Assist you with forms needed and with filling out the forms. The PSC set out the invention services and patent law services. (e.g.Montgomery C. McGraw has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. American slaves couldn't hold property, including patents on their own inventions. But that didn't stop black Americans from innovating in our country. Frederick C. Montgomery has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This article will highlight black inventors from America's inception to now. Brief history of the United States Patent Office from its foundation -- 1790 to 1886 -- with an outline of laws, growth, publications, office routine, etc. In 1864, a black man named Benjamin T. Montgomery tried to patent his new propeller for steamboats. This positioned his son, Isaiah Montgomery, to found Mound Bayou, a successful African American enclave in Mississippi in the early 1900s.