From Inventing the First Golf Tee, Clothes Wringer, Refrigerated Truck, and Third Rail for Trains, Black Inventors Sought Equity Through Excellence

Unless you are a student of the game of golf's fascinating history, the name of George Grant may not mean much to you. But if you are a dedicated golfer it should and here's why. Dr. George Grant, a dentist, the first African-American professor at Harvard, and a son of former enslaved parents innovated the game of golf by creating the first wooden tee in 1899.

Even for the most avid devotees of the game, golfing in the 19th century was a fairly laborious endeavor, in fact a real pain. Why? Because teeing up one's golf ball required the golfer to either use his hands or a cone-shaped mold to create a raised mound from which to hit the ball. Can you imagine doing that for 18 holes? Sounds tedious and time-consuming, right?

Determined to find a way to enjoy his passion for golf without the hassle or wet, sandy mess, Dr. Grant created a wooden tee in 1899 and was the first American inventor to receive a patent for a golf tee design. Friends and family members benefitted from Grant's innovation and the prototypes he manufactured for their use, but he never marketed his tee to the public.

The doors were closed to Black inventors when it came to capitalizing on their products in the late 19th century, unless they partnered with an agent to whom they would sell their patent rights in exchange from some renumeration. Another dentist, William Lowell who invented the popular Reddy tee, would successfully commercialize the wooden tee in the 1920's. Yet, it cannot be forgotten that George Grant, without question, laid the foundation for golf's most pivotal innovation and explosive popularity during the 20th century.

Dr. Grant was hardly alone, however, within the pantheon of Black inventors responding to the siren call of necessity during the late 1800s. In 1890,Ellen Elgin, a laundress from Washington DC, was the first to create a clothes wringer, the design would later serve as a foundation for the technology of the modern-day washing machine.

In the 19th century, clothes had to be wrung out by hand, an incredibly difficult process when doing loads of clothing which could also lead to carpal tunnel syndrome and other injuries to the wrist. Elgin's wringer, two rollers and a hand crank vastly simplified the process and saved women from having to wring clothes by hand.

While she was able to obtain a patent for her innovative design, Ellen Elgin sold her invention for $18 to an agent. Mrs. Elgin later remarked in Women Inventors magazine that she had no resources for large-scale manufacturing of her product and that she was fearful White customers would not purchase the product from her nor would distributors sell her products. Selling to an agent offered the only hope of some renumeration.

The agent she sold her design to made a fortune from her invention through the American Wringer Company and expanded its utility beyond laundering. Ellen Elgin's wringer design was also used for janitorial mops in workplaces throughout the country which further enhanced its profitability. Next time take a look at the mops used by the maintenance team in an office building, store or school, the pail's wringer design is attributable to Ellen Elgin.

An inventor who resolved to own his designs and their commercial potential was the legendary Dr. Granville T. Woods of Coney Island, New York. Wood was a towering figure in the world of electrical engineering and one of the country's most prolific inventors of the 20th century. An electrical engineering genius with the moniker of "The Black Thomas Edison", Dr. Woods acquired more than 50 patents for his inventions which became staples of the American industrial landscape and the country's new telecommunications technology.

His inventions included automatic car brakes,an improved telephone transmitter which he sold to Alexander Graham Bell, phonographs, Coney Island's Figure Eight electric rollercoaster, the railway telegraph system, a telagraphony device which permitted the transmission of telegraph and voice messages over the same wire, and the third rail. The third rail, something familiar to New York subway riders and Amtrak commuters, allowed electricity to be delivered to trains with exposed power wires or industrial-size batteries

Yet in spite of his prolific and groundbreaking contributions, Dr. Woods was constantly compelled to go to court to defend his patent claims and legitimacy as the true inventor of his innovative products due to his race. Sometimes his designs were outright stolen from him and given to competitors like Thomas Edison. This caused tremendous financial and emotional strain and threats to Dr. Woods' quest for independence.

But the victories could be incredibly sweet. In a lawsuit against the legendary Edison to defend credit for his design, Woods prevailed and Edison offered him a job at General Electric. Through his own company,Woods sold designs to the Bell Telephone Company, General Electric and the Ford Motor Company.

Due to the tremendous sacrifices of Dr. Woods, anotherAfrican-American inventor based in the Midwest and a comparable pioneer in the industrial space had an easier time with commercializing his work. Frederick McKinley Jones, an African-American inventor who received 61 patents in his lifetime, numerous Hall of Fame honors and a National Medal of Technology was a self-taught genius in the mechanical engineering space. Born in 1893, Jones moved from Ohio to Hallock, Minnesota, a community where his race proved less problematic. Support and non-interference from the community provided Jones with the room needed to generate a prolific output of inventions that spanned different industries.

Deeply interested in the early 20th century moving picture and cinema industry, he created an automatic ticket-dispensing machine which was sold to corporate giant RCA through his partnership with a cinema engineering company. Jones also created a soundtrack synchronizer that matched sound with then-silent films.This invention was also later sold to RCA.

However, the innovation that Frederick McKinley Jones is most known for was his invention of the world's first portable air cooling refrigerator unit in 1938. The units could be placed in trucks transporting perishable food items and were predecessors tothe refrigerated trucks that are so critical to our supply chain today.

The units were also used during World War II for transporting perishable medicine, food, and blood plasma (An innovation created by African-American physician Charles Drew) for soldiers. Jones received a patent for his portable unit in1949, more than ten years after the design had been created, and attracted an influential business partner Joseph Numero who recognized the product's commercial value and that of Mr. Jones as corporate partner.

Numero launched a new company based on Jones' inventions. The company Thermo King ended up making $3million in its first year. Jones was given the role of company vice-president in the new company and continued to create products such as a portable X-ray machine and gasoline engines. In the state of Minnesota, he was a well-respected and iconic figure in the inventors community.

This snapshot of Black inventors is also a tribute to the excellence they represented, often without adequate resources or foundational academic training. Yet they persevered and left a legacy of technological innovation and impact.

During the pioneering era of American innovation, the Golden Age of Invention from 1870 to1940, Black inventors from the late 19th century and 20th century periods of our country held their own with the technological progress being achieved. In spite of obstacles faced in retaining patent counsel, developing prototypes, protecting their intellectual property, capitalizing on its commercial potential, and the heartbreak of seeing others acquire generational wealth from the work of Black inventors, they pressed on. And the record of output is impressive, Black inventors during the golden age accounted for more than 50,000 patents according to the Brookings Institute.

Later inventors from from the 70's, 80's and 90's such as Dr. Patricia Bath who invented laser eye surgery are indebted to their sacrific and diligence owe them a great debt. We do too. Modern society and American technology has been built on a foundation of diversity, a fact that cannot be denied when we examine the historical record of invention. On this final day of Black History Month, let us acknowledge the momentous legacy of Black inventors and their role in our country's progess.