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Patent holder profile

Martha Jones and the Corn-Husker, Sheller Patent

Jones moves the patent archive into Black women's patent history and agricultural machinery through an 1868 Amelia County record.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Jones is a public-record memory story.

Jones belongs here because the patent row links Black women's invention memory, Amelia County place, agriculture, and source limits.

Unique holder rank 8 / grant rank 10Status: source_reviewedSource grade: A-

Patent: 77494: Improvement in Corn-Huskers, Shellers
Issue date: 1868-05-05
Place: Amelia County, Virginia
Record strength: A- patent-record strength with an identity-source caveat: the patent verifies invention, date, and place.
Identity evidence: Publishable with a caveat that biography and Black women inventor context need external public sources.
Why this record matters: Jones makes Black women's patent memory and agricultural processing technology visible without relying on first-language.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 77494 for corn-husker and sheller improvements, issued May 5, 1868.
Patent text ties the inventor to Amelia County, Virginia.

What remains open

Biography and identity context need public source expansion.
No first-language should be used without a separate reviewed 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

The patent text identifies Martha Jones of Amelia County, Virginia, and an improvement in corn-huskers and shellers issued May 5, 1868.

The person in the record

The current profile is patent-first. Identity and biography should be expanded with public local records or scholarship.

Place attached to the claim

Amelia County anchors the patent row and keeps the record tied to place rather than a generic inventor list.

The invention

The invention concerns corn husking and shelling, placing agricultural processing work inside the patent archive.

Business, labor, and use

The patent does not prove manufacturing, farm ownership, commercial use, or the broader labor context around corn processing.

What the record cannot prove

The patent cannot prove complete biography, lineage, community standing, or first Black woman patentee status.

Patent records

Grant trail

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

Grant rank 10Holder rank 8utility patentmedium high

77494: Improvement in Corn-Huskers, Shellers

Martha Jones / 1868-05-05

Patent row anchors a Black women inventors lane, but biography and identity context remain caveated.

Residence: Amelia County, Virginia
Category: agricultural machinery
Source status: medium high
Primary sources: 2 mapped

Source trail

Claims stay tied to source limits.

Patent record

Patent text, case-file context, or patent-image trails that can support inventor, title, number, date, place, and claim language.

patent text mirrorpatent text with identity-source caveat

US77494A - Corn-husker and sheller

Google Patents / 1868 patent record

Supports: Shows Martha Jones of Amelia County, Virginia, connected to an improvement in corn-huskers and shellers issued May 5, 1868.
Limit: The patent verifies invention, date, and place. Biography, identity, and Black women inventor context need external public source support.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US77494A/en

Identity evidence

Institutional profiles, Baker/Murray recovery context, or public source trails that support careful Black patentee language without private proof.

official historical essayrecovery-project context

Found on Baker's list

United States Patent and Trademark Office / 2022

Supports: Connects Henry E. Baker's recovery project, George Washington Murray's Congressional Record list, and the problem that the Patent Office did not and still does not collect demographic data.
Limit: Baker's list is a recovery starting point, not a complete census of Black inventors.
Last checked: 2026-06-08
Source URL: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/found-bakers-list