Garrett Morgan

Garrett Morgan was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland who is best known for
inventing a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector in 1914.

Garrett Morgan – Biography

The son of former slaves, the seventh of 11 children born to Sydney and Elizabeth
Morgan, Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. His early childhood was
spent attending school and working on the family farm with his brothers and sisters. at the
early age of 14 decided that he should travel north to Cincinnati, Ohio in search of opportunity
and in order to receive a better education.
Although Garrett Morgan's formal education never took him beyond elementary school,
he hired a tutor while living in Cincinnati and continued his studies in English grammar. In 1895,
Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, working as a handyman in order to make ends meet. In
Cleveland, he learned the inner workings of the sewing machine and in 1907 opened his own
sewing machine store, selling new machines and repairing old ones. In 1908 Morgan married
Mary Anne Hassek with whom he would have three sons. He went to work as a sewing machine
repair man for a clothing manufacturer. News of his proficiency for fixing things and
experimenting traveled fast and led to numerous job offers from various manufacturing firms in
the Cleveland area. Morgan is an inspiration to many education seekers today, whether
pursuing business with an AACSB accredited online MBA or masters in education

In 1907, the inventor opened his own sewing equipment and repair shop.It was the first
of several businesses he would establish. In 1909, he expanded the enterprise to include a
tailoring shop that employed 32 employees. The new company turned out coats, suits and
dresses, all sewn with equipment that Garrett Morgan himself had made.

In 1920, Garrett Morgan moved into the newspaper business when he established the Cleveland
Call. As the years went on, he became a prosperous and widely respected business man, and
he was able to purchase a home and an automobile. Indeed it was Morgan's experience while
driving along the streets of Cleveland that inspired him to invent an improvement to traffic
signals.
Human hair straightener

In 1909, Morgan opened a tailoring shop, selling coats, suits and dresses. While working
in this shop he came upon a discover which brought about his first invention. He noticed that
the needle of a sewing machine moved so fast that its friction often scorched the thread of the
woolen materials. He thus set out to develop a liquid that would provide a useful polish to the
needle, reducing friction. When his wife called him to dinner, he wiped the liquid from his hands
onto a a piece of pony-fur cloth. When he returned to his workshop, he saw that the fibers on
the cloth were now standing straight up. He theorized that the fluid had actually straightened
the fibers. In order to confirm his theory, he decided to apply some of the fluid to the hair of a
neighbor’s dog, an Airedale. The fluid straightened the dog’s hair so much, the neighbor, not
recognizing his own pet, chased the animal away. Morgan then decided try the fluid on himself,
to small portions of his hair at first, and then to his entire head. He was successful and had
invented the first human-hair straightener. He marketed the product under the name the G. A.
Morgan Hair Refining Cream and sold by his G. A. Morgan Refining Company, which became a
very successful business.

Gas Mask

Morgan called it a Safety Hood and patented it as a Breathing Device, but the world
came to know it as a Gas Mask. The Safety Hood consisted of a hood worn over the head of a
person from which emanated a tube which reached near the ground and allowed in clean air.
The bottom of the tube was lined with a sponge type material that would help to filter the
incoming air. Another tube existed which allowed the user to exhale air out of the device.
Morgan intended the device to be used “to provide a portable attachment which will enable a
fireman to enter a house filled with thick suffocating gases and smoke and to breathe freely for
some time therein, and thereby enable him to perform his duties of saving life and valuables
without danger to himself from suffocation. The device is also efficient and useful for protection
to engineers, chemists and working men who are obliged to breathe noxious fumes or dust
derived from the materials in which they are obliged to work.”

The National Safety Device Company, with Morgan as its General Manager was set up to
manufacture and sell the device and it was demonstrated at various exhibitions across the
country. At the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation, the device won first
prize and Morgan was award a gold medal. While demonstrations were good for sales, the true
test of the product would come only under real life circumstances.

