some stuff Black Americans invented

[Huey]

Black Inventors and their Inventions List




air conditioning unit Frederick M. Jones July 12, 1949
almanac Benjamin Banneker Approx 1791
auto cut-off switch Granville T. Woods January 1, 1839
auto fishing devise G. Cook May 30, 1899
automatic gear shift Richard Spikes February 28, 1932
baby buggy W.H. Richardson June 18, 1899
bicycle frame L.R. Johnson October 10, 1899
biscuit cutter A.P. Ashbourne November 30, 1875
blood plasma bag Charles Drew Approx. 1945
cellular phone Henry T. Sampson July 6, 1971
chamber commode T. Elkins January 3, 1897
clothes dryer G. T. Sampson June 6, 1862
curtain rod S. R. Scratton November 30, 1889
curtain rod support William S. Grant August 4, 1896
door knob O. Dorsey December 10, 1878
door stop O. Dorsey December 10, 1878
dust pan Lawrence P. Ray August 3, 1897
egg beater Willie Johnson February 5, 1884
electric lampbulb Lewis Latimer March 21, 1882
elevator Alexander Miles October 11, 1867
eye protector P. Johnson November 2, 1880
fire escape ladder J. W. Winters May 7, 1878
fire extinguisher T. Marshall October 26, 1872
folding bed L. C. Bailey July 18, 1899
folding chair Brody & Surgwar June 11, 1889
fountain pen W. B. Purvis January 7, 1890
furniture caster O. A. Fisher 1878
gas mask Garrett Morgan October 13, 1914
golf tee T. Grant December 12, 1899
guitar Robert F. Flemming, Jr. March 3, 1886
hair brush Lydia O. Newman November 15, 18--
hand stamp Walter B. Purvis February 27 1883
horse shoe J. Ricks March 30, 1885
ice cream scooper A. L. Cralle February 2, 1897
improv. sugar making Norbet Rillieux December 10, 1846
insect-destroyer gun A. C. Richard February 28, 1899
ironing board Sarah Boone December 30, 1887
key chain F. J. Loudin January 9, 1894
lantern Michael C. Harvey August 19, 1884
lawn mower L. A. Burr May 19, 1889
lawn sprinkler J. W. Smith May 4, 1897
lemon squeezer J. Thomas White December 8, 1893
lock W. A. Martin July 23, 18--
lubricating cup Ellijah McCoy November 15, 1895
lunch pail James Robinson 1887
mail box Paul L. Downing October 27, 1891
mop Thomas W. Stewart June 11, 1893
motor Frederick M. Jones June 27, 1939
peanut butter George Washington Carver 1896
pencil sharpener J. L. Love November 23, 1897
phone transmitter Granville T. Woods December 2, 1884
record player arm Joseph Hunger Dickenson January 8, 1819
refrigerator J. Standard June 14, 1891
riding saddles W. D. Davis October 6, 1895
rolling pin John W. Reed 1864
shampoo headrest C. O. Bailiff October 11, 1898
spark plug Edmond Berger February 2, 1839
stethoscope Imhotep Ancient Egypt
stove T. A. Carrington July 25, 1876
straightening comb Madam C. J. Walker Approx 1905
street sweeper Charles B. Brooks March 17, 1890
thermostat control Frederick M. Jones February 23, 1960
traffic light Garrett Morgan November 20, 1923
tricycle M. A. Cherry May 6, 1886
typewriter Burridge & Marshman April 7, 1885

 

[Mad Scientist]

guitar Robert F. Flemming, Jr. March 3, 1886

Guitars first came into use, and were known by that name, around 1200 AD.

 

[lloollwwuutt]

cool story bro

 

[Mr. H.]

I'm happy to be an American.

For all you folks know, I'm black. Or yellow, or brown.

But the truth is I'm purple and hail from a galaxy far away. I've come here to observe, and I'm not pleased with what I see. Division and derision at every turn. Position and juxtaposition are the staus quo of your species. Pointing to differences instead of searching for commonality. Unity. Purpose. Direction. Solution.

Because all you of earth are idiots.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qfLWrKUnc]because all you of earth are idiots - YouTube[/ame]

 

[rdean]

You can't teach Republicans.

For one, they cheered when Rick Santorum said none of them are smart.

They believe education is for snobs are are voting for a man who said he will bring immigrants here who already have degrees and help them start businesses. I'm guessing because he agrees with Santorum.

