science · 14 October 1834 · 190 years ago
In 1834, Henry Blair of Glenross, Maryland, received a U.S. patent on a corn planter (No. X8447). Two years later, on 31 Aug 1836, he was also issued a patent on a cotton seed planter (No. 15). Blair was born in Maryland about 1807 and lived until 1860. He was a successful farmer whose inventions met a need to increase efficiency in farming. His patents were signed with a simple "X" because he had not learned to read or write. Henry Blair was the second African-American to hold a patent. For some time he had been regarded as the first, until it became better known that the first African-American on record to be granted a patent was Thomas Jennings for a "dry-scouring" cleaning process (3 Mar 1821, No. X3306).
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