José Roque Hernández

Jose Roque Hernandez (Matanzas, Cuba, March 31, 1857 - Cuba, March 26, 1899) was a Cuban inventor, mechanic and military who fought in the Cuban Liberation Army along with his three brothers. He invented the Cane Transit, an invention that revolutionized the transport of raw materials to sugar mills and is considered one of the most important Cuban inventions of 19th century Sugar Technology, and, already in war, an Automatic Trigger for dynamite bombs, tested in October of 1896 and used in the western part of Cuba by the Liberating Army. His wife, Inés Ponce Orta, was one of the main collaborators of Cuban forces in the underground, in the town of Corral Falso de Macurijes. Biography

Born on March 31, 1857 in Matanzas (Cuba), he was the son of Ignacio Roque de Escobar and Alfonso -descendant of two notable Spanish families from La Palma in the Canary Islands- and Amalia Hernández. His brothers were, at least, Aurelio, Rogelio and Carlos. As a mechanic, he settled in Guarina (present-day Jagüey Grande), in 1880, later buying a colony of the ancient lands of Ingenio Santo Domingo.

Due to the difficulties of transferring the cane to the railroad, which was still at hand, he created, with the help of the French veterinarian Honoré Lainé, his brothers Cornelio, Carlos and Ramón Ponce and his brother Aurelio, the Cane Transit, an invention that revolutionized the transport of raw material to sugar mills. He married Inés Ponce Orta, daughter of the Municipal Mayor of the Term of Macurijes, Marcial Ponce Vera.

With the Shuttle, he and his wife's brothers, Cornelius and Carlos, went to the manigua, to fight in the War of Independence of Cuba on October 27, 1895, a war in which too his brothers participated in the liberating party. In the contest they named him Colonel - serving as Chief of the North Brigade of Matanzas - of the Liberating Army. In addition, he invented an automatic trigger for dynamite bombs, tested in October of 1896 and used in the western part of Cuba by the Liberating Army. He became ill in mid-1897 and was sent to the United States. Where he returned early in 1899. He died on March 26 of the same year, forgotten by the newly installed authorities.

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