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African-American History
African Americans Hold Patents On Important Inventions
USPTO
recognizes African American creativity during Black History Month
Black History Month,
held each year during the month of February, celebrates African American
cultures and heritage and recognizes the many contributions African Americans
have made to this nation.
In conjunction with Black History
Month, the Department of Commerce's United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) is recognizing some very special African Americans whose inventions have
made a great contribution in making this country the most technologically
advanced nation in the world.
Granville T. Woods, born in
Columbus, Ohio in 1856, was known as the "Black Edison." During his
lifetime he received over 30 patents and successfully fought suits brought
against him by Thomas Edison for the rights to certain electrical inventions,
including railway telegraphy (patent no. 388,803), which allowed dispatchers to
communicate by telegraph and warn train engineers of oncoming trains. Another of
Wood's better-known inventions is the air brake (patent no.701,981).
Ivan Yaeger, who was born and
still resides in Miami, received (patent no. 4,685,928) for an artificial arm
and hand assembly in 1987. This revolutionary prosthetic arm is designed to move
drive motors to a level that improves range, variety, and speed of motion and
allows for better toleration by the wearer.
Dr. Patricia Bath, an
ophthalmologist from New York, but living in Los Angeles when she received her
patent, became the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a
medical invention. Dr. Bath's (patent no. 4,744,360), a method for removing
cataract lenses, transformed eye surgery, using a laser device making the
procedure more accurate.
Dr. James West, born in 1931 in
Prince Edward County, Va., received (patent no. 3,118,022) in 1964 (while an
employee at Bell Laboratories), along with Gerhard Sessler, for the electro acoustic
transducer, an electret microphone, which offered greater reliability, higher
precision, lower cost and smaller size. The electret microphone revolutionized
the microphone industry, with almost one billion manufactured each year. West
and Sessler were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999.
These patents, as well as the more than
six million patents issued since the first in 1790 and the 2.3 million
trademarks registered since 1870, can be seen on the Department of Commerce's
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Website at: www.uspto.gov.
Last year USPTO issued 187,824 patents and registered 102,314 trademarks.
"Minority Inventors: America's
Tapestry of Innovation," a video produced by the USPTO that tells the story
of minority inventors of the past and the present, is available from the
agency's Office of Public Affairs by calling 703-305-8341.
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