Most people think of Thomas Edison (1847-1931), the famed American inventor as the creator of the world’s first incandescent light bulb.
- The truth is that he did not invent it, but he managed to get a patent on the first light bulb design that was practical and affordable for lighting a room in a typical home.
What made the light bulb work was an invention from another inventor of the era named Lewis Latimer (1848-1928), who developed an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for light bulbs. Latimer’s parents were once slaves in Virginia who escaped to Chelsea, Massachusetts about six years before he was born. When he was 10, the family split 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; he served in the Navy during the Civil War and went on to be a successful inventor working with the likes of Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. Latimer’s name is also on U.S. Patent 334,078 titled “Early Air Conditioning Unit Apparatus for cooling and disinfecting”, issued on January 12, 1886. This early AC system used the cooling effects of evaporation from a “webbing of any suitable textile fabric” that was stretched between a reservoir and a drip pan and saturated with water. Twenty years later, Willis Carrier undoubtedly used some of Latimer’s know-how when he obtained the U.S. Patent 808,897 for an “Apparatus for Treating Air.” With that patent Carrier was credited with inventing the world’s first spray-type air conditioning equipment, able to both “wash” and humidify or dehumidify air. Latimer remained a forgotten inventor, but we owe the inventions of light bulbs, telephones, and HVAC units to his contributions.