was a slave and not a  citizen of the United States number 62 hairbrush in the late 1800s Newman invented a hairbrush  that used synthetic bristles instead of the animal hairs commonly used for brushes at the  time making it more durable it could also be taken apart easily for cleaning because it contained a  compartment at the bottom that could be removed from the back and be cleaned the hairbrush she  invented is described in her patent as simple and durable in construction and being very

effective  when in use Newman's hair brush was obviously an improvement and quickly became more popular due  to its efficiency due to her invention of the first hairbrush with synthetic bristles Newman  would rise to fame as a leading female inventor her invention has gone through many improvements  and Innovations and Still Remains a staple item today number 61 gas furnace in the early 1900s  Central gas heating had yet to be developed so people relied on burning coal or wood as their  main so

urce of heating while furnaces and the concept of central heating have been around since  the Roman Empire the science hardly advanced in the years that followed and the heating methods  utilized by the end of the 19th century were still relatively primitive in nature African-American  inventor Alice Parker felt that the fireplace alone was not enough to keep her and her home  warm during the cold Jersey winter and went on to design the first gas furnace that was powered  by natural gas and the

first heating system to contain individually controlled air ducts that  distributed heat evenly throughout the building in more technical terms Parker's heating  system used independently controlled burner units that Drew in cold air and conveyed the  heat through a heat exchanger this air was then fed into individual ducts to control the  amount of heat in different areas what made her invention particularly unique was that it was  a form of Zone heating where temperature can be moderated in di

fferent parts of a building  Parker's invention was further improved in 1935 by scientists who created forced convection wall  heaters that use a coal furnace electric fan and ductwork throughout a home nowadays homes utilize  thermostats and forced air furnaces which can be attributed to Parker's design and invention of  the central heating black inventors have shown us what's possible even when faced with tough  situations they have proven that anyone can be smart and do amazing things by shar

ing these  stories we want to challenge the idea that black people are not as good as others and Inspire  everyone to appreciate the achievements of all people no matter their background it's important  to recognize the wide range of inventors and honor their important contributions as always watch out  for the next part of the series don't forget to like the video subscribe to our Channel and  share our videos to let more people know the truth about blacks and to hear their own part of  the nar

ratives thanks for watching [Music] foreign [Music]