African American Steering Committee this year would like to take note of some of its rich history featuring notable creatives, artisans, scientists and leaders. This year’s Cut To Black “Did you know?” will celebrate inventors and their inventions of everyday objects that have contributed to the storytelling of films and television.
Alfred L. Cralle
1866 – 1919
Cralle went to Washington, D.C., and attended Wayland Seminary, one of several schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to help educate Blacks after the American Civil War. He settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he first worked as a drug store and hotel porter. Alfred noticed that hotel servers had trouble with ice cream sticking to serving spoons, so he developed an in ice cream scoop. On June 10, 1896, Cralle applied for a patent on his invention. He was awarded patent 576,395 on 2 February 1897. The patented “Ice Cream Mold and Disher,” was an ice cream scoop with a built-in scraper to allow for one-handed operation. Alfred’s functional design is reflected in modern ice cream scoops. Alfred L. Cralle was born in Kenbridge, Lunenburg County, Virginia, just after the end of the American Civil War. He attended local schools and worked with his father in the carpentry trade as a young man, becoming interested in mechanics.
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