Garrett A. Morgan: Gas Mask, Automatic Traffic Signal

Garrett A. Morgan was a Cleveland inventor and businessman who had invented a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector, for which he had received a patent on October 13, 1914. On July 25, 1916 , an explosion occurred in tunnel five of the Cleveland Waterworks. The tunnel was located 250 feet beneath Lake Erie. Thirty-two workmen were trapped inside, suffering from dust and smoke inhalation. Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new "gas masks" and went to the rescue. The inventor was awarded a medal of honor from the city of Cleveland and the new "gas masks" were soon found in fire departments all over the country.

Garrett Augustus Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. He left home at the age of fourteen and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. He first worked as a sewing machine repairman and by the age of 30, he had started his own sewing equipment repair shop, the first of many enterprises.

He also patented an automatic traffic signal in 1923 and later sold the technology to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000.

Morgan died in 1963. Gas Mask In 1914, Garrett A.Morgan obtained a patent for a breathing device - - a canvas hood placed over the head.