Lewis Latimer Essay, Research Paper

Lewis Latimer

Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on September 4, 1848,

six old ages after his parents, George and Rebecca Latimer, had run off from bondage in Virginia. They were determined to be free and that their kids be born on free dirt. Because of his light skin color, George was able to present as a plantation proprietor with the darker-skinned Rebecca as his slave. Shortly after geting in Boston, Massachusetts, he was recognized as a fleeting and jailed while his married woman was taken to a safe concealment topographic point. The apprehension was protested smartly by the community. Frederick Douglass, a former slave who had escaped to Massachusetts several old ages before, and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison spoke forcefully against the apprehension. There was a test, and the efforts to recapture George and return him to Virginia caused considerable agitation in Boston. When the test justice ruled that Latimer still belonged to his Virginia proprietor, an Afro-american curate paid $ 400 for his release. Although free, George was still highly hapless, working as a Barber, paper-hanger and in other uneven occupations to back up his married woman, three boies, and one girl.

Lewis Latimer, the youngest kid, attended grammar school and was an first-class pupil who loved to read and pull. Most of his clip, though, was spent working with his male parent, which was typical of kids in the nineteenth century. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that a slave named Dred Scott could non be considered a free adult male although he had lived in a free province. George Latimer disappeared shortly after the determination became known. Because he had no official documents to turn out he was a free adult male, he perchance feared for his safety and that of his household.

With his male parent gone and his female parent fighting to maintain the household together, Lewis falsified his age and joined the U.S. Navy in 1864 when he was 16 old ages old. When the Civil War ended he was uprightly discharged and returned to Boston to seek employment. In 1868 he secured a occupation as an office male child in the Crosby and Gould patent jurisprudence house, a company that specialized in assisting discoverers protect their patents. By closely detecting draughtsmans at work and reading books on the topic, Latimer taught himself mechanical drawing. He learned to skilfully utilize the critical tools of the trade, such as T squares, trigons, compasses, and swayers, and mastered the art of pulling to scale. Since all of the drawings were done by manus and in ink, it was really of import that a draughtsman non do errors. Latimer & # 8217 ; s drawings in this medium are every bit beautiful as plants of art. After several months of analyzing on his ain, he requested and was given an chance by the house to demo what he could make. Upon detecting that Latimer was so a skilled draughtsman, he was promoted from office male child, gaining a wage of $ 3.00 per hebdomad, to draftsman at $ 20.00.

In the period instantly following the Civil War, of import scientific progresss occurred in America. There was an detonation of innovations and new utilizations of engineering, and discoverers were procuring 1000s of patents in turning industries. While working at the Boston house, Latimer met

Alexander Graham Bell who hired him to pull the pla

N for a new innovation, the telephone. Bell was in

a race to hold his innovation patented before anyone else registered a similar device. By working with

him tardily at dark, Latimer was able to supply Bell with the designs and expertness in subjecting

applications that allowed him to register his telephone patent on February 14, 1876, merely a few hours earlier

than that of a rival discoverer. They had won the race!

In 1880 Latimer began work as a mechanical draughtsman for Hiram Maxim, an discoverer and laminitis of the U.S. Electric Lighting Company in Brooklyn, N.Y. In his new occupation, Latimer was given the chance to go familiar with the field of electric incandescent lighting, an country in which there was ferocious competition to procure patents. In add-on to his work with light bulbs and lamps, he went to U.S. metropoliss and abroad oversing installing and production of Maxim equipment.

In 1884 he was invited to work for Maxim & # 8217 ; s arch challenger, Thomas Alva Edison, in New York. An adept electrical applied scientist, Latimer & # 8217 ; s work for Edison was critical for the undermentioned grounds: his thorough cognition of electric lighting and power guided Edison through the procedure of registering patent signifiers decently at the U.S. Patent Office, protecting the company from violations of his innovations ; Latimer was besides in charge of the company library, roll uping information from around the universe, interpreting informations in French and German to protect the company from European challenges. He became Edison & # 8217 ; s patent research worker and adept informant in instances against individuals seeking to profit from Edison & # 8217 ; s innovations without legal permission.

Edison encouraged Latimer to compose the book, Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the Edison System. Published in 1890, it was highly popular as it explained how an incandescent lamp produces visible radiation in an easy-to-understand mode. On February 11, 1918, Latimer became one of the 28 charter members of the Edison Pioneers, the lone Afro-american in this esteemed, extremely selective group.

After go forthing Edison & # 8217 ; s employ, Latimer worked for a patent adviser house until 1922 when neglecting eyesight caused an terminal to his calling. His wellness began to neglect following the decease of his darling married woman Mary Wilson Latimer in 1924. To hearten and promote him to transport on, his kids, two

girls, had a book of his verse forms printed in 1925 in award of his 77th birthday. The verse forms are

attractively sensitive, and complement Latimer & # 8217 ; s appellation as a & # 8220 ; Renaissance Man & # 8221 ; who painted,

played the flute, wrote poesy and dramas.

Active in the Unitarian Church, Latimer found clip to learn mechanical technology, pulling and English to new immigrants at the Henry Street Settlement House. He had remained highly loyal, take parting as an officer of the famed Civil War Veterans & # 8217 ; organisation, the Grand Army of the Republic ( GAR ) . In add-on, he supported the civil rights activities of his epoch. On December 11, 1928, Lewis Howard Latimer died, go forthing a singular bequest. His name will be everlastingly associated with two of the most radical innovations of all clip: the incandescent electric visible radiation bulb and the telephone.