![]() The brothers managed to save two lives and recover four bodies before the rescue effort was shut down.ĭespite his heroic efforts, the publicity that Morgan garnered from the incident hurt sales the public was now fully aware that Morgan was an African American, and many refused to purchase his products. When Morgan heard about the explosion, he and his brother put on breathing devices, made their way to the tunnel and entered as quickly as possible. Workers hit a pocket of natural gas, which resulted in a huge explosion and trapped workers underground amidst suffocating noxious fumes and dust. In 1916, the city of Cleveland was drilling a new tunnel under Lake Erie for a fresh water supply. The tactic was successful sales of the device were brisk, especially from firefighters and rescue workers. In an effort to counteract the resistance to his products, Morgan hired a white actor to pose as "the inventor" during presentations of his breathing device Morgan would pose as the inventor's sidekick, disguised as a Native American man named "Big Chief Mason," and, wearing his hood, enter areas otherwise unsafe for breathing. There was some resistance to Morgan's devices among buyers, particularly in the South, where racial tension remained palpable despite advancements in African American rights. ![]() ![]() The invention earned him the first prize at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York City. Morgan's breathing device became the prototype and precursor for the gas masks used during World War I, protecting soldiers from toxic gas used in warfare. Morgan worked hard to market the device, especially to fire departments, often personally demonstrating its reliability in fires. In 1914, Morgan patented a breathing device, or "safety hood," providing its wearers with a safer breathing experience in the presence of smoke, gases and other pollutants. The company was incredibly successful, bringing Morgan financial security and allowing him to pursue other interests. Morgan Hair Refining Company and sold the cream to African Americans. When that worked, he quickly established the G.A. In hopes of alleviating the problem, Morgan experimented with a chemical solution in an effort to reduce friction created by the needle and subsequently noticed that the hairs of the cloth were straighter.Īfter trying his solution to good effect on a neighboring dog's fur, Morgan finally tested the concoction on himself. It was a common problem at the time since sewing-machine needles ran at such high speeds. Morgan Hair Refining Companyįollowing the momentum of his business success, Morgan's patented sewing machine would soon pave the way to his financial freedom, albeit in a rather unorthodox way: In 1909, Morgan was working with sewing machines in his newly opened tailoring shop - a business he had opened with wife Mary, who had experience as a seamstress - when he encountered woolen fabric that had been scorched by a sewing-machine needle. (He and his wife would have three sons during their marriage.) G.A. Morgan's business was a success, and it enabled him to marry a Bavarian woman named Mary Anne Hassek, and establish himself in Cleveland. Learning the inner workings of the machines and how to fix them, Morgan obtained a patent for an improved sewing machine and opened his own repair business. But jobs at several sewing-machine factories were to soon capture his imagination and determine his future. Although he only completed an elementary school education, Morgan was able to pay for more lessons from a private tutor. When Morgan was in his mid-teens, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to look for work, and found it as a handyman to a wealthy landowner. Morgan's mixed-race heritage would play a part in his business dealings as an adult. His father, Sydney, a formerly enslaved person freed in 1863, was the son of John Hunt Morgan, a Confederate colonel. His mother, Elizabeth Reed, was of Indian and African descent, and the daughter of a Baptist minister. Early Lifeīorn in Paris, Kentucky, on March 4, 1877, Garrett Morgan was the seventh of 11 children. The inventor died on July 27, 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio. He went on to patent several inventions, including an improved sewing machine and traffic signal, a hair-straightening product, and a respiratory device that would later provide the blueprint for WWI gas masks. With only an elementary school education, Garrett Morgan began his career as a sewing-machine mechanic.
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