New Hampshire Telephone Museum
  • Home
  • Why a Telephone Museum?
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Reviews
    • Make a Day of It
  • Connect With Us!
    • Volunteers & Interns
    • Membership
    • Museum Supporters
    • Gifts to the Museum
  • Donation Process
  • Photo Gallery
  • Museum Store
  • Room Rental
  • As Seen on NH Chronicle
  • Virtual Exhibits
    • The History of the Telephone from A to Z
    • Over There, Over Here
    • #theurgetoconnect
    • That's Entertainment
    • Oracles & Dragons & Apples! Oh My! >
      • In the Press
      • How Smart is too Smart?
      • Insert Here
      • The Desktop Metaphor
      • In the World of Entertainment
      • The Evolution of the Logo
      • The History of Printing
      • Rise of the Machines
  • Blog
  • RR Exhibit

Lewis H. Latimer

9/1/2020

 
Picture
During our guided tours [pre-COVID days], we would very often surprise guests when we told them that credit of the telephone should be given to more than just one person, namely Bell. The decision to not give Alexander Graham Bell sole credit is more historically correct. Well, that's our opinion.

Lewis Howard Latimer, who was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848, was an African-American inventor, electrical pioneer, and a son of fugitive slaves. Latimer taught himself mechanical drawing while in the Union Navy, and eventually became a chief draftsman, patent expert, and inventor.

Latimer worked with three of the greatest scientific inventors in American history, Hiram S. Maxim, Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. It was Latimer's work with Bell, in 1876, that would eventually earn Bell his patent for his invention called the harmonic telegraph.

Latimer designed a number of his own inventions, including an improved railroad car bathroom and an early air conditioning unit.

Some of Latimer's work can be seen at the Lewis Latimer Museum located in Queens, New York. 




Comments are closed.
New Hampshire Telephone Museum
One Depot Street - PO Box 444 - Warner NH 03278
info@nhtelephonemuseum.org - 603.456.2234

Copyright © New Hampshire Telephone Museum 2021. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy