Who is Lewis Latimer?

Who is Lewis Latimer?

Who?

• Lewis Howard Latimer was born in 1848 in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His parents had escaped slavery in Virginia, and they were determined that their children would be born into freedom.

• In 1863 when he was just 15, Lewis

  joined the U.S. Navy to fight in the Civil War

Lewis Latimer

• After the war ended, Lewis began working for a law firm that dealt in inventors’ patents.

• He started as an office boy and worked his way up to draftsman, which is the person who does technical drawings of items like inventions.

• Lewis eventually became the head draftsman. He made the drawings for Alexander Graham Bell’s patent for the telephone

Light Bulb

• Lewis was always interested in inventing things himself. He received his first patent on one of his inventions in 1874.

• In 1881 he invented and patented

  one of his most important discoveries. It was for the production of a carbon

  filament, or thin strand, for electric light bulbs.

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Lewis Latimer

• Thomas Edison’s company, Edison Electric Light Company, hired Lewis in

  1884.

• He would continue to work on improvements to the light bulb and other

  inventions. He would eventually have seven patents.

Lewis Latimer

• Lewis Latimer died in 1928 in New York. He has been included in the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his important work

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Multiple Choice

Where was Lewis Latimer born?

• Houston, TX

• Chelsea, MA

• Los Angeles, CA

• Katy, TX

Multiple Choice

How old was Lewis Latimer when he began to serve in the Civil War?

• 21

• 35

• 15

• 11

Multiple Choice

What is a draftsman?

• a person who writes essays

• a person who writes newspaper

• a person who invents

• a person who does technical drawings of items like inventions.

Multiple Choice

What was one of Lewis Latimer’s most important discoveries?

• a carbon

  filament, or thin strand, for electric light bulbs.

• electricity