Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1908-09-19
CREATIVE GENIUS OF BLACK
MEN.
About 900 Devices Shown to BE
Creations OF Negro Inventors
Forty Years of Progress.

Washington, ID. C. Sept. 1O-Hen-
Ty +. Baker, the only cOlored man
who is an assistant examiner of pa
tents i'm the patent Office. has pre-
pared some interesting figures show
ing the development of the American
Negro as an inventor. These figures
the accumulation of which Baker be-
gan years ago. have been difficult to
get, for the reason that the patent
Office KEEPS no record Of the color
of man who applies for and is
granted a patent.
Through the personal correspond
enoe of Baker with patent attorneys
and others. and through a circular
letter sent out TO the same class Of
people by the patent Office some years
ago. most of the Information has
been acquired.
Since the United States patent Of
flee was established I'm 1880. some
thing like 100000 patents have been
granted on various devices. the bulk
OF which have never had extensive
use or even use at an Out Of this
number Baker is positive that at
least 1000 of the patents have been
to Negroes.
IL lis a singular fact that until af-
ter the close of the Civil War. and
the granting OF freedom to the Ne
gro, the United States government
refused to issue patents TO Negroes
The inventive progress OF the. Negro
therefore dates back only 40 years.
Baker says 70 is n mistake to as
sumo that the Negro Is an imitator
and not an originator, declaring that
after ALL. there Is precious little orig
mating among nearly all patents
granted. one being merely an i'm
proyement over the idea of some
other man.
II was a Cuban Negro named ].
n MaltgoliSCr. wi12- a5e tho basic
patent for sewing sOles on shoes, -
said Baker, "and IL he had been up
90 snuff he would have been worth
millions when he died, that machin-
cry today bringing thousands I'm the
way of royalty Matzelger was a
boot and shoe cobbler I'm Lynn. Mass.
He organized a company 10 put the
machine on the market, but was film
TANNED out of a majority OF the
stock Al the time of his deAh
however, he still held some Of the
shares, which he thought would new
er be OF value He willed these TO
q Baptist Church in Lynn Many
years later the church became badly
mortgaged. and when the officers
We're hunting way out OF the in
debtedness they pulled out this old
stock It brought them $4,000
more than enough 70 lift the mort
gage"
The most noted Negro inventor OF
the country is Granville T. Woods.
an electrician, of New York He has
ng az al
relating 10 the control Of electricity.
One of these he sold to the Bell Tel
ephOne Company for 10000. He
and his brother nave a company in
New York for handling electrical
machinery, much OF IL of their own
invention.
Next TO Woods as a prolific inven-
tor is Elijah Mccoy, of Detroit. His
devices are nearly all related TO the
lubricating of machinery. They
have been used for years on steam
ships, railroads, etc, and have
brought him a fortune.
Humphrey Reynolds invented the
main part of the ventilating machin-
cry for Pullman cars. He was a
porter on these cars at the time
The company got the patent before
he did. however. He quit the con-
cern, entered suit against it, proving
the patent to be his own, and obtain
ed Judgment for 81 900.
A half dozen Negro women have
invented useful articles. NJ. r. Ben
jamin. a colored school teacher, OF
this city, invented a gong signal for
use in schools and pinking machine
a Baltimore woman invented a ma
chine for sewing braid on cloth with
out the thread showing outside. She
was a dressmaker. A Florida wo-
man invented a bed for invalids. and
refused an OFFER of $4,000 for it.
w. w. PRICE.