By Michael Messinger and Ioannis Papaioannou
In remembrance of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, we take a look at patent filings at the time by Tulsa, Oklahoma inventors.
An examination of the trend for Tulsa inventors shows a decline in utility U.S. patent filings after May 30, 1921 when the events began.
This decline occurred as part of an overall decline from 1920-1922 followed by a sharp increase around 1923.
Many of the patents by Tulsa inventors in 1921 related to improvements in oil wells and natural gas processing. The last patent filed by a Tulsa inventor before the Tulsa Massacre was directed to a washing machine, while the first patent after the initial events was to a connecting rod gauge and straightener for internal combustion engines.
Our search was carried out on the Google Patents tool with terms limited by filing date and patents having terms Tulsa, Oklahoma. In patents at this time, the inventors often listed their residence by city, state and were reflected in the hits we obtained. For purposes of this post, we did not manually confirm the entire data set results nor were we able to further narrow to inventive activity within the Greenwood District so we broadened our query to Tulsa.
Tulsa Race Massacre
For more information on the historical events, see
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=TU013
https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre
Let’s zoom in.
| Pat. No. | Title | Assignee | Inventors | Filing Date | Grant Date |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US-1506593-A | Adjuster bar | Lemex John Dell | Lemex John Dell | 5/5/21 | 8/26/24 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1506593A/en |
| US-1485083-A | Apparatus for cracking hydrocarbons and recovering | Meinhard H | Meinhard H | 5/5/21 | 2/26/24 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1485083A/en |
| US-1429263-A | Deep-well fishing tool | John A Wolfe | John A Wolfe | 5/6/21 | 9/19/22 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1429263A/en |
| US-1446534-A | Washing machine | Workman Ross Alexander | Workman Ross Alexander | 5/25/21 | 2/27/23 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1446534A/en |
| 1921 Tulsa Massacre events: May 31-June 1, 1921 |
||||||
| US-1408023-A | Connecting-rod gauge and straightener | Fred W Nuerwell | Fred W Nuerwell | 6/6/21 | 2/28/22 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1408023A/en |
| US-1596608-A | Rope knife and rope-serving device | Oil Well Supply Co | Charles E Gallman, Jack Harshaw, | 6/11/21 | 8/17/26 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1596608A/en |
| US-1432674-A | Gas-energy control for flowing oil or gas wells | Erd V Crowell | Erd V Crowell | 6/11/21 | 10/17/22 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1432674A/en |
| US-1494492-A | Measuring device | Lee Sidney | Lee Sidney | 6/14/21 | 5/20/24 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1494492A/en |
| US-1556712-A | Portable gas tester for the determination of gasoline | Benjamin Estell Allison | Ponsler Roscoe | 6/14/21 | 10/13/25 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1556712A/en |
| US-1444998-A | Explosive container | Beck William | Beck William | 6/18/21 | 2/13/23 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1444998A/en |
| US-1422078-A | Automobile sand and mud dog for attaching to vehicle | Demarkus S Blackwell | Demarkus S Blackwell | 6/24/21 | 7/11/22 | https://patents.google.com/patent/US1422078A/en |
Immediate Tulsa OK patents filed before and after Tulsa Race Massacre
US Pat. No. 1,446,534 by Ross Alexander Workman
The last patent filed by a Tulsa inventor before the Tulsa Massacre was directed to improvements in a washing machine.
US Pat. No. 1,408,023 by F. W. Nuerwell
First patent filed by a Tulsa inventor after the initial Tulsa Massacre events was directed to a connecting rod gauge and straightener for internal combustion engines.
