George T. Sampson
Full Name
George T. Sampson
Date of Birth
Not available
Place of Birth
Not available
Date of Death
Not available
Place of Death
Not available
Education
Not available
Spouses Names
Not available
Children Names
Not available
Parents Names
Not available
Known Affiliates Names
Not available
Affiliated Organizations’ Names
George T. Sampson was an African-American inventor best known for developing and patenting America’s first automatic clothes dryer in 1892. His invention, U.S. patent #476,416, was a frame that suspended clothing above a stove so that it dried more quickly, without the need for an open flame that often made clothes smell of smoke and stained them with soot. Sampson’s design was a significant improvement over previous methods and was used until the growth in use of gas and electric dryers in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Prior to his invention of the clothes dryer, Sampson also patented a sled propeller in 1885, which was a pedal-powered apparatus that eased travel through snow