Lewis H. Latimer

Inventor of the Electric Light

(Sept. 4, 1848 - Dec. 11, 1928)
In 1876, Lewis H. Latimer lived during a period of profound change in American society. The son of former slaves, he grew up in the heated abolitionist environment of ante-bellum Boston. As a teenager, he served in the Civil War and saw action on the USS Massasoit, a side-wheel gunboat. From the end of the Civil War until his death in 1928, Latimer was at the forefront of a technological revolution that dramatically reshaped the way Americans lived and worked.

Lewis Latimer drew the blueprints for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone in preparation for its patent. In 1881 Latimer, with assistant Joseph V. Nichols, received a patent for today's commonly used light bulb (electric lamp).  

Before Latimer's invention, the light bulb had no practical use because it could not give off light for an extended period of time. Latimer's light bulb utilized a revolutionized method of manufacturing carbon filaments that provided lumination for useful periods of time.

As a result of this invention, he was asked to write an instruction manual for, as well as supervise, the installation of incandescent light plants around the world. In 1884 Latimer became a member of Thomas Edison's small elite team of engineers, the Edison Pioneers.