for Locomotives
Landrow Bell
Black Inventors
Who, What, When, Where, Why?
Learn all about the smokestack by reading each part below (Chandler/White, 1986).Who?
Landrow Bell was a black inventor whom you should not confuse with Alexander Bell, the inventor of the telephone.What?
Landrow Bell invented a safer smokestack for steam train engines or locomotives.When?
He invented the safer smokestack in 1871 when trains were being used to cross the plains into the western frontier of our country.Where?
Landrow Bell lived and worked in Washington, D. C., our nation's capital, where the government makes a lot of decisions about transportation and how the west would be settled.Why?
As trains and locomotives crossed the plains, hot sparks and ash from the engine would fly out of the smokestacks and start huge fires that ruined the countryside. Bell's smokestack design arrested or stopped the hot ashes and sparks from flying out.
Importance of Bell's Smokestack in Life:
Settling the West was very important to the country because the population was expanding and space was needed, and there were opportunities to earn money out there. Trains were very important ways of getting settlers and cargo to and from the western settlements. If the grasslands were set on fire every time a train passed through to the west, then the train would not be popular for long, and the settling of the West would not have taken place as quickly as it did.
Here is a drawing of Bell's smokestack.
Researched by Donte Perkins, North Carolina A&T State University
Drawing by Dr. Vincent Childress.
Photo by Hemera Photo Objects [Clipart CD].
Reference:
Chandler/White Publishing Company, Inc. (1986).
A Salute to Black Inventors. Chicago: author. [A series of booklets on black inventors for elementary school.] (312) 280-9451Last Update: 9-26-02