Henry Boyd's bedstead, patented with George Porter's name on the record (Kentucky / Cincinnati, OH, 1826–1863)

SUMMARYHenry Boyd's bedstead, patented with George Porter's name on the record (Kentucky / Cincinnati, OH, 1826–1863) [Connections: Tech & skilled labor, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDHenry Boyd was born enslaved in Kentucky in 1802. Lost Art Press says that in his late teens he was hired out to the Kanawha saltworks, where "he could work extra hours and keep the earnings." He bought his freedom and moved to Cincinnati in 1826. "With the help of George Porter, a Massachusetts-born cabinetmaker, he had the fastening system patented in 1833." A reader comment on the same page cites a patent record listing "Porter, George" for bedstead fastenings in Cincinnati, 1833. NMAAHC's Searchable Museum says the "Patent Bedsteads" screwed together with double-threaded rails, that the steam-powered factory made over 1,000 a year by the mid-1840s, and that it supplied the South and West from 1836 to 1863. Arsonists hit the factory repeatedly. After a third fire in 1863 Boyd could not get insurance and had to close.
STATUS: hired-out enslaved in his youth, with overwork earnings kept (per Lost Art Press); later free (own shop, factory owner)

PATTERNThe invention appears in the patent record under a white partner's name, and the business was burned out

LENS (WW9)The bed was Boyd's, the paper says Porter, and the fire ended it

OPENThe patent record itself, and the reason Porter's name is on it. Lost Art Press calls that reason speculation. Needs deep research

SOURCELost Art Press, "Henry Boyd: A Remarkable Life"; NMAAHC Searchable Museum, "Henry Boyd's Manufacturing Company".