WEBVTT - How Did Black Inventors Change America?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren

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<v Speaker 1>voc Obam Here. It should go without saying that Black

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<v Speaker 1>Americans have been responsible for countless cultural and technological inventions,

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<v Speaker 1>but our history books haven't always featured them. So today,

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about a few. In eighteen eighty five, Sarah

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<v Speaker 1>Good became the first black woman to receive a US patent.

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<v Speaker 1>A Good was born into slavery in eighteen fifty, and

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<v Speaker 1>after the Civil War, she moved to Chicago and opened

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<v Speaker 1>a furniture store. It was there that she came up

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<v Speaker 1>with an idea that would bring more urban residents with

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<v Speaker 1>limited space into her shop. She invented a folding cabinet bed.

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<v Speaker 1>By day, the piece of furniture could be used as

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<v Speaker 1>a desk, but at night it could be folded out

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<v Speaker 1>into a bed. A Good received her patent thirty years

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<v Speaker 1>before the Murphy bed, a hideaway bed that folds into

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<v Speaker 1>a wall. A. Next up, let's talk about another ingenious

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<v Speaker 1>everyday device, the protective mailbox. When you drop a letter

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<v Speaker 1>in a public mailbox, you expected to reach its destination

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<v Speaker 1>safely and in relatively good condition. But before eighteen ninety one,

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<v Speaker 1>people using the US mail couldn't make those kind of assumptions.

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<v Speaker 1>Public mailboxes were semi open, which made it easy for

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<v Speaker 1>thieves to steal mail and for elements like rain and

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<v Speaker 1>snow to damaged letters. But Philip P. Downing changed that

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<v Speaker 1>with a mailbox design that featured an outer door and

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<v Speaker 1>an inner safety door. OH. When the outer door was open,

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<v Speaker 1>safety door remained closed so that the mail was safe

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<v Speaker 1>from thieves and inclement weather. OH. When the outer door

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<v Speaker 1>was closed, the safety door would open so that the

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<v Speaker 1>deposited mail would join the other letters in the box.

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<v Speaker 1>This safety device allowed mailboxes to be set up everywhere

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<v Speaker 1>near people's homes. Born into a middle class family in

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen fifty seven, Downing had a long career as a

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<v Speaker 1>clerk with the custom House in Boston. He also save

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<v Speaker 1>patterns for a device to quickly moistened envelopes and one

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<v Speaker 1>for operating street railway switches. On the subject of railways,

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<v Speaker 1>let's talk about the multiplex telegraph. This was a device

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<v Speaker 1>and the time before radios, that made it possible for

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<v Speaker 1>railway workers to communicate among moving trains. This was a

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<v Speaker 1>game changer because, okay, imagine trying to land an airplane

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<v Speaker 1>at a busy airport, air traffic controllers on the ground

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<v Speaker 1>can communicate with pilots to prevent collisions. In eighteen eighty seven,

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<v Speaker 1>one Granville T. Woods invented the multiplex telegraph to allow

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<v Speaker 1>train dispatchers to do the same thing. It allowed dispatchers

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<v Speaker 1>and engineers at various stations to communicate with moving trains

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<v Speaker 1>via telegraph. Conductors could also communicate with their counterparts on

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<v Speaker 1>other trains. Prior to eighteen eighty seven, train collisions were

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<v Speaker 1>a huge problem, but Woods device helped make train travel

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<v Speaker 1>much safer. Woods was sued by Thomas Edison, who claimed

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<v Speaker 1>that he was the inventor of the multiplex telegraph, but

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<v Speaker 1>Woods won that lawsuit. Eventually, Edison asked him to work

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<v Speaker 1>at his Edison Electric Light Company, but Woods declined, preferring

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<v Speaker 1>to remain independent and went on to receive other patents

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<v Speaker 1>for his train and communications work. Speaking of Edison, he

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<v Speaker 1>often gets the credit for inventing the light bulb, but

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<v Speaker 1>in reality, dozens of inventors were working to perfect commercial

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<v Speaker 1>lighting at the time. One of those inventors was Lewis Latimer.

