Lewis Latimer
1848- 1928

          It's a little known fact that if Lewis Latimer hadn't been on Thomas Edison's team (the only African American) that the light bulb might have been too impractical for most people to use. You see, Edison's light bulb used bamboo as the filament and the light bulb burned out after only 30 hours. Carbon lasted much longer and made the light bulb practical. Latimer, with Joseph V. Nichols, came up with both idea to use carbon filaments and the process for manufacturing the carbon filaments.

          Lewis Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848 to George and Rebecca Latimer. It had been six years since his parents ran away from slavery in Virginia. Because of his father's light skin he was able to pass as a plantation owner and Rebecca pretended to be his slave. Shortly after Lewis was born George was arrested as a fugitive slave and the state of Virginia tried to bring him back. The community, including former slaves Frederick Douglas and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison spoke against the arrest. In the end the court ruled that he still belonged to his Virginia owner but fortunately an African American minister paid $400 for his release.

          In1857, the Supreme Court in one of its bleaker moments, ruled that a slave named Dredd Scott could not be considered a free man even though he lived in a free state. (President Lincoln was so angry about this decision that he discussed throwing the Chief Justice in prison). Shortly after the decision was made, George disappeared probably fearing for his life.

          In 1864, sixteen-year-old Lewis lied about his age and joined the U.S. Navy to fight in the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War he received an honorable discharge and returned to Boston to look for work. While working as an errand boy at the law firm of Crosby and Gould, a firm specializing in protecting the rights of inventors, he picked the skills of a draftsmen. When his employers realized that he had these skills they quickly promoted him.

          Latimer went on to work with two of the most important inventors of the time. First, he assisted Alexander Graham Bell in drafting his blueprints for the telephone. They managed to get the patent application in only hours before a rival inventor. He later went to work for Thomas Edison assisting him with electric lighting and filing the patents for it.

          His most important contribution to the Edison team was the development of carbon filaments for the light bulb. Before his work Edison had settled on bamboo for the filament. This didn't last long but it worked. However, the carbon filament that Latimer and Nichols developed worked much longer. While not his first patent (that was for a water closet for railway cars in 1874), Latimer and Nichols received a patent for an incandescent light bulb with a carbon filament as well as the process for manufacturing them in 1881. After his work with Edison, Latimer worked for a patent consulting firm until his eyesight began to fail.

References: http://www.inventorsmuseum.com/lewislatimer.htm

Constructed by: Ashley Posey