Black History Facts : 10 African American Inventors
- Radio personalities Hal Jackson and Percy Sutton co-founded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. They also acquired WLIB, which became the first African-American owned and operated station in New York.
- Dr. Maulana Karenga created the African-American holiday, Kwanzaa, in 1966.
- African-American surgeon Charles R. Drew is often credited with the invention of the first large-scale blood bank.
- Mark Dean along with his co-inventor Dennis Moelle created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. This invention allows the use of computer plug-ins like disk drives, speakers, scanners, etc…
- In 1897, African-American inventor Alfred Cralle patented the first ice cream scoop. His original design remains in wide use, even today.
- Henry Brown created what is now known as a “strongbox”, a metal container to store money and important papers that could be locked with a key.
- Andrew Jackson Beard invented the “Jenny Coupler” in 1897, a device which allowed train cars to hook themselves together when they are bumped into one another. The device saved the lives of many railroad workers, who originally had the dangerous job of hooking the moving cars together by hand.
- Nathaniel Alexander was the first to patent the folding chair. His invention was designed to be used in schools, churches and at large social gatherings.
- John Love invented the pencil sharpener in 1897
- Lewis Temple (1800 - 1854) revolutionized the whaling industry with his invention of the toggle harpoon in 1848
