black history...garret augustus morgan (1877 - 1963)
traffic Lights:
Perhaps the easiest way to understand the significance or impact of Garrett Augustus Morgan is to imagine a person who has the qualities of Louis Pasteur and an entrepreneur such as Alan Sugar (founder of Amstrad Electronics), Rupert Murdoch (owner of The Times and the Sun newspapers), or John H Johnson (African American publisher, since 1945, of Ebony and Jet magazines that celebrate Black lifestyles and achievements). Morgan was not simply an inventor, he was also able to exploit his inventions commercially and in so doing became a manufacturer and supplier of inventions, and in the process created jobs for a great many people, directly and indirectly.
In common with successful entrepreneurs Morgan had bags of self belief, drive and an eye for opportunity. As a young man Morgan was surrounded by the revolution in the clothes manufacturing industry, as Isaac Singer’s sewing machine was transforming garment production. Given his nature, it was no surprise that he soon moved from sewing machine repair man to becoming the owner of a repair shop; and two years later becoming the owner of a tailoring business using his own sewing machines.
It was in this environment that he invented a lubricating fluid for the sewing machine needle and later discovered its wider application as a hair straightener or relaxer. His understanding of the demand from the African American community for curly hair relaxer made it easy for him to market this invention, as a hair refining cream. Morgan’s hair refining cream laid the foundation for a strand of the hair care products industry that is with us today. The hair care products industry is one in which several African Americans entrepreneurs and manufacturers have prospered, over the last hundred years.
Morgan’s invention of the gas mask in 1912 was most timely, as it was used in World war One, to protect tens of thousands of allied soldiers from chlorine, a poisonous gas, used as a weapon in 1915 by the German army. Morgan’s gas mask was also used in rescues and in research experiments with dangerous substances. Its successors are still being used today for similar purposes.
Morgan’s invention of the automatic traffic signal, that replaced the manual system of traffic control, and introduced safe crossing zones for pedestrians significant. Morgan’s automatic traffic signal improved the flow of traffic at road junctions and directly contributed to the reduction in the number of accidental road deaths in the USA, and over time, across the whole world, as more countries introduce automatic traffic signals.
Without doubt, Morgan’s automatic traffic signal has been a major contribution to road safety worldwide for over eighty years. There is little doubt that the idea for the automatic traffic signal, and his other inventions already mentioned, will remain at the heart of modern societies, for the foreseeable future, and hence his name should be used to inspire all young people to be inventive, and to put those inventions to work in business.
Dr D A Neil
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