PATENTLY GREAT CREATIONS BY BLACK HANDS

By Ophelia Johnson Staff Writer

Richmond Times-Dispatch Sunday September 1,1996 page G-1

Within an hour, it melts solid bronze in to piping hot liquid with of an ordinary electrical outlet.

Experts call it a " a vertically lifted portable electric furnace,"but inventor John P. Beckley thinks that's just "lawyer talk." He calls it his "melting pot" method of quick-cooking bronze with out ever leaving home.

"Humans have been casting metal for thousands of years " he said. "metal casting processes were invented and used in Africa, China, and India in very ancient times. They didn't go to foundries. They used earth, wind, and fire and I thought I could do it too."

Beckley's melting pot*-which recieved a U.S. patent on July 23 1996 takes its place along-side other black inventors' devices on display at the Black History Museum in Richmond's Jackson Ward.

"The Black Inventor"s Presence, Then and Now" features more than 65 items, photographs, patent drawings and artifacts invented or modified by African-Americans from 1800s to the moderrn times.

Hands-on demonstrations and speakers such as Dr. Howard S. Jones, a Virginia Union University graduate with 31 patents (including one for radar and communications antenna systems), will be featured throughout the exhibit, which ends in June 1997.

Beckley, a 65 year old retired pharmacist from Silver Spring, Md., hold the "melting pot*" patent for 17 years. He'll devote this time to educating others about the pot, which sells for $1000, and the lost wax method of bronze casting. He'll demonstrate the process at a workshop at thye Hand Workshop on October 5th 1997 from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $55 to $65.

The granson of inventor Robert Pelham a newpaper publisher and editor of the Detroit Plain dealer who patented office machinery improvements in 1905 and 1913, Beckley left his job and took up wood carving, knife-making and eventually bronze casting some years ago.

His coffee pot gave him the idea about how to design and construct the "melting pot*".With it, he could also skip those frequent trips to the local foundry, he said. The pot works when it is plugged into a household (110 volts) outlet. It heats about 15lbs of bronze to 2000 degrees.The liquid metal is pored in to a mold and shaped into Afrocentric masks.

Most items in the exhibit belong to James Wright, assistant professor of biology at Virginia Union University.He's been scrounging through junk-yards, antique shops, barns and attics for years trying to find items created by black hands. "I collect anything invented or modified by African-Americans, as simple as a pastry folk or as complex as fiber optics," said Wright, who has about 100 patented items. He is especially proud of his grandfather's cigarette rolling machine, which was patented by J.A.Sweeting in 1897.

Wright remembers using the machine in the mid '50s.

Wright agreed to display some of his items to educate and motivate young people to get involved in science careers. "If kids can seethese inventions, maybe it can be a kind of mentoring system to get them to look at science as a career option. In my mind, this more important than having a mentor come in from the business world to give a lecture. They're gone, but you can't escape (an invention) as constant as a light bulb. It's a constant reinforcement." Interestingly Wright said , African Americans recieved more that 800 patents in the decades following the the Civil War.

A patent is a document issued by the U.S. government granting the exclusive right to sell, make or use..a specific item for 17years..to the patent holder.

African-American inventors have recieved patents for the dust pan, the mop, hair brush, insect destroyer guns, curtain rod, key chain, pencil sharpener, fountain pen and fire escape ladder. Listed in the museum's exhibit is ..M.A. Cherry who patented the tricycle in 1888...W.F. Burr patented the railroad signal in 1899...Willie Johnson patented an egg beater 1884....Joseph Dickerson recieved a patent for a record player arm in 1899....Paul B. Downing patented a mailbox in 1891...George Washington Carver patented peanut butter in 1896...as well Dr.Charles R. Drew, who patented a blood plasma bag in 1946.

"Here are black people who were disenfranchised and supposedly ignorant..but their invention show they had a creative flair and genius that was recognized by the U.S. government in the form of patents................That's validation."

Note*..... The Melting Pot is a registered trade make owned by Adinkra Corp.

THE BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM .......is located in Richmond , Virginia

00 CLAY STREET

Richmond, Va