These included a collapsible, folding bed designed for easy storage and portability,[3][4] an innovation adopted by the U.S. military;[1] a rapid mail-stamping machine used by the U.S.
Postal Service;[1] a device to shunt trains to different tracks; and a hernia truss adopted into wide use by the U.S. Army Medical Board.
Bailey had to escape from a military camp after there was an attempt to capture him as a slave while he was dropping off his inventions.
[2] Bailey was a member of the first mixed-race jury in Washington, D.C., which found Millie Gaines not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
[6] He served as a member of the board of directors of the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth where a residence hall was named after him.