Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on
September 4, 1848, to Rebecca (1826-?) and George Latimer
(1826-1880). Rebecca and George were both born in Virginia and were
runaway slaves of James Gray. Lewis had a brother, William H.
Latimer, (1846-?) who worked as a barber.
He joined the U.S. Navy at the age of 16. After receiving an
honorable discharge from the Navy on July 3, 1865, he gained
employment as an office boy with a patent law firm, Crosby and Gould,
with a $3.00 per week salary. He learned how to use a L square,
ruler, and other tools. Later, after his boss recognized his talent
for sketching patent drawings, Latimer was promoted to the position
of head draftsman earning $20.00 a week.
He married Mary Wilson (1848-1937) in November of 1873 and later
had two daughters, Jeanette and Louise. Mary was born in Rhode Island.
In 1873, he invented an improved toilet system for railroad cars
called the water closet for railroad cars.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell hired Latimer to draft the
necessary drawings required to receive a patent for Bell’s telephone.
In 1880, he moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut with his brother,
William, his mother, Rebecca, and his wife. Lewis was hired as
assistant manager and draftsman for the US Electric Lighting Company,
a company owned by Hiram Maxim, a rival of inventor Thomas Edison.
Soon after Edison made the first reliable incandescent bulb at Menlo
Park, other inventors took notice. Many of them made their own
improvements to every part of the electric light system. One of these
inventors was Hiram S. Maxim, who later invented the machine gun.
Latimer received a patent in January 1882 for the “Process of
Manufacturing Carbons”, an improved method for the production of
carbon filaments for lightbulbs. The Edison Electric Light Company in
New York City hired Latimer in 1884, as a draftsman and an expert
witness in patent litigation about electric lights. Latimer was also
an Edison Pioneer, a group of those that had worked for Edison
companies over the years. He never actually worked directly for
Thomas Edison or at an Edison laboratory.
Lewis latimer died on December 11, 1928. The following is a list
of his patents:
“Water closets for railway cars,” February 10, 1874 (US
Patent#147,363)
“Electric lamp,” (with Nichols, Joseph V.), September
13, 1881 (US Patent #247,097)
“Process of Manufacturing Carbons,” January 17, 1882,
(US Patent #252,386)
“Globe supporter for electric lamps,” (with Tregoning,
John), March 21, 1882 (US Patent #255,212)
“Apparatus for cooling and disinfecting,” January 12,
1886 (US Patent #334,078)
“Locking rack for hats, coats, and umbrellas,” March 24,
1896 (US Patent #557,076)
“Lamp fixture,”(with Brown, Charles W), August 30, 1910
(US Patent #968,787)
