Blair was an African American farmer who patented two devices designed to help boost agricultural productivity. In doing so, he became the second African American to receive a United States patent.
1807
1860
Maryland, USA
African American
14 October 1834 – His first invention, the seed planter was patented, which allowed farmers to plant more corn using less labour and in a shorter time.
31 August 1836 – He obtained a second patent for a cotton planter. This invention worked by splitting the ground with two shovel-like blades which were pulled along by a horse. A wheel driven cylinder followed behind, which dropped the seed into the newly ploughed ground. Blair had been a successful farmer for years and developed the inventions as a means of increasing efficiency in farming
Henry Blair was the only inventor to be identified in the Patent Office records as `a coloured man.’ Uneducated, and unable to read or write, Henry Blair had a gift for invention and did not allow his race, lack of education or other negative factors of the time hold him back. Signing his name on Patent No. X8447 with a simple X, Henry Blair helped improve farming and the livelihood of farmers.
In the patent records, Blair is listed as a `coloured man,’ making this identification the only one of its kind in early patent records. Blair was illiterate, therefore he signed his patents with an X. It is said that Blair was a freedman, and at the time that his patents were granted, United States patent law allowed both freed and enslaved people to obtain patents.
In 1857 this law was challenged by a slave owner who claimed that he owned `all the fruits of the slave’s labour,’ including his slave’s inventions. This resulted in a change of the law in 1858 which stated that slaves were not citizens, and therefore could not hold patents
Little is known about Blair’s personal life or family background. It is clear that Blair was a farmer who invented new devices to assist in the planting and harvesting of crops. Although he came of age before the Emancipation Proclamation, Blair was apparently not enslaved, and operated an independent business.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blair_(inventor)#:~:text=Henry%20Blair%20(1807%E2%80%931860),and%20in%20a%20shorter%20time.
https://www.biography.com/inventor/henry-blair
http://www.myblackhistory.net/Henry_Blair.htm
