The Colored Inventor | Page 6

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 at present in the employ of a large piano factory,
where his various inventions in piano-player mechanism are eagerly
adopted in the construction of some of the finest player pianos on the
market. He has more than a dozen patents to his credit already, and is
still devoting his energies to that line of invention.
The company with which he is identified is one of the very largest
corporations of its kind in the world, and it is no little distinction to
have one of our race occupy so significant a relation to it, and to hold it
by the sheer force of a trained and active intellect.
Mr. Frank J. Ferrell, of New York, has obtained about a dozen patents
for his inventions, the larger portion of them being for improvements in
valves for steam engines.
Mr. Benjamin F. Jackson, of Massachusetts, is the inventor of a dozen

different improvements in heating and lighting devices, including a
controller for a trolley wheel.
Mr. Charles V. Richey, of Washington, has obtained about a dozen
patents on his inventions, the last of which was a most ingenious device
for registering the calls on a telephone and detecting the unauthorized
use of that instrument. This particular patent was only recently taken
out by Mr. Richey, and he has organized a company for placing the
invention on the market, with fine prospects of success.
Hon. George W. Murray, of South Carolina, former member of
Congress from that State, has received eight patents for his inventions
in agricultural implements, including mostly such different attachments
as readily adapt a single implement to a variety of uses.
Henry Creamer, of New York, has made seven different inventions in
steam traps, covered by as many patents, and Andrew J. Beard, of
Alabama, has about the same number to his credit for inventions in
car-coupling devices.
Mr. William Douglass, of Kansas, was granted about a half dozen
patents for various inventions in harvesting machines. One of his
patents, that one numbered 789,010, and dated May 2, 1905, for a
self-binding harvester, is conspicuous in the records of the Patent
Office for the complicated and intricate character of the machine, for
the extensive drawings required to illustrate it and the lengthy
specifications required to explain it--there being thirty-seven large
sheets of mechanical drawings and thirty-two printed pages of
descriptive matter, including the 166 claims drawn to cover the novel
points presented. This particular patent is, in these respects, quite
unique in the class here considered.
Mr. James Doyle, of Pittsburgh, has obtained several patents for his
inventions, one of them being for an automatic serving system. This
latter device is a scheme for dispensing with the use of waiters in
dining rooms, restaurants and at railroad lunch counters. It was recently
exhibited with the Pennsylvania Exposition Society's exhibits at
Pittsburgh, where it attracted widespread attention from the press and

the public. The model used on that occasion is said to have cost nearly
$2,000.
In the civil service at Washington there are several colored men who
have made inventions of more or less importance which were suggested
by the mechanical problems arising in their daily occupations.
Mr. Shelby J. Davidson, of Kentucky, a clerk in the office of the
Auditor for the Post Office Department, operated a machine for
tabulating and totalizing the quarterly accounts which were regularly
submitted by the postmasters of the country. Mr. Davidson's attention
was first directed to the loss in time through the necessity for
periodically stopping to manually dispose of the paper coming from the
machine. He invented a rewind device which served as an attachment
for automatically taking up the paper as it issued from the machine, and
adapted it for use again on the reverse side, thus effecting a very
considerable economy of time and material. His main invention,
however, was a novel attachment for adding machines which was
designed to automatically include the government fee, as well as the
amount sent, when totalizing the money orders in the reports submitted
by postmasters. This was a distinct improvement in the efficiency and
value of the machine he was operating and the government granted him
patents on both inventions. His talents were recognized not only by the
office in which he was employed by promotion in rank and pay, but
also in a very significant way by the large factory which turned out the
adding machines the government was using. Mr. Davidson has since
resigned his position and is now engaged in the practice of the