DOCUMENT RESUME ED 170 154 SE 027. 632 TITLE Black Contributors to Science and Energy Technology. INSTITUTION Department Of Energy, Washington, D.C. Office of Public Affairs. REPORT NO DOE-OPA-0038t79) PUB DATE 79 NOTE • 28p. ' EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESM•PTORS *Biographical Inventories; Black Achievement; *Black Lead:ershi.p; Black Role; *Energy; Minority Groups; Models; Motivation; Science Education; Sciences; *Scientists; Technlogy ABSTRACT Presents biographical and pictorial information about 12-black scientists and inventors who were selected to serve as models,for children who have. little opportunity to learn of black contributions to science and technology, and as motivation for students who are uncertain about continuing their studies or about selecting professions. Much of their work has been in the use of energy, as in space technology, transportation, construction and many other militaryand industrial applications. (HM) Black Contributors To Science and Energy Technology Credits Biographical and pictorial informa- tion for this booklet was drawn, from many sources, including the General Electric Company, Fairfield, Conn., the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia, Pa:, and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, D.C..Theír assistance is appreciated. Introduction The scientists and inventors profiled who are uncertain about continuing in this booklet are only a few of the their studies or selecting. professions: Black contributors to American science and technology. Much of New generations of Black stydents their work has been energy related- are being trained in the applied if not in the development of energy sciences and engineering. As op- resources or processes, then in the portunities develop for advanced more efficient or productive use of schooling end ,careers, .Black con- energy, as in space technology, tributions should increase in number, transportation, construction, and expand iñ scope, and enhance the many other military and industrial living standards of all Americans. applications. These researchers may well serve as models for children who have had little oppprtunity to learn of Black contributions to science and techno- logy, and as motivation for students Contents Page Norbert Rillieux J. Ernest Wilkins 2 Elijah McCoy 14 Rufus Stokes LewisH. Latimer Virgil Trice 4 GranvilleWoods 16 Meredith Gourdine Garrett A. Morgan Annie Easley Archie Alexander 18 James Harris David Grosthwait• Caldwell McCoy Frederick M. Jones 20 Clarence Elder Louis W. Roberts Cordell Reed, 10Kajherine Johnson 22 Donald Cotton . Otis Boykin Ernest Coleman 12 O.S. (Ozzie) Williams 24 Lawnie Taylor Cut Costs and Energy in Refining Sugar Automatic Machine Oiling—The Real McCoy Norbert Rillieux, 1806-1894 Norbert Rillieux revolutionized the requiring slaves to ladle boiling cane sugar industry by inventing a juice from one kettle to another to refining process that reduced- the produce a dark sugar. Rillieux time, cost, and safety risk involved designed an evaporating pan which in producing good sugar from cane enclosed a keries of condensing coils in vacuum and beets. chambers. His system took much of the hand The son of a French planter labor out of refining, saved fuel engineer , and - a slave .mother, because the juice boiled at lower Rillieux was born in New Orleans temperatures, and produced a • and educated in France, where he superior product. majored in engineering and also served as an instructor. Rillieux's device was patented in, 1846, and was in great demand on Returning to New Orleans, he plantations in Louisiana, •Mexico . noted that methods for refining and the West Indies, where it in- sugar from cane and beets were creased sugar production and crude, backbreaking and dangerous, reduced operating costs. Elijah McCoy, 1843-1929 The lubricating cup, which made industry. McCoy established his own possible the automatic oiling of firm and obtained patents for machinery, was invented by Elijah additional inventions, such as an McCoy, the Canadian-born son of "ironing Table" and a Iawn sprinkler; runaway slaves. however, his major contribution was the lubricating cup which was to Educated in Scotland as a mechan- become so popular that persons ical engineer, McCoy settled in inspecting new equipment generally Detroit on his return to the United asked if it contained the "real States, and started experimenting "McCoy," meaning thé McCoy oiling with a cup that regulated the flow device. This helped popularize an of oil onto moving parts of American expression, meaning the machines. "real thing." In 1872, he was granted a patent for the first automatic lubricator. No longer did machines have to be stopped 'for oiling; his new oiling device revolutionized the