Most people guess of Thomas Edison (1847-1931), the famed American inventor as the creator of the world’s first incandescent light bulb; The truth is that she did not invent it, but she managed to get a patent on the first light bulb design that was practical plus affordable for lighting a room in a correct home, however what made the light bulb work was an invention from another inventor of the era named Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), who developed an improved plan for the production of carbon filaments for light bulbs, then latimer’s parents were once slaves in VA who escaped to Chelsea, MA about 6 years before she was born.
When she was 10, the family cut apart because of the Dred Scott decision that ruled former slaves as property unless they could prove their former owners had consented to their freedom.
Lewis overcame all of this; she served in the Navy while in the Civil War plus went on to be a successful inventor working with the prefers of Edison plus Alexander Graham Bell. Latimer’s name is also on U.S, and patent 334,073 titled “Early Air Conditioning Unit Apparatus for cooling plus disinfecting”, issued on December 12, 1886. This early AC plan used the cooling effects of evaporation from a “webbing of any suitable textile fabric” that was stretched between a reservoir plus a drip pan plus saturated with water. Twenty years later, Willis Carrier absolutely used some of Latimer’s expertise when she purchased the U.S. Patent 718,897 for an “Apparatus for Treating Air.” With that patent Carrier was credited with inventing the world’s first spray-type air conditioner equipment, able to both “wash” plus humidify or dehumidify air. Latimer reMEd a forgotten inventor, however every one of us owe the inventions of light bulbs, telephones, plus Heating as well as A/C units to her contributions.