A patent was issued on February 5th in 1884 for a new, improved egg-beater. The Patent Office must have been a busy place in the nineteenth century for it was a time of great innovation and invention, but what was unusual for the era was that the patent was granted to an African-American. Willis Johnson was not the first ‘coloured person’ to receive a patent – that honour went to Thomas L. Jennings, a New York tailor who developed a new dry-cleaning process in 1821 – but it was hardly a common occurrence in the 1800’s for those who came from slave stock to be acknowledged in this way.

In fact, what Willis Johnson had really invented was an early mixing machine and not just an egg beater. Willis Johnson’s device was not intended for eggs alone. Willis Johnson had designed his egg beater and mixer for eggs, batter, and other baker’s ingredients. It was a double acting machine with two chambers. Batter could be beaten in one section and eggs could be beaten in another section, or one section could be cleaned while the other section could continue beating.


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Thanks to theoldfoodiedotblogspot & inventorsdotabout
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