Lewis Howard Latimer
(September 4, 1848 – December 11, 1928) was an American inventor and patent
draftsman. He helped improve electric lighting and worked on several
inventions, including an evaporative air conditioner, a better way to make
carbon filaments for light bulbs, and an improved toilet system for railroad
cars. In 1884 he joined the Edison Electric Light Company as a draftsman. His
former home, the Lewis H. Latimer House, is a historic site in Flushing,
Queens, New York City.
Early Life and Military Service
Lewis Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the
youngest of four children of Rebecca and George Latimer. Before he was born,
his parents escaped from slavery in Virginia and moved to Boston. Soon after
they arrived, George Latimer was arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act, and his
case became a well-known cause for abolitionists. Prominent antislavery leaders
like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison supported efforts to free
him. Eventually a local Black minister raised funds to buy George Latimer’s
release.
As a child, Lewis helped his father in the barbershop
and later hung wallpaper with him in the evenings. After the 1857 Dred Scott
decision, which ruled that enslaved people could not become citizens by
entering a free state, the family feared for their safety. George Latimer left
Massachusetts, and Rebecca arranged for the children to be cared for: Lewis and
his brothers were sent to a state-run farm school, and his sisters lived with a
family friend.
At age sixteen, on September 16, 1864, Latimer enlisted
in the United States Navy and served as a Landsman aboard the USS Massasoit.
Career
After an honorable discharge from the Navy on July 3,
1865, Latimer worked in an office for the patent law firm Crosby Halstead and
Gould, earning $3 a week. He learned drafting skills and how to use a set
square, ruler, and other tools. His drawing ability led to a promotion to head
draftsman; by 1872 he earned $20 a week.
Inventions and Technical Work
In 1874, Latimer and Charles M. Brown co-patented an
improved toilet system for railroad cars called the “Water Closet for Railroad
Cars” (U.S. Patent 147,363).
In 1876, while working at Bell’s patent law firm,
Latimer drew the patent drawings needed for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
By 1879, Latimer was working in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, as assistant manager and draftsman for the U.S. Electric Lighting
Company, owned by Hiram Maxim. There he developed a modification to the process
of making carbon filaments for light bulbs that reduced breakages during
carbonization. His method used a cardboard envelope to protect filament blanks
during the process. While in England for Maxim’s company, he taught workers the
whole manufacturing process, including glassblowing, to get a factory running.
In 1884, Thomas Edison invited Latimer to work with
him. At Edison’s company, Latimer also translated technical material into
German and French and gathered important technical information. He later
developed an early cooling and disinfecting device, a forerunner of modern air
conditioning, called “Apparatus for cooling and disinfecting” (U.S. Patent
334,078, 1886).
In 1894, he sought a patent for a safety elevator that
would prevent riders from falling into the shaft. After the Board of Patent
Control dissolved in 1924, Latimer worked with a law firm (Hammer and Schwartz)
until he retired.
Edison Pioneers
On February 11, 1918, Latimer joined the Edison
Pioneers, becoming the first person of color to do so.
Work on the light bulb Latimer received a patent on
September 13, 1881 (with Joseph V. Nichols), for a method of attaching carbon
filaments to conducting wires inside an electric lamp. He also received a
patent on January 17, 1882, for a “process of manufacturing carbons,” which
described wrapping filament blanks in cardboard during carbonization to reduce
breakage.
The Edison Electric Light Company hired Latimer in 1884
as a draftsman and expert witness in patent cases about electric lighting. He
wrote the first book on electric lighting, Incandescent Electric Lighting
(1890), and supervised installation of public electric lights in cities
including New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, and London. When Edison’s company
merged with Thomson-Houston in 1892 to form General Electric, Latimer continued
working in the legal department. In 1911 he became a patent consultant for law
firms.
Selected Latimer Patents
U.S. patent 147,363 "Improvement in water-closets
for railroad-cars" (with Brown), February 10, 1874
U.S. patent 247,097 "Electric lamp" (with
Nichols), September 13, 1881
U.S. patent 252,386 "Process of Manufacturing
Carbons", January 17, 1882
U.S. patent 334,078 "Apparatus for cooling and
disinfecting", January 12, 1886
U.S. patent 557,076 "Locking rack for hats, coats,
and umbrellas", March 24, 1896
U.S. patent 781,890 "Book Supporter",
February 7, 1905
U.S. patent 968,787 "Lamp fixture" (with
Norton), August 30, 1910
Writing and Community Work
Latimer published a book of poetry, Poems of Love
and Life, and the technical book, Incandescent Electric Lighting. He
also wrote for African-American journals and advocated for education and civic
causes. He taught English and mechanical drawing to immigrants at the Henry
Street Settlement, believing education helped lift communities.
He was active in the arts—playing violin and flute,
painting, writing plays, and composing poetry. Latimer spoke for civil rights;
in 1895 he contributed a statement to the National Conference of Colored Men
about equality and opportunity for African Americans.
Veteran and fraternal involvement Latimer remained
active in veterans’ organizations. He was an early member of the Grand Army of
the Republic and served as secretary and adjutant. He was also a member of
Prince Hall Freemasonry.
Personal Life
Latimer married Mary Wilson Lewis on November 15, 1873.
They had two daughters: Emma Jeanette (1883–1978) and Louise Rebecca
(1890–1963). Jeanette married Gerald Fitzherbert Norman, the first Black person
hired as a New York City public high school teacher. Latimer’s grandchildren
included Winifred Latimer Norman, who preserved his legacy, and Gerald Latimer
Norman, who became an administrative law judge.
In 1879, the family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut,
and lived in a neighborhood known as “Little Liberia,” a community established
by free Black residents. Mary Latimer died in Bridgeport in 1924.
Death and Legacy
From 1903 until his death in 1928, Latimer lived in
East Flushing, Queens. He died on December 11, 1928, at age 80. About sixty
years after his death, his house was moved to 137th Street in Flushing and
turned into the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum to honor his life and work.
Latimer was inducted into the National Inventors Hall
of Fame for his improvements to electric filament manufacturing. Several places
are named for him: a school in Brooklyn (Lewis H. Latimer School), an invention
program at MIT, Latimer Gardens apartments in Flushing, and the Lewis H.
Latimer House Museum. In 1988, a committee formed to preserve his home, and on
September 23, 2023, a gravestone was dedicated at his grave in Fall River,
Massachusetts.
Teach children about Lewis Latimer: Biography of Lewis H. Latimer with Reading Comprehension Assessment and Answer Key — Well-prepared Teachers
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