machine Electric-Lighting Pioneer On the Move with Advanced Trolleys and Safer Trains Lewis H. Latimer, 1848-1928 Lewis H. Latimer, a member of In 1884, Latimer joined the Edison Thomas Edison's research team, Electric Light Company, where he made outstanding contributions to did research and, in 1890, wrote the development and commercializa- Incandescent Electric Lighting, a tion of the electric. light. book which became a guide for lighting engineers. For many years, Born in Boston, Latimer first worked he served as an expert witness in as a draftsman in a patent office. He court battles over Edison's patents. later became interested in electric At Latimer's death, the Edison lighting and began a long, productive Pioneers, of which he was a charter career in the field, during which he member, attributed his "important bth patentèd a process for making- inventions" to a "keen perception carbon filament for light bulbs of the potential of the electric and invented the bulb's threaded light and kindred industries." socket. He helped instàll the carbon filament lighting' system in. New York City, Philadelphia, Montreal and London. Granville Woods, 1856-1910 Granville Woods was awarded more grooved wheel fpr the trolley car, a than 35 patents for electrical systems "third rail" system for an electric and devices which created new locomotive, an improved airbrake energy techniques for the transporta- system, and a telegraph system for tion and communication industries. communicating between moving trains, which contributed to railroad 'Born in Columbus, Ohio, Woods safety. Woods sold most of his migrated ,to Missouri and worked inventions to the General Electric, in a variety of jobs which gave him Westinghouse and Bell Telephone' the experience' to formulate his Companies. inventions. In 1884, he secured his first patent for a furnace and boiler to produce steam heat. In the years that followed, the prolific inventor improved the telephone transmitter and developed an electric car powered by overhead wires, a Gas Masks and Traffic Signals-Life-Saving Inventions Engineered Bridges, Powerplants, and Major Structures.Across the Nation Garrett A. Morgan, 1877-1963 Kentucky-born Garrett Morgan In 1923, Morgan received a patent received wide recognition for his for his new concept—a traffic signal outstanding contributions to public to regulate vehicle movement in safety. Firemen in many cities in city areas. "Stop" and "Go" signs the early. 1900's wore the safety were systematically raised and low- helmet and gas mask that he in- eréd at intersections to bring order vented, and for' which he was out of chaos and improve traffic awarded a gold medal at the • safety. Some,years later, after he Second International Exposition of had sold his design to the General Safety and Sanitation in New York Electric Company, Morgan's device In 1914. Two years later, he himself was replaced with the light signal in used the mask to rescue men trapped use today. by a gas explosion in a, tunnel being constructed under Lake Erie. For lowing the disaster which took 21 lives, the City of Cleveland honored him with a gold medal for his heroic efforts. Archie Alexander, 1888-1958 Archie Alexander, a design and Alabama, and the Tidal Basin bridge construction engineer, left his stamp and seawall and the Whitehurst ' on the landscape of America by Freeway in Washington, D.C. building bridges, freeways, airfields, railroad trestles and powerplants. Alexander received many awards during the course of his career. Born in Iowa, Alexander attended At the centennial celebration of ' the State University and received the University of Iowa in 1947, he an engineering degree in 1912. was named one of its outstanding After several . years' as a design alumni. In 1954, President engineer,, he and a former class- Eisenhower honored him with the mate established their own engineer- appointment as Territorial Governor ing firm and constructed major of the Virgin Islands. projects across the Nation. Starting at home, they built the heating plant and powerhouse at the University of Iowa, a sewage treat- ment plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an airfield in Tuskegee, A Man for all Seasons- Heating, Air Conditioning„ and ,Ventilation Designer Changed Our Eating Habits with , Refrigeration David Crosthwait, 1891-1976 For his outstanding contributions to An`authotityon heat transfer, ventila- engineering technology, David tion, and air Conditioning, Crosthwait Crosthwait was awarded an honorary invented, several new systems. He devel- doctorardegree in 1975 from Purdue oped the control systems and the vari- University, the same school that had able vacuum system of heating for awarded him a B.S.,in mechanical major,buildings including Rockefeller engineering