Every time I go to the beauty
parlor I can thank C.O. Bailliff, who
invented a shampoo headrest (1898X
enabling millions to get their hair
washed in comfort.
-5arah Breedlove Mc Williams
Walker, known as Madame C.J., was
a legend in her time as well as today,
inventing a metal heating comb and
conditioner for straightening hair
(1905). Madame C.J. may also have
begun the very first pyramid
corporation by selling her cosmetics
door-to-door. In 1910, she built a
factory in Indianapolis to
manufacture her cosmetics. A
millionaire, Madame C.J. was one of
the most successful businesswomen
of the early part of this century.
Elijah McCoy of Detroit, son of
runaway slaves, was born in Canada
and' educated in Scotland in
"mechanical engineering. Between
1872 and 1920, he received over 57
patents for inventions such as
automatic lubricating appliances,
making him a pioneer in that field.
His invention caused the steady
supply of oil to machinery in
intermittent drops from a cup,
eliminating the necessity of stopping
the machine to oil it.
Jan E. MatzeligeT, born in Dutch
Guyana of parents who were former
slaves, served his apprenticeship in a
shoe shop in Lynn, Massachusetts.
He invented the Automatic Shoe
Last Machine (1 883), the first
machine automatically performing
all the operations for attaching soles
to shoes in less than a minute,
revolutionizing the art of shoe
making. His patent was bought by
the United Shoe Machinery
Company, Boston, which became a
multimillion dollar corporation, the
largest of its kind in the world.
Matzeliger died in obscurity in 1889
at 36 years old.
On the subject of leisure time ,~
even today many golf clubs around
the country still exclude African
Americans from using their facilities.
It is strangely ironic that George F.
Grant, in 1899, invented the golf tec.
DAWN'S BLACK HISTORY I
My late paternal grandfather, a
Pennsylvania Railroad coupler, owes
thanks
to
Andrew J. Beard. With no
¦
'
READ
-rttynt'-fc.
ABOUT IT!
Hopefully, this insightful
article on African- American
inventors will spark interest
in learning more about
these unknown heroes.
Following are a few books
you can get at your public
library to read more about
them:
The Colored Inventor by
Henry Edwin Baker, New
Dutch Guyanese-born inventor
Jan Matzeliger died in obscurity i York, 1969.
at the age of 36 despite his
invention that modernized the
Before the Mayflower; A
shoe manufacturing process.
History of Black America
by Lerone Bennett, Jr. New
formal training in engineering or
York, 1982.
metal working, Beard invented and
patented the "Jenny-Coupler" or the
"Automatic Rail Coupler" (1897).
Black Pioneers of
As a direct result of Beard's
Science Invention By
invention, the Federal Safety
Appliance Act was enacted by Louis Haber, New York,
1970.
Congress, making it illegal for
railroads to supply cars that did not
couple automatically on impact.
Encyclopedia of Black
The achievements of AfricanAmerica By Augustus W.
American men and women inventors
Low and Virgil A. Clift,
runs the gamut from the field of
New York, 1981.
communication, travel, electricity to
have
shoes
on
beauty. They
put
thousands of feet, given the time to
At Last Recognition in
millions and generally enabled all of
America By James C.
us to have a safer, better quality of
B.C. A.
Williams,
life. Let us forever appreciate and
;Ck Heritage Ui
,
all of their past
achievements, present discoveries
and future marvels.
acknowledge
Publishing Coip., Chicago,
ILL, 1978.