Miriam E. Benjamin was only the second Black woman ever to receive a patent. In 1888, she received a patent for an invention she called a Gong and Signal Chair for Hotels. Her chair, as she stated in her patent application would "reduce the expenses of hotels by decreasing the number of waiters and attendants, to add to the convenience and comfort of guests and to obviate the necessity of hand clapping or calling aloud to obtain the services of pages."

The system worked by pressing a small button on the back of a chair which would relay a signal to a waiting attendant. At the same time a light would illuminate on the chair allowing the attendant to see which guest was in need of assistance. The system was adopted and installed within the United States House of Representatives and was the predecessor of the methods used today on airplanes to signal stewardesses.

Miriam Benjamin was a Washington school teacher when she made her invention. Miriam noticed that many hotels and restaurants seemed overstaffed for the number of customers needing service at any moment. She devised a system where the customers could quietly alert the staff when in need of service.