That opportunity arose on July 24, 1916 when an explosion occurred in a tunnel being
dug under Lake Erie by the Cleveland Water Works. The tunnel quickly filled with smoke, dust
and poisonous gases and trapped 32 workers underground. They were feared lost because no
means of safely entering and rescuing them was known. Fortunately someone at the scene
remembered about Morgan’s invention and ran to call him at his home where he was relaxing.
Garrett and his brother Frank quickly arrived at the scene, donned the Safety Hood and entered
the tunnel. After a heart wrenching delay, Garrett appeared from the tunnel carrying a survivor
on his back as did his brother seconds later. The crowd erupted in a staggering applause and
Garrett and Frank reentered the tunnel, this time joined by two other men. While they were
unable to save all of the workers, the were able to rescue many who would otherwise have
certainly died. Reaction to Morgan’s device and his heroism quickly spread across the city and
the country as newspapers picked up on the story. Morgan received a gold medal from a
Cleveland citizens group as well as a medal from the International Association of Fire Engineers,
which also made him an honorary member.

Soon, orders came in from fire and police departments across the country.
Unfortunately, many of these orders were canceled when it was discovered that Morgan was
Black. Apparently, many people would rather face danger and possibly death than rely on a
lifesaving device created by a Black man. Nonetheless, with the outbreak of World War I and
the use of poisonous gases therein, Morgan’s Safety Hood, now known as the Gas Mask was
utilized by the United States Army and saved the lives of thousands of soldiers.

Summary:On July 25, 1916, Garrett Morgan made national news for using his gas
mask to rescue 32 men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel 250 feet beneath
Lake Erie. Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new "gas masks" and went to the
rescue. After the rescue, Morgan's company received requests from fire departments around
the country who wished to purchase the new masks. The Morgan gas mask was later refined
for use by U.S. Army during World War I. In 1914, Garrett Morgan was awarded a patent for a
Safety Hood and Smoke Protector. Two years later, a refined model of his early gas mask won a
gold medal at the International Exposition of Sanitation and Safety, and another gold medal
from the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

The Morgan Traffic Signal

The first American-made automobiles were introduced to U.S. consumers shortly before
the turn of the century. The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and with it American
consumers began to discover the adventures of the open road. In the early years of the 20th
century it was not uncommon for bicycles, animal-powered wagons, and new gasoline-powered
motor vehicles to share the same streets and roadways with pedestrians. Accidents were
frequent
Although he could have relied on the income his Gas Masks generated, Morgan felt
compelled to try to solve safety problems of the day. One day he witnessed a traffic accident
when an automobile collided with a horse and carriage. The driver of the automobile was
knocked unconscious and the horse had to be destroyed. He set out to develop a means of
automatically directing traffic without the need of a policeman or worker present. He patented
an automatic traffic signal which he said could be “operated for directing the flow of traffic” and
providing a clear and unambiguous “visible indicator.”Other inventors had experimented with,
marketed, and even patented traffic signals, however, Garrett Morgan was one of the first to
apply for and acquire a U.S. patent for an inexpensive to produce traffic signal. The patent was
granted on November 20, 1923. Garrett Morgan also had his invention patented in Great Britain
and Canada. Garrett Morgan stated in his patent for the traffic signal, "This invention relates to
traffic signals, and particularly to those which are adapted to be positioned adjacent the
intersection of two or more streets and are manually operable for directing the flow of traffic...
In addition, my invention contemplates the provision of a signal which may be readily and
cheaply manufactured."
 The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop,
Go and an all-directional stop position. This "third position" halted traffic in all directions to
allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely.

Garrett Morgan's hand-cranked semaphore traffic management device was in use

throughout North America until all manual traffic signals were replaced by the automatic red,
yellow, and green-light traffic signals currently used around the world. The inventor sold the
rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000. Shortly before his
death in 1963, Garrett Morgan was awarded a citation for his traffic signal by the United States
Government. . Today’s modern traffic lights are based upon Morgan’s original design.

Death and legacy

Garrett Morgan was constantly experimenting to develop new concepts. Though the
traffic signal came at the height of his career and became one of his most renowned inventions,
it was just one of several innovations he developed, manufactured, and sold over the years.
Morgan invented a zig-zag stitching attachment for manually operated sewing machine. He also
founded a company that made personal grooming products, such as hair dying ointments and
the curved-tooth pressing comb.

As word of Garrett Morgan's life-saving inventions spread across North America and
England, demand for these products grew. He was frequently invited to conventions and public
exhibitions to demonstrate how his inventions worked.

Garrett Morgan died on August 27, 1963, at the age of 86. Morgan would develop
glaucoma and would thereby lose 90% of his vision. His life was long and full, and his creative
energies have given us a marvelous and lasting legacy