Inventions That African-Americans Made

Laserphaco Probe

Dr. Patricia Bath, an internationally respected ophthalmologist and surgeon invented the laser-powered Laserphaco Probe which allows physicians to vaporize cataracts. Before Dr. Bath's invention, surgeons undertook sometimes risky surgical procedures which were not as fast or as accurate. The Laserphaco Probe is a less invasive surgical technique for surgeons to utilize. Dr. Bath received her first patent for the device in 1988 after taking five years to perfect her invention, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website.

Grandville T. Woods was a self-taught inventor who gathered together enough knowledge of the field of electrical engineering to invent the telegraphony. The telegraphony combines the operating features of both the telegraph and the telephone. Woods' invention enabled operators to receive and send messages more quickly than any other process. Woods went on to invent the multiplex telegraph, which greatly assisted the railroad industry dispatchers to locate trains as well as allow moving trains to communicate by telegraph with dispatchers, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website.

The phrase "The Real McCoy" came into common usage because of this African American inventor and mechanical engineer, Elijah McCoy, who developed a self-regulating lubricator that used the steam pressure in cylinders to operate machine valves. McCoy patented his invention in 1872 and, within a decade, railroad companies purchased steam trains and factories bought steam engines that used his invention's unique process. McCoy patented in 1916 what he considered his greatest invention, the "graphite lubricator." This invention utilized powdered graphite suspended in oil to lubricate train engine cylinders, according to the website University of Southern Indiana Pott College of Science and Engineering.

George Washington Carver created dozens of processes that utilize peanuts as its product base. In fact; he produced over 300 products that were developed from the peanut, including milk, cheese, facial cream, soap and shampoo. Carver invented a process that used peanuts to produce ink. Carver went on to utilize sweet potatoes as a base to develop 115 products, such as flour and starch and even synthetic rubber that was used by the U.S. Army in World War I, according to the Black Inventor Online Museum.