Garrett Augustus Morgan Sr. (March 4, 1877 – July 27, 1963) was an American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a protective "smoke hood" that he notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue, a type of three-way traffic light invented in 1923, a hair-straightening cream, and other hair-care products. Morgan created a successful company called "G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company" based on his hair product inventions. He was involved in African Americans' civic and political advancement, especially in and around Cleveland, Ohio.
Morgan was born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky, a predominantly African-American community. His father was Sydney Morgan, a freed slave of Confederate General John H. Morgan of Morgan's Raiders. His mother, also a freed slave, was Elizabeth Reed, daughter of Rev. Garrett Reed; she was part Native American. Garrett Morgan was the seventh of eleven children. Morgan received a sixth grade education at Branch Elementary School in Claysville, Kentucky. At age 14, he moved in search of work to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Morgan spent most of his teenage years working as a handyman for a Cincinnati landowner. Like many African American children growing up at the turn of the century, he had to quit school at a young age to work full-time. Morgan hired a tutor and continued his studies while working in Cincinnati. In 1895, he moved to Cleveland, where he began repairing sewing machines for a clothing manufacturer. This experience sparked Morgan's interest in how things worked, and he built a reputation for fixing them. His first invention, made during this period, was a belt fastener for sewing machines. Morgan also invented a zigzag attachment for sewing machines.
In 1907, Morgan opened a sewing machine shop. In 1908, more conscious of his heritage, he helped start the Cleveland Association of Colored Men. In 1909, he and his second wife, Czech-immigrant Mary Anne Hassek, opened Morgan's Cut Rate Ladies Clothing Store. The shop made coats, suits, dresses, and other clothing, and ultimately had 32 employees.
Around 1910, his interest in repairing other people's inventions waned, and he became interested in developing some of his own. He received his first patent in 1912. In 1913, he incorporated hair care products into his growing list of patents and launched the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company, which sold hair care products, including his patented hair straightening cream, hair coloring, and a hair straightening comb invented by Morgan.
In 1914, he patented his smoke hood design, also known as a 'breathing device'. In 1914, he launched the National Safety Device Company. The invention earned him the first prize at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation in New York City." In 1916, Morgan rescued workers trapped in a water intake tunnel 50 ft (15 m) beneath Lake Erie, using the smoke hood to protect his eyes from smoke and featuring a series of air tubes that hung near the ground to draw clean air beneath the rising smoke.
In 1923, Morgan designed a traffic signal after witnessing a horrible crash at an intersection. His manually-operated design included moving arms featuring signals for "go" and "stop". He eventually sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000.
Later in life he developed glaucoma. By 1943 was functionally blind. He had poor health the rest of his life, but continued to work on his inventions. One of his last was a self-extinguishing cigarette, which used a small plastic pellet filled with water placed just before the filter. He died on July 27, 1963, at age 86. He is buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
Morgan conducted experiments with a liquid that gave sewing machine needles a high polish, that prevented the needle from burning fabric as it sewed. In 1905, Morgan accidentally discovered that the liquid could straighten hair. After he discovered this, he wiped the liquid on a piece of pony fur cloth and it stood straight. He observed that the liquid worked on his neighbor's dog and his own hair.
He made the liquid into a refining cream and launched the G. A. Morgan Hair Refining Company to market it. Morgan received great success and added other products including "hair-growing" cream, black hair oil dye, and a curved-tooth comb for hair straightening in 1910.
Following the success of his company, Morgan became a well-known citizen in Cleveland and achieved financial success leading to his purchasing of a new automobile. In 1922, he witnessed an accident between a horse-drawn carriage and a car which sparked inspiration to prevent future accidents. Morgan designed a manually operated traffic signal with moving arms featuring "stop" and "go" signs, which could be placed on a post at traffic intersections. The arms could be raised halfway to indicate caution moving forward. A traffic attendant would crank the post to operate the signal and all lanes could be stopped by showing "stop" if needed. In 1923, Morgan patented his traffic signal. He later sold the rights to General Electric for $40,000.
Garrett Morgan invented a "safety hood smoke protection device" after seeing firefighters struggling to withstand the suffocating smoke they encountered in the line of duty. His device used a moist sponge to filter out smoke and cool the air. It took advantage of the way smoke and fumes tend to rise to higher positions while leaving a layer of more breathable air below, by using an air intake tube that dangled near the floor.
The hood used a series of tubes to draw clean air of the lowest level the tubes could extend to. Smoke, being hotter than the air around it, rises, and by drawing air from the ground, the Safety Hood provided the user with a way to perform emergency respiration. In 1912, he filed for a patent for the device. In 1914, he founded a company called the National Safety Device Company to market it. He was able to sell his invention around the country, sometimes using the tactic of hiring a white actor, who would take credit rather than revealing himself as its inventor.
For demonstrations of the device, he sometimes adopted the disguise of "Big Chief Mason", a purported full-blooded Indian from the Walpole Island Indian Reserve in Canada. He would demonstrate the device by building a noxious fire fueled by tar, sulfur, formaldehyde, and manure inside an enclosed tent. Disguised as "Big Chief Mason", he would enter the tent full of black smoke, and would remain there for 20 minutes before emerging unharmed.
A successful demonstration occurred in Cleveland, Ohio. A representative of the company, Mr. Mason, entered a poisonous building with Morgan's hood on his head and remained in that environment for twenty minutes. The test was satisfactory according to Chief Stickle of the Cleveland Fire Department, who said that the device was much cheaper and simpler than the oxygen mask used during that time. Following the demonstration, Chief Stickle recommended the purchase of several smoke hoods for the fire department.
Mr. Mason continued to make demonstrations in Ravenna, Youngstown, Canton, and other neighboring cities in Ohio where the device was proclaimed a success. Many large cities throughout the United States had Morgan's Smoke Hood in their fire departments, hospitals, asylums, and ammonia factories, and were using them satisfactorily. His safety hood device was simple and effective, whereas the other devices in use at the time were generally difficult to put on, excessively complex, unreliable, or ineffective.
It was patented and awarded a gold medal two years later by the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Morgan's safety hood was used to save many lives during the period of its use.
He developed later models that incorporated an airbag, that could hold about 15 minutes of fresh air.