When Mitt was talking about the 47%, he wasn't talking about blacks, he was talking about the poor. A group heavily represented in Red States, otherwise known as Republicans. If Mitt gets elected, Republicans are going to hate him worse than they hate Bush. Why? Because he is going to screw over the Republican base. And I mean good.

 

[PixieStix]

I'm happy to be an American.

For all you folks know, I'm black. Or yellow, or brown.

But the truth is I'm purple and hail from a galaxy far away. I've come here to observe, and I'm not pleased with what I see. Division and derision at every turn. Position and juxtaposition are the staus quo of your species. Pointing to differences instead of searching for commonality. Unity. Purpose. Direction. Solution.

Because all you of earth are idiots.

because all you of earth are idiots - YouTube

I feel your pain
I am a Cylon AKA a toaster

 

[Immanuel]

Should I care about the color of the inventor's skin?

I have to say though, that living in Florida as I do I deeply appreciate Mr. Frederick Jones' contribution to my comfort.

It will truly be a day to celebrate when no one thinks about the color of a man or woman's skin when they look back at his or her accomplishments.

Immie

 

[Two Thumbs]

why did you just make a list of black inventors?

why not break it down by each race?

unless you're a racist.

 

[Mr. H.]

Should I care about the color of the inventor's skin?

I have to say though, that living in Florida as I do I deeply appreciate Mr. Frederick Jones' contribution to my comfort.

It will truly be a day to celebrate when no one thinks about the color of a man or woman's skin when they look back at his or her accomplishments.

Immie

Coveting wealth, flaunting wealth, bemoaning one's poverty, and exerting superiority by any means are the most egregious faults of humanity. And it ain't all going away any time soon. Sad to say.

In the meantime... be happy with what you got, don't bemoan the fact that folks got more than you, and don't act uppity towards nobody- for any reason.

Live, let live, love, and let love. Because... in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

 

[Immanuel]

Should I care about the color of the inventor's skin?

I have to say though, that living in Florida as I do I deeply appreciate Mr. Frederick Jones' contribution to my comfort.

It will truly be a day to celebrate when no one thinks about the color of a man or woman's skin when they look back at his or her accomplishments.

Immie

Coveting wealth, flaunting wealth, bemoaning one's poverty, and exerting superiority by any means are the most egregious faults of humanity. And it ain't all going away any time soon. Sad to say.

In the meantime... be happy with what you got, don't bemoan the fact that folks got more than you, and don't act uppity towards nobody- for any reason.

Live, let live, love, and let love. Because... in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

I covet wealth like everyone else, but I don't covet it in such a manner as to want to acquire it dishonestly.

Immie

 

[Mad Scientist]

You can't teach Republicans.

For one, they cheered when Rick Santorum said none of them are smart.

They believe education is for snobs are are voting for a man who said he will bring immigrants here who already have degrees and help them start businesses. I'm guessing because he agrees with Santorum.

When Mitt was talking about the 47%, he wasn't talking about blacks, he was talking about the poor. A group heavily represented in Red States, otherwise known as Republicans. If Mitt gets elected, Republicans are going to hate him worse than they hate Bush. Why? Because he is going to screw over the Republican base. And I mean good.

I just heard he's gonna' sign an Executive Order making Mormonism the State Religion and then he's gonna' outlaw Vaginas.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Peanut Butter
George Washington Carver (who began his peanut research in 1903)? Nope.
Peanuts, which are native to the New World tropics, were mashed into paste by Aztecs hundreds of years ago. Evidence of modern peanut butter comes from US patent #306727 issued to Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Montreal, Quebec in 1884, for a process of milling roasted peanuts between heated surfaces until the peanuts reached "a fluid or semi-fluid state." As the product cooled, it set into what Edson described as "a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment." In 1890, George A. Bayle Jr., owner of a food business in St. Louis, manufactured peanut butter and sold it out of barrels. J.H. Kellogg, of cereal fame, secured US patent #580787 in 1897 for his "Process of Preparing Nutmeal," which produced a "pasty adhesive substance" that Kellogg called "nut-butter."


George Washington Carver
"Discovered" hundreds of new and important uses for the peanut? Fathered the peanut industry? Revolutionized southern US agriculture? Nope.
Research by Barry Mackintosh, who served as bureau historian for the National Park Service (which manages the G.W. Carver National Monument), demonstrated the following:

Most of Carver's peanut and sweet potato creations were either unoriginal, impractical, or of uncertain effectiveness. No product born in his laboratory was widely adopted.
The boom years for Southern peanut production came prior to, and not as a result of, Carver's promotion of the crop.
Carver's work to improve regional farming practices was not of pioneering scientific importance and had little demonstrable impact.

