Me: hello Mr. Elkins
Thomas: hello
Me: Thomas may I ask you what inspired you to be an inventor?
Thomas: yes you may.
Me: so what was it that inspired you to become an inventor?
Thomas: well as a child I loved to make things and I kept that with me after my youth and became an inventor not only could I make stuff I made thing that people use.
Me: that’s good you did what you loved so what are some of your inventions.
Thomas: well I improved the refrigerator at the time it was just an ice box and I improved the chamber commode as well as a type of table.
Me: so when you improve the fridge you really helped people?
Thomas: that’s correct yes because at the time you would stick your food in a box surrounded by ice blocks but the ice would melt so I came up with a way to use cold coils to keep food cool for longer.
Me: that’s amazing and you invented the chamber commode which is the toilet
Thomas: yes.
Me: and did you have any problems getting your inventions considered
Thomas: yes well because I was a black American no one took me seriously
Me: and most of the people at this time were not Wight and people who weren’t Wight were looked down upon correct?
Thomas: that’s correct and yes the class roles were like it was Wight’s were on top and non-Wight’s were on bottom
Me: oh so no one took you seriously or respected you
Thomas: yes that’s true and as a boy I was born into a poor family so I didn’t have much but the stuff that I would make and that inspired me because if I could make stuff as a poor boy I could do it as an adult with some money.
Me: now at the time what were the main religious beliefs?
Thomas: well mostly people were Christian around here at least.
me: well that’s all the time we have for now I look forward to meeting you again.
Thomas : thanks you too good bye.
You and I are the same person. I understand where you are coming from and how tough it must have been for you to be an African-American inventor when everyone thought you were a joke. I bet sometimes you felt like quitting but you made excellent discoveries such as the fridge. It's good that you did not give up. I see on your pictures it said something about New York city, were you born there? I in fact, was born in Ohio but, have been to New York. I worked at Tin Pan Alley, you might have heard of it. It was a big music publishing company during the Industrial time.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I grew up as a poor boy. I worked quite a few oddball jobs and didnt even pick up a camera for several years. Despite being a white man I was looked down on because of my style of photography, which at that time was considered to be in bad taste.
ReplyDeleteIt is extrememly unfortunate that no one took you seriously at first but it is wonderful that you were eventually noticed.
I think that your discovery of a new method to keeping things cold really helped out a lot of people. I probably at one point took pictures of one of your refridgerator manufactures.
The only thing i believe i can relate to on is that no one took us seriously.People looked down on me because of the way i painted,i didn't hide anything for the imagination.We are different because your inventions were made to help people, my paintings were made because it was my outlet,my only outlet.You are an incredible inventor i don't know what i would do if you hadn't improved the refrigerator and toilet.
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