Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a protective 'smoke hood' that he notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue, a type of three-way traffic light invented in 1923, a hair-straightening cream, and other hair-care products. Morgan created a successful company called "G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company" based on his hair product inventions. He was involved in African Americans' civic and political advancement, especially in and around Cleveland, Ohio.

Early life and education

Morgan was born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky, a predominantly African-American community. His father was Sydney Morgan, a freed slave of Confederate General John H. Morgan of Morgan's Raiders. she was part Native American.

Career

Morgan spent most of his teenage years working as a handyman for a Cincinnati landowner. Like many African American children growing up at the turn of the century, he had to quit school at a young age to work full-time. Morgan also invented a zigzag attachment for sewing machines.

In 1907, Morgan opened a sewing machine shop. In 1908, more conscious of his heritage, he helped start the Cleveland Association of Colored Men. opened Morgan's Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. In 1916, Morgan rescued workers trapped in a water intake tunnel beneath Lake Erie, using the smoke hood to protect his eyes from smoke and featuring a series of air tubes that hung near the ground to draw clean air beneath the rising smoke. at age 86. He is buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.

Products and inventions

Hair care products

Morgan conducted experiments with a liquid that gave sewing machine needles a high polish, that prevented the needle from burning fabric as it sewed. In 1905, Morgan accidentally discovered that the liquid could straighten hair.

He made the liquid into a refining cream and launched the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to market it. Morgan received great success and added other products including "hair-growing" cream, black hair oil dye, and a curved-tooth comb for hair straightening in 1910.

Traffic signal

Following the success of his company, Morgan became a well-known citizen in Cleveland and achieved financial success leading to his purchasing of a new automobile. In 1922, he witnessed an accident between a horse-drawn carriage and a car which sparked inspiration to prevent future accidents. Morgan designed a manually operated traffic signal with moving arms featuring "stop" and "go" signs, which could be placed on a post at traffic intersections. The arms could be raised halfway to indicate caution moving forward. A traffic attendant would crank the post to operate the signal and all lanes could be stopped by showing "stop" if needed.

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File:US1475024-drawings-page-1.png|Traffic signal design

File:Morgan2.png|Traffic signal design

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Smoke hood

thumb|400 px|A newspaper photograph of Morgan's rescue in 1916

Garrett Morgan invented a "safety hood smoke protection device" after seeing firefighters struggling to withstand the suffocating smoke they encountered in the line of duty. 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. In 1914, he founded a company called the National Safety Device Company to market it. He was able to sell his invention around the country, sometimes using the tactic of hiring a white actor, who would take credit rather than revealing himself as its inventor. He would demonstrate the device by building a noxious fire fueled by tar, sulfur, formaldehyde, and manure inside an enclosed tent. and awarded a gold medal two years later by the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Morgan's safety hood was used to save many lives during the period of its use. Before Morgan arrived, two previous rescue attempts had failed. The attempted rescuers had become victims themselves by entering the tunnel and not returning. Morgan was roused in the middle of the night after one of the members of the rescue team who had seen a demonstration of his device sent a messenger to convince him to come and to bring as many of his Safety Hoods as he could. Morgan purchased a farm near Wakeman, Ohio, and upon that land build the Wakeman Country Club, open to Blacks, unlike most country clubs then.

Morgan was a member of the Prince Hall Freemasons, in Excelsior Lodge No. 11 of Cleveland, Ohio. He belonged to Antioch Baptist Church.

Awards and recognitions

thumb|upright=1.5|The grave of Garrett Morgan in [[Cleveland, Ohio]]

At the Emancipation Centennial Celebration in Chicago, Illinois, in August 1963, one month after his death, Morgan was nationally recognized. An elementary school bearing his name opened in the fall of 2016 in Lexington, Kentucky.

In Prince George's County, Maryland, there is a street named Garrett A. Morgan Boulevard, formerly Summerfield Boulevard until 2002, and the adjacent Metro stop, Morgan Boulevard, bears his name.

Morgan was included in the 2002 book 100 Greatest African Americans by Molefi Kete Asante.

Morgan was named an honorary member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Morgan's invention of the safety hood was featured on the television show Inventions that Shook the World and Mysteries at the Museum (S08E05).

References

Further reading

  • The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History—Waterworks Disasters
  • Jessica MacNeil. Inventor of life-saving devices Garrett Morgan is born, March 4, 1877 // EDN, February 25, 2021