Automatic Lubricator, "Real McCoy"
Elijah McCoy revolutionized industry in 1872 by inventing the first device to automatically oil machinery? Nope. The phrase "Real McCoy" arose to distinguish Elijah's inventions from cheap imitations? Nope.
The oil cup, which automatically delivers a steady trickle of lubricant to machine parts while the machine is running, predates McCoy's career; a description of one appears in the May 6, 1848 issue of Scientific American. The automatic "displacement lubricator" for steam engines was developed in 1860 by John Ramsbottom of England, and notably improved in 1862 by James Roscoe of the same country. The "hydrostatic" lubricator originated no later than 1871.

Variants of the phrase Real McCoy appear in Scottish literature dating back to at least 1856 — well before Elijah McCoy could have been involved.


Air Conditioner
Frederick Jones in 1949? Nope.
Dr. Willis Carrier built the first machine to control both the temperature and humidity of indoor air. He received the first of many patents in 1906 (US patent #808897, for the "Apparatus for Treating Air"). In 1911 he published the formulae that became the scientific basis for air conditioning design, and four years later formed the Carrier Engineering Corporation to develop and manufacture AC systems.

Automatic Transmission/Gearshift
Richard Spikes in 1932? Nope.
The first automatic-transmission automobile to enter the market was designed by the Sturtevant brothers of Massachusetts in 1904. US Patent #766551 was the first of several patents on their gearshift mechanism. Automatic transmission technology continued to develop, spawning hundreds of patents and numerous experimental units; but because of cost, reliability issues and an initial lack of demand, several decades passed before vehicles with automatic transmission became common on the roads.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Bicycle Frame
Isaac R. Johnson in 1899? Nope.
Comte Mede de Sivrac and Karl von Sauerbronn built primitive versions of the bicycle in 1791 and 1816 respectively. The frame of John Starley's 1885 "safety bicycle" resembled that of a modern bicycle.

Clothes Dryer
George T. Sampson in 1892? Nope.
The "clothes-drier" described in Sampson's patent was actually a rack for holding clothes near a stove, and was intended as an "improvement" on similar contraptions:

My invention relates to improvements in clothes-driers.... The object of my invention is to suspend clothing in close relation to a stove by means of frames so constructed that they can be readily placed in proper position and put aside when not required for use.

US patent #476416, 1892

Nineteen years earlier, there were already over 300 US patents for such "clothes-driers" (Subject-Matter Index of Patents...1790 to 1873).

A Frenchman named Pochon in 1799 built the first known tumble dryer — a crank-driven, rotating metal drum pierced with ventilation holes and held over heat. Electric tumble dryers appeared in the first half of the 20th century


Fountain Pen
W.B. Purvis in 1890? Nope.
The first reference to what seems to be a fountain pen appears in an Arabic text from 969 AD; details of the instrument are not known. A French "Bion" pen, dated 1702, represents the oldest fountain pen that still survives. Later models included John Scheffer's 1819 pen, possibly the first to be mass-produced; John Jacob Parker's "self-filling" pen of 1832; and the famous Lewis Waterman pen of 1884 (US Patents #293545, #307735).

Hairbrush
Lyda Newman in 1898? Nope.
An early US patent for a recognizably modern hairbrush went to Hugh Rock in 1854 (US Design Patent no. D645), though surely there were hairbrushes long before there was a US Patent Office.

The claim that Lyda Newman's brush was the first with "synthetic bristles" is false: her patent mentions nothing about synthetic bristles and is concerned only with a new way of making the handle detachable from the head. Besides, a hairbrush that included "elastic wire teeth" in combination with natural bristles had already been patented by Samuel Firey in 1870 (US, #106680). Nylon bristles weren't even possible until the invention of nylon in 1935.


Halogen Lamp
Frederick Mosby? No
The original patent for the tungsten halogen lamp (US #2,883,571; April 21, 1959) is recorded to and Emmett H. Wiley of General Electric. The two had built a working prototype as early as 1953. Fred Mosby was part of the GE team charged with developing the prototype lamp into a marketable product, but was not responsible for the original halogen lamp or the concept behind it.


