By lbock
on November 6, 2012.
His invention improved Edison’s electric light bulb, and he executed the patent drawing for Bell’s telephone. Get to know this creative genius!
With his mind frequently in motion as a child, Lewis Howard Latimer -- born in 1848 in Chelsea, Massachusetts -- loved drawing at an early age and found himself doodling no matter where he would be. Little did he know these pastimes would evolve into a career as a noted draftsman and inventor, and result in him collaborating with two of the most famous innovators of his era.
Lewis, the fourth child of George and Rebecca Latimer, was reared in Boston. His father, an ex-slave, had fled to Boston from a Virginia plantation to escape slavery, and was later granted his freedom before Lewis was born. Shortly after the Civil War broke out, young Lewis at age 16 enlisted in the Union Navy, eager be one of many black soldiers and sailors fighting on the Union side, and emboldened by the hope it brought to end slavery. Receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy in 1865, he returned to civilian life in Boston, earning a modest living as a paperhanger. However, always industrious, he was eager to secure a job in which he could use his creative mind, particularly in drawing. He soon landed a job as an assistant at a Boston patent soliciting firm where he cultivated an interest in drafting. He taught himself the rudiments of drafting in his spare time. While at work, he watched draftsmen in the office, and then went home and practiced his observations, using second-hand instruments and a book on drawing as a guide. His talent as a draftsman would later release his creative power as an inventor.