Dangerously Beautiful African American Women Pt.4
Ladies, this week’s category needs some help. I wanted to check out some of the African American women inventors and there wasn’t a plethora of material. In this male dominated society, I think there are more women that invented things, but didn’t get the credit. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Take a moment to learn about some interesting women inventors.
- Sarah Goode was the first African American women to receive a U.S. patent. Patent #322,177 was issued on July 14, 1885 for a cabinet bed. Sarah Goode was the owner of a Chicago furniture store.
- Lyda D Newman invented an improved brush and received patent on 11/15/1898.
- Doctor Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist from New York, became the first African American female doctor to patent a medical invention. Patricia Bath’s patent (#4,744,360) was for a method for removing cataract lenses that transformed eye surgery by using a laser device making the procedure more accurate.
- Sarah Boone invented a device to iron clothes effectively. Prior to her invention, people were forced to use a table for ironing clothes. In 1892, she received a patent for the device. Her invention was very effective in ironing the sleeves of ladies’ garments.
- Bessie Blount Griffin was born on November 24, 1914 in Hickory, Virginia. She was multi-talented. Bessie Griffin was a physical therapist, inventor and a forensic scientist. She worked with the injured soldiers during World War II; which inspired her to devise a feeding apparatus to help the amputees feed themselves. In 1951, she invented an electronic feeding device, which delivered food through the feeding tube and was controlled by biting down on the tube.
- Marie Brown was born on October 30, 1922 in Queens, New York. In 1966, she applied for a patent of closed circuit television security system. The system included a motorized camera which could slide up and down peeping through a set of 4 peep holes. Images which the camera captured were shown on a monitor. She got the patent in 1969.
- Miriam Benjamin received a patent for an invention she called a Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels on July 17, 1888. Her invention allowed hotel customer to summon a waiter from the comfort of their chair.
- Valerie Thomas received a patent on October 21, 1980 for inventing an illusion transmitter. This futuristic invention extends the idea of television, with its images located flatly behind a screen, to having three dimensional projections appear as though they were right in your living room.
- Angela D. Ferguson, M.D., discovered a way to detect sickle cell anemia in newborns.
