News

Richard Spikes – The blind automobile genius who invented the traffic indicator lights

Richard Bowie Spikes (October 2, 1878 – January 22, 1963) was an African-American inventor. The holder of a number of United States patents, his improvements on existing inventions include a beer tap, automobile directional signals, an automatic gear shift device based on automatic transmission for automobiles and other motor vehicles and a safety braking system for trucks and buses.

Richard B. Spikes was 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 in San Francisco, California and the fifth of nine 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren of Monroe Spikes, a barber, and his wife Medora (Kirby) Spikes. Two of his younger brothers, John Curry Spikes (1881–1955) and Reb Spikes (1888–1982), were musicians and songwriters (Someday Sweetheart, a jazz standard [1919] was their biggest hit).  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. On October 8, 1900, he married Lula Belle Charlton (1880–1970), daughter of Charles Napoleon Charlton, an ex-slave who co-founded the first public schools for African Americans in the city of Beaumont. Richard and Lula had one son, Richard Don Quixote Spikes (1902–1989).

Soon after his marriage, the elder Spikes moved west to Albuquerque, New Mexico and later Bisbee, Arizona where he operated a barber shop and later a saloon. He became dissatisfied with how draft beer was dispensed from a keg; and developed variations on the pressure-dispense beer tap. The patent was purchased by the Milwaukee Brewing Company and variations of the invention are still in use.

Moving to San Francisco, California, Richard Spikes eventually received a patent pertaining to automobile directional signals, which he installed on a Pierce-Arrow car in 1913. However, contrary to many sources, Spikes was not the original inventor of this pivotal device, as Percy Douglas-Hamilton was awarded U.S. patent 912,831 in 1906 for his creation of the first directional signals, six years before Spikes developed his version of the device. While he was working on his brake testing machine a few years later, the Oakland, California Police Department was interested enough to give it a tryout.

Spikes continued working as a barber, owning and operating shops in San Francisco, Fresno, California and Stockton, California until his eyesight began to fade due to the effects of glaucoma which affected other members of his family, including his brother John, who received a patent for a “writing aid for the blind”—a paper holder, essentially a pad with a clip affixed to it in order to secure sheets of writing paper.  Richard Spikes also kept working; in December 1932, Spikes received a patent for an automatic gear shift device based on automatic transmission for automobiles and other motor vehicles invented in 1904 by the Sturtevant brothers of Boston, Massachusetts.

Related Posts

BBC News reports: 30 minutes ago! The White House faces backlash after President Trump hints at deporting billionaire Elon Musk amid the ‘America Party’ battle

BBC NEWS: TRUMP’S SHOCKING DEPORTATION THREAT AGAINST ELON MUSK SPARKS OUTRAGE AMID ‘AMERICA PARTY’ FEUD In a stunning escalation of political tensions, President Donald Trump has ignited a…

Tiger Woods bluntly announced the termination of his sponsorship deal with tech company Astronomer after CEO Andy Byron was caught attempting to engage in an extramarital affair with subordinate employee Kristin Cabot. “We will stand by and protect mothers—no matter what,”

Tiger Woods Drops the Hammer: Astronomer CEO Andy Byron’s Viral Scandal Erupts, Sponsorship in Flames Love, Lies, and a Viral Video It started, as these things so often…

5 MINUTES AGO: The CEO of ASTRONOMER was allegedly caught in a hotel cheating video — leaked by an insider employee…

Astronomer Scandal: CEO Criticizes Coldplay for Exposing Alleged Infidelity A Coldplay concert in Boston, Massachusetts, became the epicenter of a viral scandal that has rocked both the tech…

SAD NEWS: 30 minutes ago in Texas, USA, at the age of 53, Elon Musk’s family just announced urgent news to his followers

BREAKING TODAY: ELON MUSK’S FAMILY ISSUES HEARTBREAKING STATEMENT — BILLIONAIRE TECH VISIONARY FACING SERIOUS HEALTH CRISIS AT 53 In a stunning and deeply emotional development that has sent…

BBC News: 30 minutes ago! President Trump’s shock plan could force billionaire Elon Musk to leave the US in the next 10 days, angering Tesla investors who have revoked tax breaks

In a stunning escalation of political tensions, President Donald Trump has ignited a firestorm of controversy by hinting at the potential deportation of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The…

BBC News reports: 30 minutes ago! President Trump has announced that “$10 Billion” is the price to pay for media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Wall Street Journal reporters’ mistakes in their Epstein case, alleging

MR. TRUMP SUES US MEDIA TYCOON, DEMANDING $10 BILLION IN COMPENSATION Mr. Trump sued billionaire Murdoch and many companies for defamation over the article about pedophile billionaire Epstein,…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *