1849 - Andrew Jackson Beard was born a slave on a plantation in Woodland in Jefferson County, Alabama. - Andrew Beard was a farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, a railroad worker, a businessman and finally an inventor.1864-1865 - When he was 15, he was emancipated, and he married at the age of 16. 1873 - His design is an improvement on an earlier patent (U.S. Patent 138,405) awarded to Eli H. Janney.188