Farmer, Moses G. (Moses Gerrish), 1820-1893

Moses Gerrish Farmer was born Feb. 9, 1820 in Boxcawen, NH; entered preparatory school at Andover in 1832; attended Dartmouth, but withdrew because of ill health; he worked briefly in a civil engineer's office and was affiliated with various private schools in New England; married Hannah Tobey Shapleigh in 1844; while he was a school principal in Dover, NH, he invented a machine to print paper window shades; began work with the electric telegraph, eventually taking charge of the telegraph line between Boston and Newburyport, MA; in 1848 he invented what became the first electric fire alarm system in the US; discovered means for duplex and quadruplex telegraph; in 1858-59 invented an incandescent electric lamp; in 1866 he patented a self-exciting dynamo; appointed as electrician of US Torpedo Station at Newport, RI; consulting electrician, U.S. Electric Light Co. of New York; died in 1893.

From the description of Papers, 1830-1893. (University of California, Los Angeles). WorldCat record id: 39028431

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