Unable to sell his gas mask to fire departments in the South, Morgan hired an actor friend to pose as an inventor while he dressed up as an Indian chief. The actor would announce that Big Chief Mason would go inside a smoke-filled tent for ten minutes.

86 years (1877–1963)

Traffic lightGas mask

In 1914, Garrett Morgan patented a breathing device in the form of a canvas hood—a precursor to the modern gas mask. Did You Know? Garrett Morgan invented the first automatic three-way traffic signal system, which he eventually sold to General Electric.

Morgan invented a safety helmet to protect the wearer from smoke and ammonia, introducing his “Breathing Device” in 1912, patenting it in 1914, and using it to descend into the gas-filled tunnel beneath Lake Erie to rescue workers and retrieve bodies after the Cleveland Waterworks explosion (see WATERWORKS TUNNEL …

Celebrate Black History Month: Honoring Garrett Morgan, Inventor of the Traffic Light. Please join us for a special program in tribute to Garrett Augustus Morgan, the pioneering African-American inventor who created the first three-position traffic signal.

1908 (Mary Anne Hassek)

In essence, he had invented the yellow light. Morgan’s original traffic signal prototype is on display at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum. Aside from his technical contributions to society, Morgan was a pillar in Cleveland’s African American community.

Garrett Morgan

Sydney Morgan

A pioneer inventor, Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963) was responsible for the creation of such life-saving inventions as the gas mask and traffic lights. In a long and productive career that spanned over 40 years, Garrett A.

Garrett Morgan invented gas mask, traffic signal: Black History Month. 20, 1923, to produce a T-shaped traffic signal after witnessing an accident between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage.

William Potts