Bailey, Leonard C.
1825-1918 · Contribution: 1899 (reissued 1900)
Folding cabinet bed (U.S. Patent 629,286, 1899), adopted by the U.S. Army; also patented an Army-adopted hernia truss and a rapid mail-stamping machine, and co-founded Washington's Capitol Savings Bank
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
His folding bed design was an early forerunner of the modern Murphy bed, a space-saving furniture innovation.
Life & background
An inventor who patented a collapsible folding bed design, an early precursor to what would become known as the Murphy bed.
Sources
- U.S. Patent 629,286; BlackPast.org (drawing on Patricia Carter Sluby, "The Inventive Spirit of African Americans", Praeger, 2004); African American Registry
More in Household & Domestic Inventions
Alexander, Nathaniel
unknown
Improved folding chair with a pivoting, integrated book rest, designed for churches, Sunday schools, auditoriums, and choirs
Ammons, Virgie
1908-2000
Fireplace throat damper
Ashbourne, Alexander P.
c.1820-1915
Spring-loaded biscuit/cake cutter (hinged molding board with interchangeable shaped plates to cut a whole batch at once); pioneering processes for refining, treating, and preparing coconut oil for domestic use
Benjamin, Miriam
1861-1947
Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels