"Garrett Morgan: Inventor Hero"

The first would-be rescuers who dashed into the tunnel were overcome by gas, and for hours no one else dared to enter the suffocating, poisonous deathtrap.

In the early 1900s, factory buildings were crowded and cluttered.

They were often made of wood, with no fire escapes. Fires were devastating.

Concerned about his employees, Morgan experimented with a "safety hood" that would allow the wearer to breathe despite a fire's toxic smoke.

Morgan knew smoke rises during a fire, so he created a heat-resistant hood with a long tube reaching to the floor.

Morgan lined the breathing tube with a sponge-like material that was moistened before use to cool and filter the air.

Over the years, Morgan patented many ideas that saved lives or made life easier.

In those days, city streets were crowded with horses, carriages, bicycles, and pedestrians.

One day, Morgan—the first African American in Cleveland to buy an automobile—was driving his new car when he witnessed a terrible collision between another car and a horse-drawn carriage.

In addition, existing signals had no caution sign between stop and go, so a driver going one direction might start across and intersection before an oncoming driver had time to stop.