J b winters biography channel

Winters was raised by his grandmother Betsy Cross in Waterford, Virginia. Winters apparently also learned the brickmaking trade. In , at the age of 14, he relocated to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania although it is unclear as to whether he moved on his own or with his grandmother. During this time that Winters lived in Chambersburg, he was active in the Underground Railroad , a city known for Quaker abolitionist activity.

In his now-lost autobiography, Winters claimed to have met and worked with Frederick Douglass. Winters is most noted as an inventor, a career which began long after the Civil War. In the s, as building became taller, Winters noticed that firemen had to take ladders off of their horse-drawn wagons to climb to windows, rescue people, and spray water on fires.

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He thought they should have ladders that they could raise that were already mounted on fire wagons. The ladders had to be foldable or collapsible so that fire wagons could turn corners in narrow streets and alleys. He built a fire wagon made with a mounted ladder that could be folded for his hometown of Chambersburg and received a patent for it on May 7, He received a second patent for an improved design on April 8, Three years later in , Winters received a patent for a fire escape ladder that could be attached to buildings.