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INTERESTING & HIGHLIGHTED PATENTS

Ideas and Innovation are everywhere--

in honor of Black History Month we highlight some of the patents held by inventors and innovators of color.   

We celebrate the innovations that have improved our lives, have inspired others, and highlight the inventors from our communities of color.  We are grateful that we are not alone in this and have included some of those patents highlighted by the IPWatchdog blog with links to the full descriptions and background.  Additional stories of inventors are available from the USPTO through its Inventorseye publication "for the independent inventor community. " 

Types of IP

Patent 140,253 -- Cooking Apparatus 

MARY JONES DE LEON

Featured in the 8 February 2021 IPWatchdog post, Mary Jones De Leon received her patent  for a cooking apparatus in 1873, the second black woman inventor to receive a patent.  The subject of the patent is the early precursor to the warming steam tables, but also provided dry heat with a "lamp".  

Patent 5,774,543 -- Telephone Jack Security Device 

CALVIN FLOWERS

The Telephone Jack Security Device for which Calvin Flowers received his patent in 1998 solved a problem with telephone use that concerned many parents at the time.  Mr. Flowers has since organized the Chicago Inventors Organization to "provide underserved independent inventors with the required resources to bring their inventions to fruition."

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