By CHAT News Today

Henry Blair

Feb 24, 2022 | 3:30 AM

There is little known about Henry Blair’s early life, other than that he was born in 1807 in Maryland. Blair was a farmer who created new ways to boost productivity of planting and harvesting. In 1834, Blair received a patent for his mechanical corn seed planter, an invention of his own design that increased crop yields and made the process of planting more efficient. This also made him the second African American in the United States to receive a patent.

Mechanics Magazine, a publication founded in 1823 that showcased patented inventions of the time, described Blair’s planter as one that could “save the labor of eight men.”

Henry Blair’s Corn Seed Planter

2 years later, Blair invented and received a patent for a cotton planter that both ploughed and dispersed seeds. Henry Blair is thought to have been unable to read or write, based on the fact that he signed his patents with an ‘x’ rather than a signature. This obviously did not stop him from innovating and betting his industry.

It is uncertain whether Henry Blair was ever enslaved. Until 1857 there were no laws preventing enslaved persons to patent inventions. Then, an enslaver challenged courts for rights to claim credit for the inventions of his slaves. Slaves were considered property, therefore anything they created was the property of the enslaver as well. The patent law in the United States changed after this to make slaves ineligible to receive patents.

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