Filament for Light Bulb
Lewis Latimer invented the carbon filament in 1881 or 1882? No!
English chemist/physicist Joseph Swan experimented with a carbon-filament incandescent light all the way back in 1860, and by 1878 had developed a better design which he patented in Britain. On the other side of the Atlantic, Thomas Edison developed a successful carbon-filament bulb, receiving a patent for it (#223898) in January 1880, before Lewis Latimer did any work in electric lighting. From 1880 onward, countless patents were issued for innovations in filament design and manufacture (Edison had over 50 of them). Neither of Latimer's two filament-related patents in 1881 and 1882 were among the most important innovations, nor did they make the light bulb last longer, nor is there reason to believe they were adopted outside Hiram Maxim's company where Latimer worked at the time. (He was not hired by Edison's company until 1884, primarily as a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigations).
Latimer also did not come up with the first screw socket for the light bulb or the first book on electric lighting.
2007-01-07 15:07:13 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Unfortunately, it usually comes down to whomever gets the patent first. Marconi didn't invent the radio, for example; Nikola Tesla did. But Marconi beat him to the patent office by just a few hours. How's that for irony?
2007-01-07 15:11:23 · answer #1 · answered by sidgirls 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because his employer Thomas Alva Edison was a thief. If you recall at the time to survive in the business world you had to be predatory. If you combine this with the idea that you as the companies owner, allows you to take credit for others inventions. When Edison was awarded the patent for his carbon filament it didn't work well until after he hired Lewis Latimer and then suddenly his filaments lasted 5mos. Read about the battle between Edison and Westinghouse. It is unbelievable what this man was willing to do, like finance an execution of an inmate and watch as he burns in order to prove AC was dangerous. He even held press conferences about it and tried to coin a phase "Westinghousing", to describe his competitor's AC current in order to demonize it's exceptence.
2014-11-19 01:30:29 · answer #2 · answered by Reggie 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most reference books make no distinction between a person "inventing" a device and a person "making an improvement" on an existing patent. Take, for example, all of the websites claiming black inventors were first, and civilization would crumble without their inventions. In some cases, yes the black inventor created something new, but in other cases, the inventor made an improvement on an existing device (i.e., Garrett Morgan and the traffic light).
2007-01-07 23:20:13 · answer #3 · answered by Melanie D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Latimer's design was popular with the theater crowd. When one filament burned out, the other one was used as the burned one was replaced. Allowing the play to continue.
2007-01-07 23:11:32 · answer #4 · answered by Sophist 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
because people are in too big of a hurry (for what?) to really study a matter out and dis-cover the truth.
2007-01-07 23:14:32 · answer #5 · answered by captsnuf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How could they? Those dirty liars!
2007-01-07 23:12:56 · answer #6 · answered by thrill88 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