About Heinrich Göbel
Heinrich Göbel (April 20, 1818 – December 4, 1893) was a German-born American precision mechanic and inventor also known by his anglicized name Henry Goebel. In 1848 he immigrated to New York City, where he resided until his death. He received American citizenship in 1865. In 1893, magazines and newspapers reported that 25 years earlier Göbel had developed incandescent light bulbs comparable to those invented in 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison. Göbel did not apply for a patent for this invention. In 1893, the Edison Electric Light Company sued three manufacturers of incandescent lamps for infringing Edison's patent. The defense of these companies claimed the Edison patent was void because of the same invention by Göbel 25 years earlier, which came to be known as the Goebel defense. Judges of four courts raised doubts; there was no clear and convincing proof for the claimed invention. Research work published in 2007 concluded that the Goebel defense was fraudulent. After Göbel's death the legend arose in some countries that he was the true inventor of the practical incandescent light bulb. Göbel acquired patents for an improvement of sewing machines in 1865, for an improvement of the Geissler pump in 1882, and for a technique to connect carbon threads to metal wires in incandescent lamps in 1882. These three patents have had no influence on further technical developments to date. Their witness, Heinrich Göbel, made a claim he had designed the first practical incandescent electric light bulb in 1854. Göbel retired in the late 1880s, and his son Henry became the owner of the shop. In 1893, New York patent attorneys Witter & Kenyon became defense counsel in three cases of patent infringement, with Göbel becoming their primary witness and used his 1882 story to create the Göbel defense.
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