This week’s open thread highlighted some lesser known black inventors. Today I am going to highlight several inventors.
In Chester, New Hampshire George Franklin Grant (September 15, 1846 – August 21, 1910) was the first African American professor at Harvard. He was also a Boston dentist, and an inventor of a wooden golf tee.
He was born on September 15, 1846 in Oswego, New York to Phillis Pitt and Tudor Elandor Grant.
He entered the Harvard School of Dental Medicine in 1868, and graduated in 1870. He then took a position in the department ofmechanical dentistry in 1871, making him Harvard University’s first African-American faculty member. He was a founding member and later the president of the Harvard Odontological Society and was a member of the Harvard Dental Alumni Association where he was elected president in 1881. In 1899 he improved on Percy Ellis “Perfectum” tee.
He died on August 21, 1910 at his vacation home in Chester, New Hampshire.
In 1891, anyone interested in mailing a letter would have to make the long trip to the post office. Philip B. Downing designed a metal box with four legs which he patented on October 27, 1891. He called his device a street letter box and it is the predecessor of today’s mailbox.
One year earlier, Downing patented an electrical switch for railroads which allowed railroad workers to supply or shut off power to trains at appropriate times. Based on this design, innovators would later create electrical switches such as light switches used in the home.
Overnight Delivery Package Receptacle, Folarin Sosan 1997
Sosan, through his Package Park (Maita) company, made it possible for overnight and next day package delivery providers such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service, and the U.S. Postal Service (as well as other major and small businesses) to have all of their deliveries immediately received by customers and then accurately tracked by computer.
Pants — Modern Suspenders Archia Ross 11/28/1899 638,068
These suspenders, called “trouser supports and stretchers,” included practical and stylish features such as metal clasps.