Richard Spikes ()
Richard Bowie Spikes was a prolific inventor with eight patents to his name, awarded between and Primarily interested in automobile mechanics, Spikes also sought to improve the operation of items as varied as barber chairs and trolley cars. Professionally, he worked as a mechanic, a saloon keeper, and a barber, occupations that likely influenced his many later inventions.
Born to Monroe and Medora Spikes on October 2, , Spikes came from a large family of at least six siblings. His younger brother, Benjamin Franklin Spikes, known as “Reb,” would become a well-known jazz musician. The census lists his birthplace as Texas, though in later years, Spikes would report the location as actually being in Indian Territory (later the state of Oklahoma).
In , Spikes married Lula B. Charlton. The couple had one son, born in During the early s, the family moved often, living in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, before settling in California.
On April 9, , while living in Bisbee, Arizona, Spikes patented a beer-tapper (U.S. Patent number ,). Connected to a keg, the tap used tubing to ease the release of beer from the barrel while also improving freshness over time. This tec
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Richard Spikes, Born in on Texas soil, would become a family man of many inventions. Spikes has over a dozen patents to his name, including the beer tap, which he created while running a saloon.
His patent, awarded in , was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewing Company and is still presently in use in establishments across the world.
Black Excellence is limitless
Spikes later developed modifications to the automotive directional signals that drivers use today. He also created the automatic gear shift, the billiard cue rack and automatic braking systems used by buses and schools.
The man was busy!
Professionally, he worked as a mechanic, a saloon keeper, and a barber, occupations that likely influenced the inventions themselves. Because he was Black, employers often confined Spikes, the visionary King of &#;work smarter, not harder,&#; to servile roles.
‘Black creativity makes the world go round.’
Born to Monroe and Medora Spikes on October 2, , Richard Spikes came from a large family of at least six siblings. In , Spikes married Lula B. Charlton. The couple had one son, born in During the early s, the family moved often, living in Tex
Words by ELEANOR MAHONEY
Richard Bowie Spikes was a prolific inventor with more than a dozen patents to his name. Primarily interested in automobile mechanics, Spikes also sought to improve the operation of items as varied as barber chairs and trolley cars. Professionally, he worked as a mechanic, a saloon keeper, and a barber, occupations that likely influenced his many later inventions.
Born to Monroe and Medora Spikes on October 2, , Spikes came from a large family of at least six siblings. His younger brother, Benjamin Franklin Spikes, known as “Reb,” would go on to become a well-known jazz musician. The census lists his birthplace as Texas, though in later years Spikes would report the location as actually being in Indian Territory (later the state of Oklahoma).
In , Spikes married Lula B. Charlton. The couple had one son, born in During the early s, the family moved often, living in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, before settling in California.
On April 9, , while living in Bisbee, Arizona, Spikes patented a beer-tapper (U.S. Patent number ,). Connected to a keg, the tap used tubing to ease the release of beer from the barrel, while also improving freshness over time.
Richard Spikes Edit Profile
engineer
Richard Bowie Spikes was an African-American inventor.
Background
Although he would claim on a number of occasions that he was born in Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma)it would appear that Richard Bowie Spikes was born in Dallas, Texas in , the fifth of nine children of Monroe Spikes, a barber, and his wife Medora (Kirby) Spikes.
Career
The holder of a number of United States patents, his inventions (or mechanical improvements on existing inventions) include the beer tap, automobile directional signals, the automatic gear shift device based on automatic transmission for automobiles and other motor vehicles and a safety braking system for trucks and buses. Reb Spikes was a noted jazz saxophonist who worked with Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory and Sid Le Protti. Among the well known jazzmen he gave a start to were Lionel Hampton and Les Hite.
Although a capable musician--piano and violin--Richard Spikes learned to cut hair in his father&#;s barber shop, and then became a public school teacher in Beaumont, Texas.
Richard and Lula would have one son, Richard Don Quixote Spikes ()
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