New ideas and breakthrough – A collaboration between 365 days of Black History and Musiqoogy

MusiQology is proud to continue its collaborative partnership with The 365 Project, which features 365 days of African American history via the Instagram channel @365DaysofBlackHistory. Each week in September, we’ll be featuring the posts from the previous week of shares, which all fall under the theme “new ideas and breakthrough,” which highlights important black inventors.

365daysofblackhistoryThis is the month of new ideas and breakthrough – we will be featuring some of the most innovating pioneers across a plethora of industries. We’ve already highlighted a few black inventors such as Thomas L. Jennings (Day #155) who was the first African-American to receive a patent in the U.S. and Madame CJ Walker (Day #156) the first black self-made millionaire for her beauty & hair care products, and we are dedicating September to even more important black inventors. Some you will know, others will be new, but they have all made an impact on our lives in some way.

Henry Blair (1807 -1860) inventor and farmer who was the second African-American to receive a US patent in 1834. Both of his patented inventions helped increase agricultural productivity. His first was a corn planter device which enabled farmers to plant their crops more efficiently and resulted in a greater total yield. His second was a cotton planter which split the ground with two shovel-like blades and deposited seed into the ground, promoting weed control while distributing weeds quickly.

A post shared by The 365 Project (@365daysofblackhistory) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:28pm PDT

Norbert Rillieux (1806 – 1894) – inventor and one of the earliest chemical engineers who is known for his invention of the multiple-effect evaporator, an important development in the growth of the sugar industry. He discovered the need for this new device while working on his father’s sugar cane plantation and realized how labor intensive and potentially dangerous the task could be. The multiple-effect evaporation system utilizes a vacuum chamber with reduced air to lower the boiling point of the liquids. This tool greatly reduced production cost and provided a superior quality of sugar.

A post shared by The 365 Project (@365daysofblackhistory) on Sep 2, 2017 at 8:18am PDT

Sarah E. Goode (1855 – 1905) Entrepreneur and inventor who was born into slavery and became the first African-American woman to receive a patent in the United States for her folding cabinet bed in 1885. After being freed from slavery after the Civil War, she opened a furniture store with her husband who was a carpenter. She noticed that many of her customers lived in small apartments that could fit limited furniture, leading to her invention she called a folding bed (similar to what is called a Murphy bed today) that could also serve as a roll-top desk, complete with compartments for writing supplies.

A post shared by The 365 Project (@365daysofblackhistory) on Sep 3, 2017 at 8:57am PDT

Thomas Elkins (1818 – 1900) doctor and inventor who is credited with the development of several inventions. During his work as a medical examiner, he developed and patented an improvement in refrigeration via the process of cycling a coolant liquid through a large container for a unit used to store corpses (a predecessor to the modern day refrigerator) in 1897. This was important because prior to his invention, keeping bodies cool until burial was not a common practice and this technology helped with the preservation postmortem. He also patented a new design for a chamber commode (a.k.a. toilet) which included a combination of a commode, washstand, bureau, mirror, chair, table, and bookshelf intended for smaller rooms to save space.

A post shared by The 365 Project (@365daysofblackhistory) on Sep 4, 2017 at 7:08am PDT

Sarah Boone (1832–1900) – inventor and dressmaker who patented her design for the ironing board in 1892. Prior to her invention, most people ironed using a piece of wood placed between two chairs or tables. Boone sought to make the task more efficient and especially help make it easier to iron womens dresses. Similar to modern day ironing boards, her design was a narrow wooden board that had collapsible legs and a padded cover.

A post shared by The 365 Project (@365daysofblackhistory) on Sep 6, 2017 at 11:09am PDT