Never Too Late To Invent

As we come to the end of Black History Month, let's talk about innovative Black Americans who have changed life as we know it. We're sure you know about George Washington Carver whose agricultural contributions are the reason we have peanut butter now. Did you play with a super soaker when you were little? Or have a home security system? Maybe you've ridden an elevator with automatic doors (I mean of course, unless you live in an old-timey building) or you get your clothes dry cleaned. That's right, you guessed it - all of these are inventions of Black people. How many of them did you know about? 

Engineer Lonnie Johnson is so talented that has worked with large entities like NASA. He holds more than 80 US patents, but the Super Soaker may be one of his most well-known inventions. Of course, that would be because even little children know what the Super Soaker is. What you may not have known was that at the time, Johnson was experimenting with a new type of refrigeration system in his bathroom when he created the first version of the super soaker. Some of the best ideas truly come from your time in the bathroom. In this case, it was a billion-dollar idea as Nerf has made more than $1 billion in total sales on selling Super Soakers.

While elevators have been around almost as long as gladiators (yep, they date back to at least 80 AD!), the automatic elevator door has not. Up until the early 1900s, it was common to have doors that were manually closed on elevators. It was a bit dangerous, as without the door being closed all the way it was easy for riders to fall through. Alexander Miles improved on the elevator door by designing a flexible belt attachment to the elevator cage that would cause the door to open and close depending on whether or not the elevator had reached a floor. Miles got a patent for the previously described mechanism in 1887. Which goes to show, it's never too late or too early to improve something that currently exists. 

The last inventor we plan to talk about in this post is Thomas L. Jennings. Jennings is known as the first Black US patent-holder: he was granted a patent in 1821 for his method of dry cleaning. Jennings was a tailor and eventually was able to open the first dry cleaning business in New York City. His work with dry cleaning started simply with his customers complaining about stains that they couldn't seem to get out of their clothes. So, Jennings took that as an opportunity to experiment with chemicals that could protect different fabrics while removing stains. It was said that he was so skilled that his business bloomed to the point that he was able to accumulate a significant amount of wealth despite the time period and his race.

So, the next time you play with a Super Soaker, ride an elevator, or get your clothes dry cleaned, remember where these awesome inventions came from. Most of all, remember that it's never too late to think of something new or improve on something that currently exists.