By VICKI BROWN
Firefighters and anyone with a driver’s license have a lot to be thankful for. Firefighters have gas and oxygen masks and drivers have traffic lights, and it is all thanks to an African American man named Garrett Morgan.
A brilliant inventor, Morgan witnessed a terrible fire on March 25, 1911, that killed 146 female immigrant garment workers who were locked in a factory. This gave Morgan an idea to invent a mask and hose to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.
He studied fires and gas, and designed a helmet with an attached mask and hose that dragged the ground where clear air usually can be found. He couldn’t sell his safety hood, so he entertained crowds by entering a smoke filled tent wearing his hood, and leaving the tent after 30 minutes. Newspapers reported the demonstration—and that’s how the Cleveland Police Department knew about Morgan’s device. When a waterworks tunnel under Lake Erie filled with natural gas and exploded on July 24, 1916, Morgan was called in to use his device to rescue eight men who were still alive. Morgan hauled them all to safety.
Then in the early 1920s, Morgan witnessed an accident between an automobile and a horse-drawn cart at an intersection. So he patented the three-position traffic signal in 1923 and eventually sold the idea to General Electric for $40,000.
