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Short Essay On African-American Inventors

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The Wright Brothers Airplane: 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright were American inventors, best known for their invention of the first airplane in 1903. The History Organization says, “It was the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight; they surpassed their own milestone two years later when they built and flew the first fully practical airplane.” Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867, with his younger brother Orville, being born four years later in 1871. They were two out of seven children, both being the youngest boys. After the boys’ father brought home a small helicopter model from a work trip, the two boys started to develop a love and interest for airplanes. Developing The Airplane The boys loved Science. They were constantly …show more content…

He is best known for the invention of the traffic signal light. Although he may not have been the first to invent the traffic light, he was the first person to patent it. Morgan was born in Kentucky, and was the son of former slaves. He only went to elementary school, but he continued to learn a lot on his own, and became very independent. According to the book, Garrett Augustus Morgan: Businessman, Inventor, Good Citizen, by Mary Oluyone, “In 1920, Morgan went into the newspaper business. He was very successful, and eventually bought a car. While he was driving along the streets of Ohio, he realized how unsafe intersections were, and wanted to make driving safer. Morgan created a new kind of traffic signal on November 20, 1923. This was the first traffic signal patented, but not the first invented. His traffic signal was a T-shaped pole with arms (but with no lights) that had three signs, a red "stop," a green "go," and another red "stop in all directions.” This last signal let walkers cross the street. An electric clock controlled it. This new traffic signal became very popular, and was used all around the USA. Morgan sold his device to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000 (a huge sum at that time). His device was used until the three-light traffic light was

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