IP Legacies: Celebrating Black Inventors

In honour of Black History Month, we are proud to present IP Legacies: Celebrating Black Inventors.

This February series celebrates Black inventors’ contributions to the global IP landscape – from foundational patents to blueprints for today’s essential technologies across industries.

Week 2: Everyday Essentials & Reliability

Thomas L. Jennings (1791-1859)

Thomas L. Jennings, a New York tailor and abolitionist, became the first recorded Black American to receive a US patent. His US Patent 3306x (March 3, 1821) covers “dry scouring” (dry cleaning), using solvents and volatile fluids to clean fabrics without water—safer and more effective than wet washing. Jennings also enforced his IP rights in court, winning damages from infringers. 

Dr. Lonnie Johnson (born 1949)

Dr. Lonnie Johnson is a former Black NASA engineer and nuclear scientist whose contributions to IP span from clean energy technology to consumer products. While he holds over 250 US patents, he is best known for inventing the Super Soaker water gun. In the mid-1980s, Dr. Johnson was granted a family of “squirt gun” patents, including US Patent 4,591,071 for high-performance pressurized air water toys that became top-selling products worldwide. His extensive patent portfolio also includes the Johnson Thermo-Electrochemical Converter (JTEC), an advanced energy system that converts heat directly into electricity.  

George F. Grant (1846-1910)

Dr. George Franklin Grant (1846–1910), the first Black faculty member at Harvard Dental School and a pioneering dentist, patented the modern golf tee. On December 12, 1899, he was granted US Patent 638,920. Before Grant’s invention, golfers typically manually built mounds of wet sand to elevate the ball for tee shots—a messy and inconsistent process. Grant’s invention introduced a wooden peg with a tapered base and a flexible rubber head, allowing the ball to sit securely while providing minimal resistance upon impact. His innovative design transformed the game of golf.

Elijah McCoy (1844-1929)

Elijah McCoy, a Black Canadian born engineer, transformed rail safety with automatic lubricators. His US Patent No. 129,843 (1872) and dozens of follow ons enabled continuous oiling of train axles without stopping, boosting speed and reliability—earning the phrase “the real McCoy.” Holding over 50 U.S. patents, McCoy exemplifies how incremental IP innovation drives industrial scalability.

Week 1: Urban Safety Pioneers

Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963)

Garrett A. Morgan was a Black American inventor and entrepreneur whose patents reshaped public safety on streets and in hazardous workplaces.  In 1914 he was granted U.S. Patents 1,090,936 and 1,113,675 for a “breathing device” or safety hood—an early gas mask to protect wearers from smoke and fumes, widely recognized as a forerunner to WWI gas masks and famously worn in a 1916 Lake Erie tunnel rescue. Nearly a decade later, he was granted US 1,475,024 for a three‑position traffic signal that briefly stopped traffic in all directions, allowing an intersection to clear and pedestrians to cross safely. This invention introduced a “caution” phase that laid the foundation for today’s red‑amber‑green lights.

Thomas J. Martin (1844-1927)

Thomas J. Martin was a Black American inventor who patented a pioneering building-wide fire suppression system – one of the earliest precursors to modern automated sprinkler systems. Moving beyond portable canisters, Martin’s US Patent 125,063 covers a system designed to channel water from a reservoir through a network of valves and nozzles built directly into a structure (e.g. houses, factories, etc.). His legacy remains a cornerstone of fire safety engineering.

 Mary Van Brittan Brown (1922-1999)

Mary Van Brittan Brown was a Black nurse who invented the first home security system. With her husband, Albert L. Brown, she was granted US Patent 3,482,037 in 1969 for a closed-circuit TV system (CCTV) featuring a motorized camera that moved between four peepholes, a monitor to view guests, a two-way microphone for communication, and a remote-controlled door-unlocking mechanism. It also included a police-alert button. Her innovative integrated system laid the foundations for the modern smart-home industry.

Alexander Miles (1838-1918)

Alexander Miles, a Black inventor and businessman from Minnesota, whose innovations transformed urban architecture and passenger safety. Before his contributions, elevator use was known to be dangerous with manual doors frequently left open, leading to tragic falls down elevator shafts. Miles addressed this critical safety gap through his U.S. Patent 371,207 (October 11, 1887) that made elevators dramatically safer. His design introduced a mechanism that automatically opened and closed both the elevator cage and shaft doors. Levers and rollers on the cage also synced door operation at floors via curved grooves, eliminating manual errors that caused deadly accidents. Miles’ design was a significant leap forward in mechanical safety.