Lewis Howard Latimer

The Black Inventor Who Improved the Light Bulb

Lewis Howard Latimer at work as a Draftsman. Bulb image courtesy of Burak K./Pexels.

Though hardly a household name, black inventor Lewis Howard Latimer influenced the evolution of the marvel that is electric lighting, which the world enjoys today. Having worked closely with two giants in the field of invention—Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell—Lewis used his acquired skill and knowledge to help patent both the light bulb and telephone. He also worked as a draftsman and inventor.

Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on September 4, 1848, but he was raised in Boston. He and his three older siblings were the children of escaped slaves named George and Rebecca Latimer. Six years before Lewis was born, his parents fled slavery in Virginia, but his father George was captured in Boston and tried by his owner. During his trial, he was defended by Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, two leading abolitionists of the day.

With the help of a minister, George Latimer purchased his freedom, but fear of the repercussions from the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred Scott case—which protected the rights of slave owners—caused the elder Latimer to flee with his family again, this time to Chelsea, Massachusetts, where Lewis was born. Fear of being reenslaved consumed George Latimer, which caused him to abandon the family altogether, and he disappeared not long after. The Latimer children were split up, with the boys sent to live on a farm, and the girls sent to stay with a friend of the family.

With his father gone, Lewis helped support the family by finding work, and on September 16, 1863, at the age of 15, he enlisted in the Union Navy by convincing recruiters he was three years older. Lewis served on the military steamer the USS Massasoit as a landsman, the lowest rank reserved for recruits with no sea experience. After nearly two years of service, he was honorably discharged. Shortly after that, Lewis landed a job as an office boy at Crosby, Halsted, and Gould, a patent firm in Boston.

Offices of Crosby, Halsted, and Gould, above the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank, ca. 1870. Photo courtesy of the Queens Borough Public Library.

It was there that Lewis immersed himself in the world of mechanical drawing and was so dedicated to the craft he used his own money to purchase drafting instruments and books. In his diary, Lewis admits to looking….

“over the draftsman’s shoulder, to see how he used his instruments.”  

This aided him because he was soon tasked with assisting draftsmen with their drawings. And by age eighteen, the partners of the firm promoted Lewis to lead draftsman after realizing the skills and abilities he possessed, which had been self-taught. He held the position for ten years. Lewis also designed several inventions, among them a railroad car water closet (or toilet system) that was an improvement on the existing ones, and a precursor of the air conditioning unit.

On November 10, 1873, before he arrived at his first invention, Lewis married Mary Wilson, with whom he had two daughters, Jeanette and Louise. Then in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell personally hired Lewis—by then a master draftsman—to create drawings for the patent application related to Bell’s telephone. A few years later, Lewis entered the competitive electrical field when he moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and worked for the U.S. Electric Lighting Company in Brooklyn, New York. The company’s owner was Hiram Maxim, who was Thomas Edison’s rival. His time at Maxim’s company allowed Lewis to acquire additional technical and legal knowledge that would establish him as an expert patent witness in years to come. While at Electric Lighting, Lewis successfully improved incandescent lamps by producing a carbon filament that was more durable than the popular variety in wide use. The invention positioned Hiram Maxim’s company as a viable competitor to Edison’s.

“Lewis successfully improved incandescent lamps by producing a carbon filament that was more durable than the popular variety in wide use.”

The Lewis H. Latimer House to which Lewis retired. Constructed in the Queen Anne style, the home is now a museum that showcases the inventor’s work. The house was originally located on Holly Avenue but was moved to 34-41 137th Street in Leavitt Field (its current location) in 1988 when it was in danger of being demolished. Photo courtesy of Ran Yan.

Recognizing Lewis Latimer’s great promise, Thomas Edison hired him away from Hiram Maxim and eventually promoted him to lead patent investigator. Later in his career, Lewis made history again by becoming a founding member—and the only black one—of a group of 100 Edison employees known as the Edison Pioneers. They were an impressive collection of chemists, engineers, draftsmen, lawyers, industrialists, inventors, and entrepreneurs. They were Edison’s elite inner circle, and Lewis Howard Latimer sat comfortably among them.

Apart from his career as an engineer, draftsman, inventor, patent consultant, and expert patent witness, Lewis was also a writer, poet, playwright, and flutist. He retired in 1924 with his legacy firmly intact. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

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This article appears in 45 People, Places, and Events in Black History You Should Know.

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