Celebrating Black History Month: Sarah Boone, African American inventor of the ironing board

Sarah Boone, born in 1832 in Craven County, North Carolina, was a slave, forbidden a formal education, so was home schooled by her grandfather.  In November 1847, she married a free black man, James Boone, and was granted her own freedom.

She moved with her family to New Haven, Connecticut before the Civil War.  She worked as a dressmaker during a time where people ironed their clothes by placing a wooden plank across two chairs. Boone created a narrower, curved board that could slip into sleeves and allow a garment to be shifted without getting wrinkled.  Her invention was padded to prevent impressions from the wooden board, and she made it collapsible for easier storage.

She was awarded US Patent No. 473,653 on April 26, 1892, making her one of the first African American women to earn a US patent.

Boone passed away from Bright's disease in October 1904, 

Celebrating Black History Month: Isaac R. Johnson, African American patented first bicycle frame

Isaac R. Johnson, born ca. 1812 in New York, did not invent the bicycle frame, but he did perfect it.  He became the first African American man to patent a new frame, which is still in use today.

Not much is known about Johnson other than what information was included on the patent paperwork, which he filed in April 1899. He was granted the patent in October 1899. 

Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawai'ian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Kinjiro Matsudaira, first Asian American elected mayor in US

Kinjiro Matsudaira, born September 13, 1885 in Pennsylvania, was an American inventor and politician in Maryland.  He was the son of a Japanese father and an American mother.  In May 1912, he filed for a patent concerning the functions of a thermometric fire-detector and was granted the patent in September 1914. 

He entered politics and, in 1927, was elected as mayor of Edmonston, Maryland, a small community just outside of Washington, DC.  He is the first Asian American to be elected mayor in the US.  He was re-elected as mayor in 1943.

He passed away in October 1963 at the age of 78. 

Celebrating Black History Month: Granville T. Woods, inventor

Granville T. Woods, born April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, was an African American inventor who held over 50 US patents.  He had to leave school at age 10 to work to help support his poor family.  He worked in a machine shop, where he learned machining and blacksmithing.  

In 1872, he worked as a fireman for the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri. In 1874, he moved to Springfield, Illinois where he worked at a rolling mill.  He studied mechanical and electrical engineering in college but there is no evidence he received a college degree.

Among his inventions are a egg incubator, an automatic brake, a steam boiler furnace, and a patented Synchronous Multiplex Railway telegraphs, which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains.  

Thomas Edison filed a claim to ownership of this invention, saying he had created it first.  He took Woods to court twice, but Woods prevailed both time. Woods spent a lot of time defending his inventions from others who claimed they were the ones who invented them.

Woods died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City, January 30, 1910.  In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Celebrating Black History Month: Henry Blair, African-American inventor

Henry Blair, born in 1807 in Glenn Ross, Maryland, was the second African-American to receive a US patent.  He first invented the Seed-Planter, for which he received a patent in October 1834.  Two years later, he was granted a second patent for a cotton planter.

He passed away in 1860.