Black-American patentIn 1836, a second U.S. patent was granted to one of the earliest African-American inventors, Henry Blair, a free man of Glenross, Maryland, for a cotton seed planter (No. 15). His first patent was for a corn planter (14 Oct 1834, No. X8447). 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).«[Image: drawing from earlier corn planter upon which the cotton planter is a modification. Top: side view of machine; bottom: detail of section of seed hopper showing cylinder with holes in the periphery that turns with the wheels to drop grains of corn. |
