Black History Month transportation legends: Garrett Morgan

There is a lot of technology in the modern day that our society takes for granted. Yet, all the technology we use on daily basis came from inventions created to make life a little easier, and in some cases, safer. Today’s featured transportation legend saw a problem that needed to be fixed and laid down the foundation for an object most people use every day: The three-signal traffic light.

Garrett Morgan was an inventor who was born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky.  After leaving home at the age of 14, he made it to Ohio and became a handyman in Cincinnati. Later, he moved to Cleveland and worked as a sewing machine repairman. After a few years, he was able to open his own sewing machine repair shop.

In the early 1920s, horse-drawn carriages, bikes, wagons, streetcars, automobiles and pedestrians shared the same infrastructure and streets became quickly congested. At this time, there were manually operated traffic signals at intersections but their effectiveness left much to be desired. They switched between “Stop” and “Go” quickly and gave drivers little-to-no warning. Without time to react, collisions were common.

 It is said that Morgan saw a serious crash and it prompted to him to design a three-way traffic signal to help give drivers more time and clear intersections before traffic entered.

“The signal Morgan patented was a T-shaped pole with three settings,” according to History.com. “At night, when traffic was light, it could be set at half-mast (like a blinking yellow light today), warning drivers to proceed carefully through the intersection.”

An example of Morgan's traffic signal. Source: National Museum of American History

Ohio History Central’s website said that the invention had three types of signals that said; “Stop,” “Go,” and “Stop in all directions.” The latter signal was created to allow pedestrians to cross the streets safely.

Morgan sold the rights to his invention to General Electric for $40,000. He is responsible for several other inventions, including the gas mask. He even developed his own newspaper called the Cleveland Call.

Morgan died in 1963 and although his traffic signal is not the same model we use today, it is because of Morgan that we have an interim or “caution” signal that helps clear intersections so traffic can move at a safer pace.