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Patent holder profile

Norbert Rillieux and the sugar-works patent record

Rillieux's patent trail belongs in a Black patent archive because it shows early Black participation in U.S. industrial chemistry, while requiring careful Louisiana Creole identity language.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Rillieux is a public-record memory story.

Rillieux belongs in the patent package because his sugar-making records show patent law, industrial chemistry, New Orleans place memory, and a source trail that needs more careful public framing than a generic list of famous inventors.

Unique holder rank 3 / grant ranks 4 and 6Status: source_reviewedSource grade: B+

Patent: 3237 and 4879: Improvement in Sugar-Works; Improvement in Sugar-Making
Issue date: 1843-08-26 and 1846-12-10
Place: New Orleans, Louisiana
Record strength: Medium-high to high patent-record strength: public patent text, NARA case-file context, and museum object context are attached, but assignment and commercial history need deeper work.
Identity evidence: Precise Louisiana Creole and Black patent-participation framing; this page does not convert that context into an Indigenous Black identity claim.
Why this record matters: Rillieux makes the archive wider than famous-first lists because his record joins Black technical life, New Orleans place memory, industrial chemistry, and source-language discipline.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 3237 for sugar-works improvements.
National Archives / DocsTeach case-file record for Patent Case File No. 4,879.
Smithsonian object record for a multiple-effect vacuum evaporator patent model.

What remains open

Commercial ownership and assignment trails need deeper source work.
Identity framing should stay precise and avoid converting Creole New Orleans context into a broader CultureUp identity claim.

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 reviewed trail includes U.S. Patent No. 3237 and Patent Case File No. 4,879, with a National Archives educational record and public patent-text mirrors.

The person in the record

CultureUp uses public source language to identify Rillieux as a New Orleans-born Louisiana Creole inventor. The page avoids broad identity conversion and keeps the evidence label visible.

Place attached to the claim

New Orleans matters because the patent trail sits inside Louisiana sugar production, Creole identity language, industrial labor, and public-memory interpretation.

The invention

The inventions concern sugar-works and sugar-making improvements, including multiple-effect evaporation context. CultureUp does not overstate technical detail beyond the attached records.

Business, labor, and use

The patent trail supports technical recognition. It does not by itself settle ownership, assignment, commercial benefit, plantation labor conditions, or all people involved in the industrial system.

What the record cannot prove

The records do not prove Indigenous Black identity, full commercial control, complete biography, or all labor relationships around sugar production.

Patent records

Grant trail

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

Grant rank 4Holder rank 3utility patentmedium high

3237: Improvement in Sugar-Works

Norbert Rillieux / 1843-08-26

Central early Black participation in U.S. patenting; CultureUp keeps the Louisiana Creole frame visible and does not convert it into an Indigenous Black identity claim.

Residence: New Orleans, Louisiana
Category: industrial chemistry / sugar production
Source status: medium high
Primary sources: 2 mapped

Grant rank 6Holder rank 3utility patenthigh

4879: Improvement in Sugar-Making

Norbert Rillieux / 1846-12-10

NARA case-file context strengthens the public source trail for Rillieux's sugar-making improvements.

Residence: New Orleans, Louisiana
Category: industrial chemistry / sugar production
Source status: 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

US3237A - Improvement in sugar-works

Google Patents / 1843 patent record

Supports: Shows Norbert Rillieux of New Orleans tied to an 1843 sugar-works patent record.
Limit: OCR and transcription artifacts require careful reading against original images where possible.
Last checked: 2026-06-08
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US3237A/en

primary-source educational recordarchive case-file context

Norbert Rillieux's Improvement in Sugar-Works

National Archives / DocsTeach / 1846 patent case file

Supports: Identifies Patent Case File No. 4,879, Improvement in Sugar-Making, inventor Norbert Rillieux, National Archives Identifier 70664446, and public-domain rights status.
Limit: The educational description supports a source trail but should not be the only identity or commercial-ownership source.
Last checked: 2026-06-08
Source URL: https://docsteach.org/document/norbert-rillieuxs-improvement-in-sugar-works-4879/