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Patent holder profile

George Washington Carver and the materials patent trail

Carver's paint-and-stain patent belongs in Patented Memory as agricultural chemistry and materials work, not as a generic famous-inventor shortcut.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Carver is a public-record memory story.

This belongs on CultureUp because the patent record connects invention to place, public institutions, work systems, laboratories, employers, federal or corporate assignment, and the limits of public records.

Sprint 5 priority 2 / not final rankStatus: source_reviewedSource grade: A-

Patent: 1541478: Paint and Stain and Producing the Same
Issue date: 1925-06-09
Place: Tuskegee, Alabama
Record strength: Patent-record facts are attached with at least one public context source. CultureUp still separates patent proof from biography, adoption, commercialization, and identity claims.
Identity evidence: Public context source attached where available; CultureUp does not use the patent row alone as race, ancestry, lineage, or Indigenous Black identity proof.
Sprint priority: 2 / not final rank
Cluster: 20th-century systems
Needed before promotion: Promotion language should remain limited until source-led context, assignment, co-inventor, and commercialization review is complete.
Why this record matters: The patent connects Tuskegee agricultural chemistry, natural materials, public education, and federal archive memory.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 1541478, issued June 9, 1925.
Paint, stain, and natural-clay materials frame.
NPS and NARA public context for Carver's materials work.

What remains open

Full patent-family review.
Commercial production and use evidence.
How Tuskegee institutional records should be connected without flattening the source trail.

Article profile

Read the person, place, invention, and record separately.

CultureUp keeps each layer visible so a patent record does not get stretched into claims the source trail cannot support.

The patent record

1541478 was issued on 1925-06-09 for Paint and Stain and Producing the Same.

The person in the record

The attached public context sources support a reader-facing profile frame. Any deeper life history, family record, school record, employment file, or community memory needs its own source trail.

Place attached to the claim

Tuskegee, Alabama is the public place anchor used for this route. CultureUp does not infer local family continuity from the patent row alone.

The invention

The invention is summarized from the public patent title and source trail. Technical, market, institutional, and adoption claims stay limited to what the attached sources can support.

Business, labor, and use

Modern patent records often separate inventor, employer, assignee, licensee, and beneficiary. CultureUp keeps those categories apart instead of treating a patent as proof of ownership, wealth, adoption, or public impact.

What the record cannot prove

The patent record does not by itself prove full biography, race, ancestry, Indigenous Black identity, commercialization, institutional adoption, economic benefit, modern product lineage, or community memory.

Identity and correction note

CultureUp treats this as Black American patent memory only through public, reviewable sources. The page does not certify ancestry, descent, tribe, nationality, family history, or private identity.

Send stronger patent images, assignment records, employer records, licensing documents, public biographies, or source corrections through CultureUp's correction path.

Patent records do not prove final rank, private identity, solo credit when co-inventors appear, employment ownership, commercialization, adoption, or later public impact.

Indexable as a source-led Sprint 5 profile with visible source limits.

Employer, assignee, and inventor status are not interchangeable. CultureUp names assignees when the patent record does.

Do not use this page to make absolute first, ownership, adoption, or commercialization claims without a separate source trail.

Patent records

Grant trail

Grant rank and unique-holder rank are shown separately so repeat patentees do not distort the chronological sequence.

systems_era_candidateSprint priority 2Not public rankutility patenthigh

1541478: Paint and Stain and Producing the Same

George Washington Carver / 1925-06-09

Sprint 5 systems-era candidate. Patent and public-archive context support Carver's materials work; commercial, educational, and agricultural-extension claims require separate sources.

Residence: Tuskegee, Alabama
Category: agricultural chemistry / materials
Source status: high
Chronology handling: systems_era_candidate
Cluster: 20th-century systems
Primary sources: 3 mapped

Source trail

Claims stay tied to source limits.

Systems-era patent records

Patent anchors for twentieth-century and modern systems candidates. These rows support invention facts while rank handling, identity context, co-inventor credit, and assignee ownership remain visible.

patent text mirrorsystems-era patent-record candidate

US1541478A - Paint and Stain and Process of Producing the Same

Google Patents / 1925 patent record

Supports: Shows George Washington Carver connected to a paint and stain process patent published June 9, 1925.
Limit: The patent record verifies invention data, patent number, issue date, and title. It does not by itself prove full biography, Tuskegee program history, commercialization, public memory, or economic benefit.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1541478A/en

Public memory

Objects, museums, and public interpretation records that help readers see how an invention remains visible.

public education sourcepublic institution context

George Washington Carver - The Artist: A Colorful South

National Park Service / NPS classroom source

Supports: Places Carver's paints and stains work inside his broader agricultural chemistry and industrial-application public record.
Limit: Supports context for Carver's materials work; it does not replace patent text or prove every technical or commercial claim.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/george-washington-carver-the-artist-a-colorful-south.htm

public patent-record highlightarchive context

George Washington Carver Patent for Cosmetics

National Archives / NARA public highlight

Supports: Connects Carver patent holdings to cosmetics, paint, and stains from natural clay in the National Archives public record.
Limit: Does not establish all Carver patent claims by itself; CultureUp still uses patent rows for patent-number facts.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://www.archives.gov/college-park/highlights/carver-patents