The Life and Inventions of Garrett Augustus Morgan

The gas mask, ever wondered who invented it? If not, then what about the traffic light? Well, Garrett A Morgan invented both of them. You may not have heard of him simply because Morgan been buried under and never spoken of simply because Morgan was a minority back when racism and sexism were extremely common. So they basically never talked about him inventing anything, and now not many people know about him. Both of his inventions are one of the greatest inventions to date.

Garett A Morgan was born March 4, 1877 in Paris, Kentucky. Garrett was the seventh child out of eleven. His mother was of Indian and African descent, and for his father it was uncertain whether Morgan was Sydney Morgan, a former slave, or Colonel John Hunt Morgan. Garrett moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in his mid-teen to look for job opportunities. Garrett became a handyman for a wealthy landowner. Garrett only completed elementary school education and had well more than enough money to hire a private tutor for more lessons. A few sewing companies had job openings and Garrett was interested. ‘He wanted to learn the inner workings of machines and how to fix them. Morgan obtained a patent for an improved sewing machine.’ Garrett ended up opening his own repair company. His company was a success. Morgan was then able to marry a Bavarian woman named Mary Anne Hassek. After that Garrett went to go live in Cleveland. Garrett and his wife ended having three sons during their marriage. (Biography.com)

In 1920, Garrett A Morgan started the Cleveland Call, a newspaper business. From it being successful Garrett was able to buy himself a car. This provided for Morgan to have an interesting idea for an invention. Garrett realized, while driving down the streets of Cleveland, that driving through the intersections was unsafe. There was no safe way for pedestrians to walk through intersections without any close calls or actual accidents happening. Same for the vehicles on the streets. Garrett was determined to make driving safer. Garrett invented the traffic signal. Garrett patented it on November 20, 1923 (U.S. patent No. 1,475,024, issued in 1923). It was the first ever traffic signal patented, but surely not the first one invented. ‘Morgan’s traffic signal was a T-shaped pole with arms (but with no lights) that has three signs, one or more of which popped out at a time: a red ”stop,” a green “go,” and another res “stop in all directions.