Name inspired by Lewis Latimer. Thomas Edison was looking for a filament for his light bulb. He narrowed it down to carbon, but that burned out quickly. Lewis Latimer, a draftsman who worked for Alexander Graham Bell, took a job at Edison's lab. There he created a light bulb with a much more durable carbon filament. He also invented the threaded socket that we still use today. A leader in what we now call electrical engineering, he wrote one of the earliest textbooks on electrical lighting and supervised the installation of lighting in London, New York City and Montreal. Always tinkering, he has a range of patents from the first bathroom for trains to an early air-conditioner. Thomas Edison invented the incandescent electric light bulb, but it burned out quickly. It was Lewis Latimer, an African American. who made light bulbs practical to use.