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Patent holder profile

William A. Lavalette and the printing-press record

Lavalette's printing-press patent belongs in the public-record tools lane, but the route stays noindex until identity evidence and promotion language are reconciled.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Lavalette 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 8 priority 1 / not final rankStatus: noindex_draftSource grade: B+

Patent: 208184: Improvement in Printing-Presses
Issue date: 1878-09-17
Place: Washington, District of Columbia
Record strength: Patent-record facts are attached, but the strongest public claim remains under source review.
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: 1 / not final rank
Cluster: Print, paper, and recordkeeping
Needed before promotion: Attach public identity evidence and source-limit notes before promoting Lavalette as an indexable Black American patent profile.
Why this record matters: The record helps CultureUp read printing technology as civic and public-record infrastructure while holding identity promotion until a public source trail is attached.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 208184, issued September 17, 1878.
Washington, District of Columbia, as recorded place.
Printing-press technology as a public-record and publishing tool.

What remains open

Public identity evidence before indexable promotion.
Print-shop, publishing, or civic-record use context beyond the patent row.
Chronological placement against other late-1870s records.

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

208184 was issued on 1878-09-17 for Improvement in Printing-Presses.

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

Washington, District of Columbia 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.

Noindex,follow until the source-review blocker is resolved.

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

The patent row supports printing-press facts, not private identity, biography, race, ancestry, or community memory by itself.

Patent records

Grant trail

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

identity_reviewSprint priority 1Not public rankutility patentunder review

208184: Improvement in Printing-Presses

William A. Lavalette / 1878-09-17

Sprint 8 identity-review record. The patent row supports printing-press facts, but identity evidence is required before indexable promotion.

Residence: Washington, District of Columbia
Category: print infrastructure / civic text systems
Source status: under review
Chronology handling: identity_review
Cluster: Print, paper, and recordkeeping
Primary sources: 1 mapped

Source trail

Claims stay tied to source limits.

Print, paper, and recordkeeping

Sources for printing presses, document receptacles, office tools, paper security, desk infrastructure, and public-record systems.

patent text mirrorpatent text with identity review

US208184A - Improvement in Printing-Presses

Google Patents / 1878 patent record

Supports: Shows William A. Lavalette of Washington, District of Columbia, connected to an improvement in printing-presses published September 17, 1878.
Limit: Patent records verify invention data, patent number, title, date, and recorded place. They do not by themselves prove full race/identity, ancestry, biography, commercialization, public memory, economic benefit, sole inventorship, or personal ownership. Lavalette remains noindex until public identity evidence is ledgered.
Last checked: 2026-06-10
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US208184A/en