Could you imagine a time when people who were unable to feed themselves? These people died a slow anguishing death. Well many people today unfortunately need to be fed by a feeding tube. Well thanks to a woman, a black woman, this is possible.
Bessie Blount was born in 1914 in Virginia. She trained as a physical therapist in Chicago and New Jersey.
She provided physical therapy for WWII soldiers; it was here that she invented the electrically driven feeding device. This was the first device that fed a patient that was bedridden or wheelchair bound. It would administer food through a tube in small continuous portions. If a patient bit down on the feeding tube it would activate the flow of food. Blount was unable to market her device. She sought help from the patent was given to the French government which put it to good use.
She later invented a receptacle device that could be worn around a patient’s neck. She again applied for a patent for the receptacle device and again was denied. This time the device was bought by Belgium. Blount also taught physical therapy at the Bronx hospital in New York. She became a forensic scientist and went into the area of law.
She was the first African American to work for Scotland Yard.
