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Patent holder profile

Thomas Elkins and the Dining-Table, Ironing-Table, and Quilting-Frame Patent

Elkins enters the Albany patent-memory cluster through a domestic labor-saving invention issued in 1870.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Elkins is a public-record memory story.

Elkins belongs here because the patent row links Albany place, domestic labor, technical design, and public-record discipline.

Unique holder rank 9 / grant rank 11Status: source_reviewedSource grade: A-

Patent: 100020: Dining-Table, Ironing-Table, and Quilting-Frame Combined
Issue date: 1870-02-22
Place: Albany, New York
Record strength: A- patent-record strength for invention, date, and Albany residence; later biography should stay source-separated.
Identity evidence: Publishable as a patent-record profile with a biography caveat.
Why this record matters: Elkins shows domestic labor-saving design entering the Black patent-memory sequence before later famous industrial profiles.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 100020, issued February 22, 1870.
Patent text names Thomas Elkins of Albany, New York.

What remains open

Later public-memory claims need separate source review.
Commercial use and manufacturing history remain open.

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 Thomas Elkins of Albany, New York, and a combined dining table, ironing table, and quilting frame issued February 22, 1870.

The person in the record

The current profile is patent-first. Later medical, civic, or abolition-era memory belongs only with separate sources.

Place attached to the claim

Albany remains the place anchor and connects Elkins to a broader New York patent-memory cluster.

The invention

The invention combined household and textile-work functions in a labor-saving domestic technology.

Business, labor, and use

The patent does not prove manufacturing scale, users, market success, or the full labor context of domestic work.

What the record cannot prove

The patent cannot prove complete biography, private family records, economic return, or all technical contributors.

Patent records

Grant trail

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

Grant rank 11Holder rank 9utility patentmedium high

100020: Dining-Table, Ironing-Table, and Quilting-Frame Combined

Thomas Elkins / 1870-02-22

Patent row supports domestic labor-saving technology; later Albany civic and medical memory should be sourced separately.

Residence: Albany, New York
Category: domestic / labor-saving technology
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 biography caveat

US100020A - Dining table, ironing table, and quilting frame

Google Patents / 1870 patent record

Supports: Shows Thomas Elkins of Albany, New York, connected to a combined dining table, ironing table, and quilting frame issued February 22, 1870.
Limit: The patent verifies the invention row; later biographical memory should be separated from patent evidence until sourced.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US100020A/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