Lewis Latimer, Draftsman

Lewis Howard Latimer (1848–1928) was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His parents, George and Rebecca Latimer, had escaped slavery in Virginia; George's arrest and the campaign for his freedom in 1842 became a landmark abolitionist case.

Learning the trade

After serving in the Union Navy during the Civil War, Latimer took a job as an office boy at Crosby & Gould, a Boston patent law firm. He studied the draftsmen at work, taught himself mechanical drawing, and rose to head draftsman. Patent drawings must show an invention so clearly that another skilled person could build it, a standard that remains the heart of technical drawing.

Bell and Edison

Latimer prepared drawings for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent application in 1876. He then worked for Hiram Maxim's U.S. Electric Lighting Company, where in 1881 he and a colleague patented an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments. He supervised installations of electric lighting in cities including New York and Philadelphia, and later joined the Edison companies, working in their legal and engineering departments. In 1890 he published Incandescent Electric Lighting, a practical guide. He was one of the Edison Pioneers.

Why he is in the Hall of Makers

Latimer's career shows how drafting connects invention, law and construction. Today's drafters use CAD and BIM rather than ink and linen, but the job is the same: a drawing that can be built, checked and defended.

Further reading

Latimer's papers and notebooks are held by the Queens Museum and the Lewis H. Latimer House Museum in Flushing, New York.