Sammons, Walter H.

1890-1973 · Contribution: 1920

Improved heated hair-straightening ('hot') comb, pre-heated before use to smooth coarse or curly hair more safely

Household & Domestic Inventions — collage image
Household & Domestic Inventions

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.

Impact on the world

First African American to patent a hot comb; the heated straightening comb became a staple of 20th-century hair care.

Life & background

African-American inventor from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (b. June 1890, d. 1973).

Sources

  1. U.S. patent record; African American Registry