Lewis Howard Latimer Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and draftsman. His work was a critical factor in many things used today. He is also an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on electric filament manufacturing techniques. Lewis Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on September 4, 1848. His parents were George and Rebecca Latimer. They had run away from slavery in Virginia six years prior to the birth of Lewis. Latimer and his four siblings were determined to be free because they were born on free soil. He attended grammar school where he excelled in reading and drawing. Latimer, at only sixteen years old, joined the U.S. Navy in 1864. He served on the USS Massasoit as a Landsman. After the Civil war ended, he was honorably discharged and returned to Boston. Latimer gained employment with a patent law firm, Crosby Halstead and Gould, as an office boy in 1865. Latimer taught himself mechanical drawing. His talents for sketching patent drawings were recognized in 1872 and he was promoted to head draftsman. While working in Boston, Lewis met Alexander Graham Bell. Bell hired Latimer to draw the plan for his new invention, the telephone. The telephone patent was summited on February 14, 1876, just a few hours before a rival inventor. In 1880, Latimer began working for Hiram Maxim, the inventor and founder of the U.S. Electric Lighting Company. This job gave Latimer the opportunity to become familiar with an area where there was fierce competition, the field of electric incandescent lighting. Latimer worked on light bulbs and lamps. In 1881, he received a patent for the “Process of Manufacturing Carbons”, an improved method for the production of carbon filaments used in light bulbs. He also traveled to different U.S. cited supervising the installation and production of Maxim equipment. In 1884 Latimer was invited to work for Thomas Edison in New York. Latimer’s work for