The Colored Inventor | Page 5

devices, the colored inventor has achieved such success as should present to the race a distinctly hope-inspiring spectacle.
Of course it is not possible, in this particular presentation of the subject, to dwell much at length upon the merits of any considerable number of individual cases. This feature will be brought out more fully in the larger publication on this subject which the writer now has in course of preparation. But there are several conspicuous examples of success in this line of endeavor that should be fully emphasized in any treatment of this subject. I like to tell of what has been done by Granville T. Woods and his brother Lyates, of New York; by Elijah McCoy, of Detroit; by Joseph Hunter Dickinson, of New Jersey; by William B. Purvis, of Philadelphia; Ferrell and Creamer, of New York; by Douglass, of Ohio; Murray, of South Carolina; Matzeliger, of Lynn; Beard, of Alabama; Richey, of the District of Columbia; and a host of others that I could mention.
Foremost among these men in the number and variety of his inventions, as well as in the commercial value involved, stands the name of Granville T. Woods. Six years ago Mr. Woods sent me a list of his inventions patented up to that time, and there were then about thirty of them, since which time he has added nearly as many more, including those which he perfected jointly with his brother Lyates. His inventions relate principally to electrical subjects, such as telegraphic and telephonic instruments, electric railways and general systems of electrical control, and include several patents on means for transmitting telegraphic messages between moving trains.
The records of the Patent Office show that for valuable consideration several of Mr. Woods' patents have been assigned to the foremost electrical corporations of the world, such as the General Electric Company, of New York, and the American Bell Telephone Company, of Boston. These records also show that he followed other lines of thought in the exercise of his inventive faculty, one of his other inventions being an incubator, another a complicated and ingenious amusement device, another a steam-boiler furnace, and also a mechanical brake.
Mr. Woods is, perhaps, the best known of all the inventors whose achievements redound to the credit of our race; and in his passing away he has left us the rich legacy of a life successfully devoted to the cause of progress.
[Illustration: ELIJAH McCOY.]
In the prolific yield of his inventive genius, Elijah McCoy, of Detroit, stands next to Granville T. Woods.
So far as is ascertainable from the office records Mr. McCoy obtained his first patent in July, 1872, and the last patent was granted to him in July, 1912. During the intervening forty years he continued to invent one thing after another, completing a record of nearly forty patents on as many separate and distinct inventions. His inventions, like those of Woods', cover a wide range of subjects, but relate particularly to the scheme of lubricating machinery. He is regarded as the pioneer in the art of steadily supplying oil to machinery in intermittent drops from a cup so as to avoid the necessity for stopping the machine to oil it. His lubricating cup was in use for years on stationary and locomotive machinery in the West, including the great railway locomotives, the boiler engines of the steamers on the Great Lakes, on transatlantic steamships, and in many of our leading factories. McCoy's lubricating cups were famous thirty years ago as a necessary equipment in all up-to-date machinery, and it would be rather interesting to know how many of the thousands of machinists who used them daily had any idea then that they were the invention of a colored man.
Another inventor whose patents occupy a conspicuous place in the records of the Patent Office, and whose achievements in that line stand recorded as a credit to the colored man, is Mr. William B. Purvis, of Philadelphia. His inventions also cover a variety of subjects, but are directed mainly along a single line of experiment and improvement. He began, in 1882, the invention of machines for making paper bags, and his improvements in this line of machinery are covered by a dozen patents; and a half dozen other patents granted Mr. Purvis include three patents on electric railways, one on a fountain pen, another on a magnetic car-balancing device, and still another for a cutter for roll holders.
Another very interesting instance of an inventor whose genius for creating new things is constantly active, producing results that express themselves in terms of dollars for himself and others, is that of Mr. Joseph Hunter Dickinson, of New Jersey. Mr. Dickinson's specialty is in the line of musical instruments, particularly the piano. He began more than fifteen years ago to invent devices for automatically playing the piano, and is