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<v Speaker 1>Latimer was hired as an office assistant at a law

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<v Speaker 1>firm that specialized in patents in eighteen sixty eight. A

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<v Speaker 1>while there, he taught himself mechanical drawing and was promoted

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<v Speaker 1>to draftsmen. In his time at the firm, he worked

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<v Speaker 1>with Alexander Graham Bell on the plans for the telephone.

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<v Speaker 1>Latimer then began his foray into the world of light.

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<v Speaker 1>Edison was working on a light bulb model with the

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<v Speaker 1>paper filament, the filament being the thin fiber that the

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<v Speaker 1>electric current heat to produce light in an incandescent bulb.

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<v Speaker 1>In Edison's experiments, the paper would burn down in fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>minutes or so, rendering the bulb unrealistic for practical use.

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<v Speaker 1>It was Latimer who created a light bulb model that

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<v Speaker 1>used a carbon filament, which lasted longer and made light

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<v Speaker 1>bulb production cheaper. Because of Latimer's innovation, more people could

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<v Speaker 1>afford to light their homes. But let's talk about a

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<v Speaker 1>medical inventor. In nineteen thirty eight, Charles Richard Drew went

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<v Speaker 1>to Columbia University to earn a Doctor of Medical Science degree.

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<v Speaker 1>A while there, he became interested in researching the preservation

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<v Speaker 1>of blood. Drew discovered a method of separating red blood

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<v Speaker 1>cells from plasma, and then storing the two components separately.

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<v Speaker 1>This new process allowed blood to be stored for more

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<v Speaker 1>than a week, which was the maximum at that time.

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<v Speaker 1>The ability to store blood, or as Drew called it,

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<v Speaker 1>banking the blood for longer periods of time, meant that

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<v Speaker 1>more people could receive transfusions. Drew documented these findings in

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<v Speaker 1>a paper that led to the first blood bank. After

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<v Speaker 1>completing his studies, Drew began working with the military. A first,

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<v Speaker 1>he supervised blood preservation and delivery in World War Two,

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<v Speaker 1>and then was appointed director of the first American Red

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<v Speaker 1>Cross Blood Bank, a blood bank for the US Army

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<v Speaker 1>and Navy that served as the model for blood banks today. However,

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<v Speaker 1>Drew resigned his position because the armed forces insisted on

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<v Speaker 1>separating blood by race and providing white soldiers with blood

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<v Speaker 1>donated from white people. Drew knew that race made no

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<v Speaker 1>difference in blood composition, and he felt that this unnecessary

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<v Speaker 1>segregation would cost too many lives. Drew returned to private

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<v Speaker 1>life as a surgeon and medical professor at Howard University.

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<v Speaker 1>Our final inventor today is Garrett Morgan. A. While working

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<v Speaker 1>as a handyman at the turn of the twentieth century,

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<v Speaker 1>he taught himself how sewing machines worked, so that he

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<v Speaker 1>could open up his own shop, selling new machines and

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<v Speaker 1>repairing broken ones. While trying to find a fluid that

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<v Speaker 1>would polish needles, Morgan happened upon a formula that would

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<v Speaker 1>straighten human hair. His first invention useful, but he would

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<v Speaker 1>go on to save countless lives with his next two inventions.

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<v Speaker 1>Troubled by how many firefighters were killed by smoke on

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<v Speaker 1>the job, Morgan developed what he called the safety hood.

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<v Speaker 1>This hood, which went over the head, featured tubes connected

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<v Speaker 1>to wet sponges that filtered out smoke and provided cleaner

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<v Speaker 1>air to the wearer. This primitive gas mask became a

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<v Speaker 1>sensation in nineteen sixteen when Morgan ran to the scene

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<v Speaker 1>of a tunnel explosion and used his invention to help

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<v Speaker 1>save the lives of trapped workers. Later, in nineteen twenty three,

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<v Speaker 1>as automobiles were becoming more common, Morgan noticed the collisions

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<v Speaker 1>were all too common on chaotic streets, and so he

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<v Speaker 1>developed an early prototype, the three position traffic signal. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article Top ten Inventions by

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<v Speaker 1>African Americans on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Molly Edmunds.

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<v Speaker 1>The Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more

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<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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