Career
His primary inventions included:
Telegraph apparatus for cable use (March 31, 1874)
Automatic and autographic telegraph and circuit (February 2, 1875)
Electric engineering and lighting apparatus and system (August 14, 1877)
Device for effecting the static discharge in autographic telegraphy (November 6, 1877)
Electric switch (June 29, 1880)
Electrical safety device for elevators (July 6, 1880)
A 1920 article in The New York Times described him as best known for pioneering the development of the incandescent light. In partnership with Albon Manitoba (June 29, 1826- February 18, 1905) he founded a company to produce incandescent lamps. The patent was controlled by the Thomson-Houston Electric Company until 1888 when Westinghouse Electric bought the company producing the lamp, Consolidated Electric Light.
Sawyer-Manitoba based "stopper" lamps, although not as long lasting as the Edison lamp, did allow Westinghouse to successfully illuminate the Chicago World"s Columbian Exposition of 1893.
The Sawyer-Manitoba company was eventually purchased by the Westinghouse Corporation and became the Westinghouse lighting division.