On this day in Alabama history: Andrew Beard was granted first patent
Portrait of Andrew Beard, from Andrew Jackson Beard (1849-1921): An Inventor by Charles Allen Brown, published in 1969. The pamphlet is part of the Tutwiler Collection at the Birmingham Public Library. (Bhamwiki, Birmingham Public Library)
November 23, 1897
Inventor Andrew Beard, who was born a slave in Woodland, was granted his first patent for automatic car couplers. Known as the Jenny Coupler, the design allowed railroad cars to be hooked together automatically, a formerly dangerous job that cost Beard one of his legs. Beard sold the patent rights to the design for $50,000, an amount equal to more than $1.5 million today. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.
Read more at National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Andrew Beard’s patent for the automatic car coupler. (Bhamwiki)
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
