LEWIS LATIMER

Latimer, a self-taught draftsman, drew up Bell's patent application for the telephone (delivered to the Patent Office only hours before a rival claim) and went on to frame many of Edison's patents, help him improve the light bulb, and supervise the installation of electrical systems in several cities. Opening with a substantial account of Latimer's father, an escaped slave who became an abolitionist cause cÇläbre, this admiring biography follows Lewis's career from Civil War veteran to respected Edison Company executive. The talented inventor and manager also painted, kept a journal, and wrote poetry; the story continues to the present, as efforts proceed to make his N.Y.C. house a museum. Winifred Norman is Latimer's granddaughter; the extent of her contribution isn't clear, but the description of his retirement years has a personal air, and many of the big, clear b&w photos are from the ``Latimer-Norman Collection.'' An exemplary companion or replacement for Turner's Lewis Howard Latimer (1991). Bibliography; index. (Biography. 12+)