It must still be borne in mind that the records of the United States Patent Office do not show whether a patentee is a Negro or a Caucasian, and that to ascertain what the Negro has accomplished in the field of invention other sources of information had to be utilized; and finally, that the very omission from the public records of all data calculated to identify a given invention with the Negro race completely destroys the possibility of arriving at any definite conclusion as to the exact number and character of negro inventions.
Judging from what has been duly authenticated as Negro inventions patented by the United States, it is entirely reasonable to assume that many hundreds of valuable inventions have been patented by Negro inventors for which the race will never receive due credit. This is the more unfortunate since the race now, perhaps, more than ever before, needs the help of every fact in its favor to offset as far as possible the many discreditable things that the daily papers are all too eager to publish against it.
It appears that no systematic effort was ever made by the government to collect information as to the number of inventions by Negroes until January, 1900, when the then Commissioner of Patents, Hon. Charles H. Duell, undertook the task. Previous to that time the United States Patent Office had received numerous requests from all parts of the country for information on that point, and the uniform reply was that the official records of the Patent Office did not show whether an inventor was colored or white, and that the office had no way of obtaining such information.
Notwithstanding this fact, however, an employee of the Patent Office had undertaken to collect a list of such patents, and this list was used in selecting a small exhibit of Negro inventions. First, for the Cotton Centennial at New Orleans, in 1884; again for the World's Fair at Chicago, in 1893; and, lastly, for the Southern Exposition at Atlanta in 1895. But it was reserved for the United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900 to make the first definite effort to obtain this information, and at its request the following letter by the Commissioner of Patents was addressed to hundreds of patent lawyers throughout the country, to large manufacturing establishments, to the various newspapers edited by colored men, and to prominent men of the race:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
United States Patent Office.Washington, D. C., Jan. 26, 1900.
Dear Sir:
This Office is endeavoring to obtain information concerning patents issued to colored inventors, in accordance with a request from the United States Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900, to be used in preparing the "Negro Exhibit."
To aid in this work, you are requested to send to this Office, in the enclosed envelope, which will not require a postage stamp, the names of any colored inventors you can furnish, together with the date of grant, title of invention, and patent number, so that a list without errors can be prepared.
You will confer a special favor by aiding in the preparation of this list by filling in the blank form below, and sending in any replies as promptly as possible. Should you be unable to furnish any data, will you kindly inform us of that fact?
Very respectfully,
C. H. Duell,
Commissioner of Patents.===============================================================================
| NAME. | NUMBER. | DATE. | INVENTION. |
+----------------+--------------------+----------------+----------------------+
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
+----------------+--------------------+----------------+----------------------+
The replies to this letter showed that the correspondents personally knew of and could identify by name, date and number more than four hundred patents granted by the United States to colored inventors. The letters also showed that nearly as many more colored inventors had completed their inventions, and had applied to patent lawyers throughout the country for assistance in obtaining patents for their inventions, but finally abandoned the effort through lack of means to prosecute their applications. The list of the patented inventions as furnished mainly by the letters above named is printed below, and shows that, beginning first with agricultural implements and culinary utensils, which circumscribed the character of his earlier employment, the Negro inventor gradually widened the field of his inventive effort until he had well nigh covered the whole range of patentable subjects.
A study of the list will disclose the fact that the Negro inventor has very often, like his white brother, caught the spirit of invention, and not being contented with a single success, has frequently been led to exert his energies along many different lines of inventions.
Elijah McCoy, of Detroit, Mich., heads the list with twenty-eight patents, relating particularly to lubricating appliances for engines both stationary and locomotive, but covering also a large variety of other subjects. The next is Granville T. Woods, of Cincinnati, whose inventions are confined almost exclusively to electricity, and cover a very wide range of devices for the utilitarian application of this wonderful force. Mr. W. B. Purvis, of Philadelphia, comes next with sixteen patents relating especially to paper bag machinery, but including a few other subjects as well. Mr. F. J. Ferrell, of New York, has ten patents on valves adapted for a variety of uses. Then comes ex-Congressman Geo. W. Murray of South Carolina, with eight patents on agricultural implements. Mr. Henry Creamer has seven patents on steam traps, and more than a dozen among the number have patented as many as five different inventions.
Time and space will not admit of any extended notice of many individual patentees, but mention should be made of a few of them.
Granville T. Woods is called the "Black Edison" because of his persistent and successful investigations into the mystery of electricity. Among his inventions may be found valuable improvements in telegraphy, important telephone instruments, a system for telegraphing from moving trains, an electric railway, a phonograph, and an automatic cut-off for an electric circuit. One of his telephone inventions was sold to the American Bell Telephone Company, who is said to have paid Mr. Woods handsomely for his patent. Mr. Ferrell's inventions of valves laid the foundation for a large and highly successful manufacturing and commercial enterprise which he now conducts in the city of New York.