Hand Stamp
William Purvis in 1883? Nope.
The earliest known postal handstamp was brought into use by Henry Bishop, Postmaster General of Great Britain, in the year 1661. The stamp imprinted the mail with a bisected circle containing the month and the date. THese were commonly referred to as "Bishop marks"

 

[ScienceRocks]

Horseshoe
Oscar E. Brown in 1892? Nope.
Some sources on the web, if not ignorant enough to say Brown invented the first horseshoe ever, will at least try to credit him for the first double or compound horseshoe made of two layers: one permanently secured to the hoof, and one auxiliary layer that can be removed and replaced when it wears out. However, in the US there were already 39 earlier patents for horseshoes using that same concept. The first of these was issued to J.B. Kendall of Boston in 1861, patent #33709.


Ice Cream
Augustus Jackson in 1832? Nope.
Flavored ices resembling sherbet were known in China in ancient times. In Europe, sherbet-like concoctions evolved into ice cream by the 16th century, and around 1670 or so, the Café Procope in Paris offered creamy frozen dairy desserts to the public. The first written record of ice cream in the New World comes from a letter dated 1700, attesting that Maryland Governor William Bladen served the treat to his guests. In 1777, the New York Gazette advertised the sale of ice cream by confectioner Philip Lenzi.


Ironing Board
Sarah Boone in 1892? Nope.
Of the several hundred US patents on ironing boards granted prior to Sarah Boone's, the first three went to William Vandenburg in 1858 (patents #19390, #19883, #20231). The first American female patentee of an ironing board is probably Sarah Mort of Dayton, Ohio, who received patent #57170 in 1866. In 1869, Henry Soggs of Columbus, Pennsylvania earned US patent #90966 for an ironing board resembling the modern type, with folding legs, adjustable height, and a cover. Another nice example of a modern-looking board was designed by J.H. Mallory in 1871, patent #120296.


Laser Cataract Surgery
Patricia Bath "transformed eye surgery" by inventing the first laser device to treat cataracts in 1986? Nope.
Use of lasers to treat cataracts in the eye began to develop in the mid 1970s. M.M. Krasnov of Russia reported the first such procedure in 1975. One of the earliest US patents for laser cataract removal (#3,982,541) was issued to Francis L'Esperance in 1976. In later years, a number of experimenters worked independently on laser devices for removing cataracts, including Daniel Eichenbaum, whose work became the basis of the Paradigm Photon™ device; and Jack Dodick, whose Dodick Laser PhotoLysis System eventually became the first laser unit to win FDA approval for cataract removal in the United States. Still, the majority of cataract surgeries continue to be performed using ultrasound devices, not lasers.


Lawn Mower
John Burr in 1899? Nope.
English engineer Edwin Budding invented the first reel-type lawn mower (with blades arranged in a cylindrical pattern) and had it patented in England in 1830. In 1868 the United States issued patent #73807 to Amariah M. Hills of Connecticut, who went on to establish the Archimedean Lawn Mower Co. in 1871. By 1888, the US Patent Office had granted 138 patents for lawn mowers (Butterworth, Growth of Industrial Art). Doubtlessly there were even more by the time Burr got his patent in 1899.

Some website authors want Burr to have invented the first "rotary blade" mower, with a centrally mounted spinning blade. But his patent #624749 shows yet another twist on the old reel mower, differing in only a few details with Budding's original.


Lawn Sprinkler
J. H. Smith in 1897? Elijah McCoy? Nope.
The first US patent with the title "lawn sprinkler" was issued to J. Lessler of Buffalo, New York in 1871 (#121949). Early examples of water-propelled, rotating lawn sprinklers were patented by J. Oswald in 1890 (#425340) and J. S. Woolsey in 1891 (#457099) among a gazillion others.

Smith's patent shows just another rotating sprinkler, and McCoy's 1899 patent was for a turtle-shaped sprinkler.


Mailbox (letter drop box)
P. Downing invented the street letter drop box in 1891? Nope.
George Becket invented the private mailbox in 1892? Nope.
The US Postal Service says that "Street boxes for mail collection began to appear in large [US] cities by 1858." They appeared in Europe even earlier, according to historian Laurin Zilliacus:

Mail boxes as we understand them first appeared on the streets of Belgian towns in 1848. In Paris they came two years later, while the English received their 'pillar boxes' in 1855.

Laurin Zilliacus, Mail for the World, p. 178 (New York, J. Day Co., 1953)

From the same book (p.178), "Private mail boxes were invented in the United States in about 1860."

