Early Prototype

• Bradley built his first model steam engine while working in a printing office.alfabeto image by Frida from Fotolia.com
  
  When he was a teenager, Bradley's unknown master put him to work in a printing office. At the age of 16, according to the Maryland State Archives, Bradley used scrap metal found around the office---pieces of gun-barrel, pewter, and round steel, among others---to create a model working steam engine.
  
  

Funding

• Bradley worked at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.Naval Academy Bridge image by dwight9592 from Fotolia.com
  
  Bradley's master next put him to work at the Department of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, where Bradley was the first African-American to hold anything other than a menial position. While there, he found a way to fund his next invention. He sold his original steam engine to a midshipman at the academy, combining the proceeds with the wages his master allowed him to keep from his position at the academy (about $5.00 a month).
  
  

Warship Steam Engine

• In 1856, Benjamin Bradley invented a steam engine powerful enough to run the first cutter of a sloop-of-war, described by the Maryland State Archives as "a small sailing warship with a single gun deck which carried between ten and eighteen cannons" at a speed of 16 knots. Although it was against the law for a slave to patent an invention, Bradley's master did allow him to sell the engine and use the proceeds to buy his freedom.