Granville Woods
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[edit] Birth
Granville T. Woods (April 23, 1856 - January 30, 1910), born in Columbus, Ohio, was an African-American inventor.
[edit] Background
Woods dedicated his life to developing a variety of inventions relating to the railroad industry. To some he was known as the "Black Edison," both being considered one of the great inventors of their time. Woods invented more than a dozen devices to improve electric railway cars and many more for controlling the flow of electricity.
[edit] Education/Training
Granville T. Woods literally learned his skills on the job. Attending school in Columbus until age 10 (to help his father in a machine shop that made speed equipment for carriages), he served an apprenticeship in a machine shop and learned the trades of machinist and blacksmith. During his youth he was inspired by Lewis Latimer, and he also went to night school and took private lessons. Although he had to leave formal school at age ten, Woods realized that learning and education was essential to developing critical skills that would allow him to express his creativity with machinery.
[edit] Early Career
In 1872, Woods got a job as a fireman on the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri, eventually becoming an engineer. He spent his spare time studying electronics. In 1874 Woods moved to Springfield, Illinois, and worked in a rolling mill. In 1878, he took a job aboard the Ironsides, a British steamer, and, within two years, became Chief Engineer of the steamer. Finally, his travels and experiences led him to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio.
[edit] Inventions and Patents
In 1888, Woods patented a system for overhead electric conducting lines for railroads. In his early thirties, he became interested in thermal power and steam-driven engines. In 1889, he filed his first patent for an improved steam-boiler furnace. In 1887, he patented devices for wireless induction telegraphy, with the aim to communicate with moving trains. These 2 patents have somehow become confused with the multiplex telegraph, which allows multiple messages to be sent in both directions over a single wire. Contrary to many web pages, he neither worked on nor patented any Multiplex Telegraph systems. This can be verified by reviewing all of his patents.
Alexander Graham Bell’s company purchased the rights to Woods’ "telegraphony," enabling him to become a full-time inventor. Among his other top inventions were a variation on air brakes used to slow or stop trains.
Woods also loved the arts and the theatre, for the theatre he developed a safe, inexpensive dimmer switch. Earlier attempts by other inventors had often led to electrical fires. [1]
A patent interference filed by Thomas Edison, over Woods' patent on minor improvements to the induction telegraph, was decided in a Patent Office hearing in favor of Woods. Both Phelps and Edison had been working separately on induction telegraphs, and they finally combined their interests in a small company which developed the system for the railroads. Although the system worked experimentally, no induction telegraph was ever adopted by any railroad.
[edit] External sites
- Patent Interference case
- The "third rail" A short history.
- MIT article on Granville Woods
- Book chapter in Rayvon Fouche, "Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation"
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