Unveiling the Friction Heater Inventor, Charles S Lewis Baker - The Hidden Story

Описание: There are many little-known black inventors and Charles S.L Baker is in fact one of them.
Charles was born into slavery. He was born in Savannah, Missouri on August 3, 1859, and was raised by his father with the help of the plantation owner’s wife after his mother died when he was just 3 months old.
Baker did not have a formal education in engineering, incredibly he was a self-taught mechanical engineer. His father was employed as an express agent, and once Baker turned fifteen, he became his assistant. It was through this work experience that Baker realized his love for mechanical sciences due to his exposure to wagons and linchpins.
His curiosity as to how heat is produced through friction led him to probe further into friction. Some say he was fascinated by friction because through the process one could generate heat without necessarily tapping into a heat source. The end of the Civil War marked the end of Baker’s enslavement. This in turn gave Baker the freedom he needed to attend and later receive an education at Franklin College.
Baker worked over the span of decades on attempting several different forms of friction, including rubbing two bricks together mechanically, as well as using various types of metals. This alternative way of generating heat sparked the urge to create a device that could use the heat generated from friction. After twenty-three years, the invention was perfected in the form of two metal cylinders, one inside of the other, with a spinning core in the center made of wood, that produced friction. So, on January 13, 1903, Baker invented and also patented a radiator that heats up with friction. This was no mean feat because it took about 23 years for him to experiment with different types of metals and friction forms before he could come up with his friction heater.
Friction heat radiator was a green-energy option that if they were still in production today it would not cause harm to the environment. Basically, he invented an alternative means of producing heat without combustion.
During his patent application, Baker stated that friction heat could be produced with any mode of power like wind, water, and gasoline.
His device, according to him, was set to be the cheapest source of heat production at the time which made him win accolades such as ‘King of Clean Energy and ‘St. Joseph Negro Inventor.’
“Mr. Baker claimed that the mode of power used in creating the friction was not essential. It may be wind, water, gasoline, or any other source of energy.”
Any notable newsreels hailed his invention. “On March 27, 1904, the New York Times’ edition identified Baker’s invention as a “Clever Negro Invention”. Other newspapers such as Daily Gazette and News-Press also published his story in 1904 indicating that his invention would “revolutionize the then heating systems.”
Baker then created a factory called The Friction Heat and Boiler Company in 1904 in St. Joseph with him as the head of board of directors.
His company employed 50 skilled and unskilled labour to produce more radiators and had about $136,000 in capital stocks.
At the time, Baker’s capital stock was worth a lot of money which made him an affluent and honorable man in his hometown. His loyalty to his employees made his business thrive all but racial prejudice which sometimes posed a threat to his finances, but his business flourished.