Eventually, letter drop boxes came equipped with inner lids to prevent miscreants from rummaging through the mail pile. The first of many US patents for such a purpose was granted in 1860 to John North of Middletown, Connecticut (US Pat. #27466).


Mop
Thomas W. Stewart in 1893? Nope.
Mops go back a long, long way before 1893. Just how long, is hard to determine. Restricting our view to the modern era, we find that the United States issued its first mop patent (#241) in 1837 to Jacob Howe, called "Construction of Mop-Heads and the Mode of Securing them upon Handles." One of the first patented mops with a built-in wringer was the one H. & J. Morton invented in 1859 (US #24049).

The mop specified in Stewart's patent #499402 has a lever-operated clamp for "holding the mop rags"; the lever is not a wringing mechanism as erroneously reported on certain websites. Other inventors had already patented mops with lever-operated clamps, one of the first being Greenleaf Stackpole in 1869 (US Pat. #89803).


Paper Punch (hand-held)
Charles Brooks in 1893? Nope.
Was it the first with a hinged receptacle to catch the clippings? Nope.
The first numbered US patent for a hand-held hole punch was #636, issued to Solyman Merrick in 1838. Robert James Kellett earned the first two US patents for a chad-catching hole punch, in 1867 (patent #65090) and 1868 (#79232).

Pencil Sharpener
John Lee Love in 1897? Nope.
Bernard Lassimone of Limoges, France invented one of the earliest sharpeners, receiving French patent number 2444 in 1828. An apparent ancestor of the 20th-century hand-cranked sharpener was patented by G. F. Ballou in 1896 (US #556709) and marketed by the A.B. Dick Company as the "Planetary Pencil Pointer." As the user held the pencil stationary and turned the crank, twin milling cutters revolved around the tip of the pencil and shaved it into a point.

Love's patent #594114 shows a variation on a different kind of sharpener, in which one would crank the pencil itself around in a stirring motion. An earlier device of a similar type was devised in 1888 by G.H. Courson (patent #388533), and sold under the name "President Pencil Sharpener."


Permanent Wave Machine (for perming hair)
Marjorie Joyner in 1928? Nope.
That would be German hairdresser Karl Ludwig Nessler (aka Charles Nestlé) no later than 1906.


Postmarking and Canceling Machine
William Barry in 1897? Nope.
Try Pearson Hill of England, in 1857. Hill's machine marked the postage stamp with vertical lines and postmark date. By 1892, US post offices were using several brands of machines, including one that could cancel, postmark, count and stack more than 20,000 pieces of mail per hour (Marshall Cushing, Story of Our Post Office, Boston: A. M. Thayer & co., 1892, pp.189-191).

 

[ScienceRocks]

Propeller for Ship
George Tolivar or Benjamin Montgomery? Nope.
John Stevens constructed a boat with twin steam-powered propellers in 1804 in the first known application of a screw propeller for marine propulsion. Other important pioneers in the early 1800s included Sir Francis Pettit Smith of England, and Swedish-born ship designer John Ericsson (US patent #588) who later designed the USS Monitor.


Refrigerator
Thomas Elkins in 1879? John Stanard in 1891? Nope.
Oliver Evans proposed a mechanical refrigerator based on a vapor-compression cycle in 1805 and Jacob Perkins had a working machine built in 1834. Dr. John Gorrie created an air-cycle refrigeration system in about 1844, which he installed in a Florida hospital. In the 1850s Alexander Twining in the USA and James Harrison in Australia used mechanical refrigeration to produce ice on a commercial scale. Around the same time, the Carré brothers of France led the development of absorption refrigeration systems.

Stanard's patent describes not a refrigeration machine, but an old-fashioned icebox — an insulated cabinet into which ice is placed to cool the interior. As such, it was a "refrigerator" only in the old sense of the term, which included non-mechanical coolers. Elkins created a similarly low-tech cooler, acknowledging in his patent #221222 that "I am aware that chilling substances inclosed within a porous box or jar by wetting its outer surface is an old and well-known process."


Rotary Engine
Andrew Beard in 1892? Nope.
The Subject Matter Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office from 1790 to 1873 Inclusive lists 394 "Rotary Engine" patents from 1810-1873. The Wankel engine, a rotary combustion engine with a four-stroke cycle, dates from 1954.


