Posts Tagged: "Black History Month"

Sarah Boone is believed to be the fifth African-American woman to be awarded a U.S. patent Her invention, U.S. Patent No. 473,653, issued in 1892 and was directed to an improved ironing board. The object of her invention was “to produce a cheap, simple, convenient, and highly effective device, particularly adapted to be used in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies’ garments.”

In August 1888, Ellen Elgin, a black woman housekeeper, invented a clothes wringer which allowed clothing to be washed and dried faster by feeding clothes through two rollers to wring out the clothing, thereby making them easier to hang and dry. Elgin sold her patent to a white person because she felt it would have a better chance at success than if people knew the inventor was a woman of color. Thus, U.S. Patent No. 459,343 lists Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr. as the inventor.

On February 10, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) hosted its annual Black History Month program, “Contemporary Black Women Inventors.” The event spotlights Black inventors and business personalities across the United States to showcase their legacy contributions to America’s ingenuity and the innovation economy. These events include discussions with remarkable innovators, explorations of entrepreneurship, and seminars focused on how to obtain and use intellectual property, as well as helpful USPTO resources.

Judy W. Reed, one of the first recorded African American women to receive a U.S. patent (No. 305,474), is known for her invention titled “Dough Kneader and Roller”, which was granted patent protection on September 23, 1884. The invention improved upon existing dough kneaders and rollers and included a box for receiving dough and a crank that causes the dough to be drawn between corrugated rollers, whereby the dough is kneaded and rolled into a continuous sheet or ribbon.

In 1873, Mary Jones De Leon was granted U.S. patent No. 140,253 for her invention titled ”Cooking Apparatus.” De Leon, who resided in Baltimore, Maryland, is believed to be the second black woman to receive a U.S. patent, following Martha Jones in 1868. De Leon’s invention was an apparatus for heating or cooking food by dry heat and steam the same time. Her cooking apparatus was an early precursor to the steam tables now used in food buffets to keep food warm during gatherings.

Although the history of fiber optics includes a long list of engineers and inventors making contributions over decades, Dr. Mensah’s particular improvements to the process of making fiber optic cables dramatically improved the cost-efficiency of producing those cables, clearing the way for a much greater degree of fiber optics technologies at work in our world. In his other work, Dr. Mensah increased the practical applications of fiber optics and has also sought to improve the status of African-American inventors and historical figures, making him a particularly interesting profile subject for Black History Month.