Lewis Howard Latimer -- USA
Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts 
on 4 September 1848, to escaped slaves Rebecca and George Latimer. When the slave master traced George to Boston and tried to return him to Virginia, it became a noted case in the movement for abolition of slavery, with the involvement of abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, eventually funds were raised to pay $400 for George Latimer’s freedom. During the Civil War Lewis Latimer served in the Union Navy, assigned to the U.S.S. Massasoit gunboat and received an honourable discharge on 3 July 1865.
He found employment as an office boy with a patent law firm, Crosby Halstead and Gould, with a $3.00 per week salary, he became recognised for his talent in sketching patent drawings, and Latimer was promoted to the position of head draftsman earning $20.00 a week.
In 1874, he co patented an improved toilet system for railroad cars, in all he received eight patents. Latimer was sought by Alexander Graham Bell to draft his patent application for the telephone, Latimer worked hard to finish the application, which was submitted on 14 February 1876, just hours before an patent application by Elisha Gray for a similar device. In 1879, he moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut and was hired as assistant manager and draftsman for the U.S. Electric Lighting Company, owned by Hiram Maxim, a competitor of Thomas A. Edison.
Maxim wanted to improve on Edison's light bulb and focused on the bulbs main weakness, their short life span. Latimer set out to make a longer lasting bulb and devised a way of extending the life of filament, providing a much longer life span. This enabled electric lighting to be installed throughout streets and homes, Latimer's abilities in electric lighting became well known and soon he was sought to continue improving incandescent and arc lighting. As more cities began wiring their streets for electric lighting, Latimer led the planning team and he helped to install the first electric plants in Philadelphia, New York City and Montreal. He oversaw the installation of lighting in railroad stations, government buildings and major thoroughfares in Canada, New England and London.
In 1890, Latimer began working in the legal department of Edison Electric Light Company, serving as the chief draftsman and patent expert. He drafted drawings and documents related to Edison patents, inspected plants in search of infringements of Edison's patents, conducted patent searches and testified in court proceeding on Edison's behalf. Later that year wrote the worlds most thorough book on electric lighting, "Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the Edison System." The Edison Electric Lighting would eventually evolve to become the General Electric Company. Latimer continued to display his creative talents and in 1894 he created a safety elevator, a vast improvement on existing elevators. He then received a patent for Locking Racks for Hats, Coats, and Umbrellas, the device was used in restaurants, hotels and office buildings, holding items securely and preventing them from being misplaced or accidentally taken. Next he created an improved version of a Book Supporter, used to keep books neatly arranged on shelves.
Latimer devised a method of sanitary and climate control, he termed his device an Apparatus for Cooling and Disinfecting. It was used in hospitals, preventing dust and particles from circulating patients’ rooms and within public areas. Lewis Latimer continued to devise ways of improving everyday living, eventually working in efforts to improve the civil rights of Black citizens within the United States. Lewis Latimer died on 11 December 1928 and left behind a legacy of achievement and leadership.
Latimer is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on electric filament manufacturing techniques.
Latimer was a founding member of the Flushing, New York Unitarian Church. Latimer's home has been moved to a small park in Flushing, New York and turned into a museum in honor of the inventor.
A set of apartment houses in Flushing are called "Latimer Gardens".
Lewis H. Latimer School in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, is named in honour