Gong and Signal Chair Patented

On July 17, 1888, Miriam E. Benjamin received a patent for an invention she called a Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels. Benjamin was an African-American schoolteacher living in Washington, D.C., and was the second Black woman to receive a patent. Her patent application stated that her chair would "reduce the expenses of hotels by decreasing the number of waiters and attendants, to add to the convenience and comfort of guests and to obviate the necessity of hand clapping or calling aloud to obtain the services of pages." When a small button on the back of a chair was pressed, a relay signal was sent to an attendant while a light on the chair went on, allowing the attendant to see which guest pressed the button. The chair was installed in the United States House of Representatives and was the forerunner of those used today on airplanes. Reference: Created Equal: The Lives and Ideas of Black American Innovators By James Michael Brodie Copyright 1993, Bill Adler Books, Inc. William Morrow and Co. Inc., New York