Post by Sowells Consulting Engineers (SCE)

Today we highlight another Black Educator, Civil Engineer and Inventor – William H. Dammond This patent-holding pioneer was the first African-American to graduate from the Western University of Pennsylvania. After receipt of his degree in Civil Engineering, he quickly hit his stride in bridge engineering, becoming an assistant Bridge Engineer at the Michigan Central Railroad where he invented an electrical signaling system. The system he called “The Dammond Circuit”, was an alternating-track, circuit-based technological replacement for the ineffectual human hand signals that were supposed to safely guide railroad trains to stop, go and change direction. In 1906 he was also issued a patent for a railroad operating safety system in which he called the “Dammond System”. Dammond was recognized for his work in a 1915 issue of The Michigan Manual of Freedmen’s Progress, a publication of notable African Americans in Michigan. #BlackHistoryMonth #tbt #Engineering