The Patent And Its Specific History
The patent associated with Bessie Blount’s feeding device work is U.S. Patent No. 2,550,554, granted in 1951 (some sources say part of the device was patented in 1948 and an additional component in 1951).
The patent is filed under the name Bessie Griffin — her married name — rather than Bessie Blount, which is the name most commonly used in accounts of her life. This has occasionally created confusion in tracing her patent history.
The specific device patented in 1951 was a “portable receptacle support” — a neck brace with built-in support designed to hold bowls or cups close to the mouth. This was a simpler, more portable version of her original electronic feeding device, developed after she recognized that the original version’s size made it impractical for everyday use.
The first version — the electronic device that delivered food through a tube — was apparently not patented, or the patent for it is the 1948 filing that is referenced in some sources. The 1951 patent covers the portable mechanical support device.
Sources describe the electronic device as “eventually donated to France” and the portable device as the one for which she received the formal patent number. The relationship between these two devices — and the precise timeline of which was offered to the VA when — is slightly inconsistent across sources, but the broad picture is clear: she developed both a complex electronic version and a simpler portable version, neither was adopted by the VA, and the rights to at least the electronic device were transferred to France.
Virginia Changemakers, a project of the Library of Virginia, notes that “her first electronic device delivered one mouthful of food at a time, but its size was impractical so she developed a portable version for which she received a patent in 1951. The U.S. Veterans Administration had no interest in manufacturing it and Blount turned over her patent rights to the French government for use in military hospitals.”