Heinrich Göbel
Heinrich Göbel, or later: Henry Goebel (April 20, 1818 - December 4, 1893), born in Germany, was a precision mechanic and inventor, an early pioneer who independently developed designs for an incandescent light bulb. He emigrated to New York City & lived there until his death.
Göbel made a claim in the 1890's during litigation over Edison's light bulb patent that back in 1854 he designed the first practical bulb.
"There are inconsistent judgements for and against Edison. Edison is only successful in two processes with appeal. This does not mean that the real truth had come forth." [1]
Göbel's main evidence was witnesses, which US patent courts discounted. His legal suit was called "interference" by the patent office and he eventually lost his case.
Lewis Latimer discredited Göbel by demonstrating that his supposed 1850s bulb had been built much later.[1] But in fact Göbel had openly recreated his 1859 tools and bulbs for the courts:
In front of experts, called by the court, Goebel reconstructs the tools he used at that time and also his lamps of 1859. [2]
Judge Colt explained how he ruled based on probabilities:
"It is extremely improbable that Henry Göbel constructed a practical incandescent lamp in 1854. This is manifest from the history of the art for the past fifty years, the electrical laws which since that time have been discovered as applicable to the incandescent lamp, the imperfect means which then existed for obtaining a vacuum, the high degree of skill necessary in the construction of all its parts, and the crude instruments with which Göbel worked."
A few months after a court decision established the Edison's priority, Göbel died of pneumonia.
References
- ^ Fouché, Rayvon, "Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson." The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London, 2003, pp. 115-116. ISBN 0-8018-7319-3
Related
- German inventors and discoverers