What safety device did Morgan patent in 1914?

A safety hood for breathing in smoke

What did his signal add?

A position stopping traffic in all directions

Garrett Morgan Quiz: A Three-Position Traffic Signal and Hood

This garrett morgan quiz stops traffic at a busy crossroads. Play 10 interactive questions on the Kentucky-born inventor who settled in Cleveland, a safety hood patented in 1914, using it to rescue workers after a 1916 tunnel explosion under Lake Erie, a 1923 traffic signal with an all-stop position, selling the rights to General Electric and founding a newspaper.

Start Garrett Morgan Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Born
In which state was Morgan born?
City
Which city did Morgan settle in?
Hood
What safety device did Morgan patent in 1914?
Rescue
Where did Morgan use his hood in a 1916 rescue?
Signal
When did Morgan patent his traffic signal?
Position
What did his signal add?
Sold
To which company did Morgan sell the signal rights?
News
What did Morgan found in Cleveland?
Why
What inspired the traffic signal?
Other
Which other product did Morgan sell?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: In which state was Morgan born?
Answer: Kentucky
In 1877.
Q2: Which city did Morgan settle in?
Answer: Cleveland
In Ohio.
Q3: What safety device did Morgan patent in 1914?
Answer: A safety hood for breathing in smoke
An early gas mask design.
Q4: Where did Morgan use his hood in a 1916 rescue?
Answer: A tunnel under Lake Erie
After an explosion.
Q5: When did Morgan patent his traffic signal?
Answer: 1923
A safety improvement.
Q6: What did his signal add?
Answer: A position stopping traffic in all directions
Before changing direction.
Q7: To which company did Morgan sell the signal rights?
Answer: General Electric
For a large sum.
Q8: What did Morgan found in Cleveland?
Answer: A newspaper
The Cleveland Call.
Q9: What inspired the traffic signal?
Answer: Witnessing a collision at an intersection
Safety concerns.
Q10: Which other product did Morgan sell?
Answer: A hair-straightening cream
A business success.

Safety on the Streets

Garrett Morgan was born in Kentucky in 1877 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he became a businessman and inventor. In 1914 he patented a safety hood that helped people breathe in smoke-filled spaces, an early gas mask design.

In 1916, after an explosion in a tunnel under Lake Erie, Morgan used his hood to help rescue trapped workers. After witnessing a collision at an intersection, he designed a traffic signal and patented it in 1923. It added a position that stopped traffic in all directions before changing, improving safety.

Morgan sold the signal rights to General Electric. He also sold a hair-straightening cream and founded a Cleveland newspaper, the Cleveland Call, supporting his community.

What This Quiz Teaches

Tech history fans will enjoy these questions.

Where Morgan lived
What his hood did
How he used it
How his signal worked
What else he did

Did You Know?

Many inventors worked on traffic signals.
Electric lights replaced manual signals.
Morgan faced racial prejudice in sales.
He had only an elementary school education.
Schools are named in his honor.