Screw Socket for Light Bulb
Lewis Latimer? Nope.
The earliest evidence for a light bulb screw base design is a drawing in a Thomas Edison notebook dated Sept. 11, 1880. It is not the work of Latimer, though:

Edison's long-time associates, Edward H. Johnson and John Ott, were principally responsible for designing fixtures in the fall of 1880. Their work resulted in the screw socket and base very much like those widely used today.

R. Friedel and P. Israel, Edison's Electric Light: Biography of an Invention, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1986).

The 1880 sketch of the screw socket is reproduced in the book cited above.


Smallpox Vaccine
Onesimus the slave in 1721? Nope. Onesimus knew of variolation, an early inoculation technique practiced in several areas of the world before the discovery of vaccination.
English physician Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796 after finding that the relatively innocuous cowpox virus built immunity against the deadly smallpox. This discovery led to the eventual eradication of endemic smallpox throughout the world. Vaccination differs from the primitive inoculation method known as variolation, which involved the deliberate planting of live smallpox into a healthy person in hopes of inducing a mild form of the disease that would provide immunity from further infection. Variolation not only was risky to the patient but, more importantly, failed to prevent smallpox from spreading. Known in Asia by 1000 AD, the practice reached the West via more than one channel.


Smokestack for Locomotives
L. Bell in 1871? Nope.
Even the first steam locomotives, such as the one built by Richard Trevithick in 1804, were equipped with smokestacks. Later smokestacks featured wire netting to prevent hazardous sparks from escaping. Page 115 of John H. White Jr.'s American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830-1880 (1997 edition) displays a composite picture showing 57 different types of spark-arresting smokestacks devised before 1860.


Steam Boiler Furnace
Granville Woods in 1884? Nope.
The steam engine boiler is of course as old as the steam engine itself. The Subject Matter Index of Patents Issued from the United States Patent Office from 1790 to 1873 Inclusive lists several hundred variations and improvements to the steam boiler, including the revolutionary water-tube boiler patented in 1867 by American inventors George Herman Babcock and Stephen Wilcox.


Street Sweeper
Charles Brooks in 1896? Nope.
Brooks' patent was for a modified version of a common type of street sweeper cart that had long been known, with a rotary brush that swept refuse onto an elevator belt and into a trash bin. In the United States, street sweepers started being patented in the 1840s, and by 1900 the Patent Office had issued about 300 patents for such machines.


Supercharger for Automobiles
Joseph Gammel/Gamell in 1976? Nope.
In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler received a German patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine. Louis Renault patented a centrifugal supercharger in France in 1902. An early supercharged racecar was built by Lee Chadwick of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1908 and reportedly reached a speed of 100 miles per hour.


Toilet
T. Elkins in 1897? Nope.
The Minoans of Crete invented a flush toilet thousands of years ago; however, there is probably no direct ancestral relationship between it and the modern one that evolved primarily in England starting in the late 16th century, when Sir John Harrington devised a flushing device for his godmother Queen Elizabeth. In 1775 Alexander Cummings patented a toilet in which some water remained after each flush, thereby suppressing odors from below. The "water closet" continued to evolve, and in 1885, Thomas Twyford provided us with a single-piece ceramic toilet similar to the one we know today.


Toilet for Railroad Cars
Lewis Latimer in 1874? Nope.
William E. Marsh Jr. of New Jersey took out US patent #95597 for "Improvement in Water-closets for Railroad Cars" five years prior to Latimer's 1874 patent with the same title. Marsh's patent specification suggests that railroad-car water closets, i.e., toilets, were already in use:

In the closets or privies of railroad cars, the cold and wind, especially while the train is in motion, are very disagreeable... My invention is to remove these objectionable features....

W. Marsh, US patent #95597, 1869

 

[ScienceRocks]

95% of your list can be easily disproven as a lie

 

[Noomi]

95% of your list can be easily disproven as a lie

Then disprove it.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

The horse shoe was invented in 1885? HAHAHA

 

[eots]

Life would be boring without black folk..especially all american black folk they invented all the cool stuff ..they are a big part of the reason america is still the be all and end all of all that is truly cool

 

[uscitizen]

I'm happy to be an American.

For all you folks know, I'm black. Or yellow, or brown.

But the truth is I'm purple and hail from a galaxy far away. I've come here to observe, and I'm not pleased with what I see. Division and derision at every turn. Position and juxtaposition are the staus quo of your species. Pointing to differences instead of searching for commonality. Unity. Purpose. Direction. Solution.

Because all you of earth are idiots.

because all you of earth are idiots - YouTube

Remember you and I need to leave before 12-21.