Process of manufacturing carbons
- Filed
- 19 February 1881
- Granted
- 17 January 1882
- Assignee
- United States Electric Lighting Company
Electric lighting and technical drafting
Lewis Howard Latimer: inventions and patents
Known for Process for manufacturing carbon filaments for electric lampsNationality Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States4 September 1848 to 11 December 1928
Lewis Latimer, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to formerly enslaved parents, was a self-taught draftsman who made the drawings for Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone patent application, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. While at the United States Electric Lighting Company he received US Patent 252,386 in 1882 for a process of manufacturing carbons, a longer-lasting filament method. He later worked for the Edison Electric Light Company as a patent investigator and expert witness.1,2
Patents
Inventions
- Durable carbon filament manufacturing method, 1882. A method for making longer-lasting carbon filaments for incandescent lamps, which the Hall of Fame says helped make electric lighting affordable.1
Recognition
- 2006 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame1
Sources
- National Inventors Hall of Fame, Lewis Latimer (accessed 2026-10-27)
- Google Patents, US252386A Process of Manufacturing Carbons (accessed 2026-10-27)