Black Inventors Project

Patricia Bath

Summary Patricia Bath was born November 4, 1942. She invented a “Laserphaco Probe”. It was used to make a small incision in the eye vaporizing the cataracts with a laser. Liquids would wash out the eye and a suction tube would remove the damaged lens. While the eye is being washed out, a new lens would be inserted. The laser probe she needed was not found in the U.S. so she had to get it from Berlin, Germany. She received patents from many countries.

Sarah Boone

Summary She received a patent in 1892, for the “Ironing Board”. It is a device used to provide support for neatly ironed clothes. It was made of a wooden board, collapsible legs and a padded cover.

Joseph Dickinson

Summary Joseph was born in Canada in 1955. After working in an Organ company, he started inventing organs of his own. He formed the Dickinson-Gould Organ company with his father-in-law. He received many patents for the reed organs his company manufactured. The last patent was received in 1912.

Lewis Latimer

Summary Lewis Latimer was born September 4, 1848. He improved everyday life for the living. He created a safety elevator, received a patent for Locking Racks for hats, coats and umbrellas, created an improved version of a Book Supporter, used to keep books neatly arranged, and he also created an Apparatus of Cooling and Disinfecting, to make rooms more sanitary and climate controlled. He drafted drawings for patents of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.

Fred Jones

Summary Fred Jones was born May 17, 1893. He created a portable X-ray machine for doctors, he created scrap metal to deliver a soundtrack to video, he created a way to stabilize and improve picture quality, he created an automatic ticket dispensing machine for movie theaters, which he received a patent for in 1939, and he invented the “Thermo King”, which was a cooling process used to refrigerate the inferior of tractor-trailers. He also received a patent for the Thermo King in 1939. He was the first black inventor to receive an high honor, “The Medal of Technology”.

James Edward West

Summary James Edward West was born February 10, 1931. He teamed up with Gerhard M. Sessler and together they invented the “Foil-Electret Microphone”. It was created to hold a charge without being connected to a power source, durable and could be applied in a office or home. They received patent number 3,118,022 for their invention in 1964.