Thursday, November 20, 2008

BLACK HISTORY SPOTLIGHT: GRANVILLE WOODS


GRANVILLE WOODS (1856 – 1910) was an inventor who received numerous patents for inventions that contributed to the development of the transportation and communication industries.

Woods, the son of Tailer and Martha Woods, was born April 23, 1856, in Columbus, Ohio. At the age of 10, he went to work with his father in a machine shop that made speed equipment for carriages and repaired equipment and machinery. Woods studied other machine workers in different pieces of equipment and was said to have paid workers to teach him electrical concepts.


Though largely self-taught, he studied electrical and mechanical engineering from 1876 to 1878. After that, he worked on a British steamer and became Chief Engineer. He then became an engineer with D&S Railroads based in Cincinnati around 1880 where he drove a steam locomotive. Unfortunately, despite his high aptitude and valuable education and expertise, Woods was denied opportunities and promotions because of the color of his skin. Out of frustration and a desire to promote his abilities, Woods, along with his brother Lyates, formed the Woods Railway Telegraph company in 1884. The company manufactured and sold telephone, telegraph and electrical equipment.

Woods received his first patent in 1884 for a steam boiler furnace. In 1885, he invented a system called telegraphony, which allowed telegraph lines to carry voice signals. Two years later, he patented the induction telegraph for sending messages to and from moving trains. Other inventions for electric railways included electromechanical and electromagnetic brakes, a wheeled trolley for drawing power for streetcars from an overhead wires and a safety cutout to prevent injury from accidental contact with overhead wires. For a while he manufactured and sold his inventions through the Woods Electric Company, but he later sold his patent rights to the General Electric Company.

In 1890, Woods moved to New York City. In collaboration with Lyates he patented emergency braking systems and devices relating to third-rail power. During his prolific career, Woods received 35 patents for inventions that contributed to the development of the transportation and communication industries. As a black inventor, however, he had difficulty in marketing his inventions and sold them instead to well-financed corporations, such as General Electric and American Bell Telephone.

He suffered a stroke and died January 30, 1910, at Harlem Hospital in New York City, at the age of 53. Despite his great success as an inventor and being considered the “black Thomas Edison”, Woods died in virtual poverty having spent his fortune on legal fees defending his patents.

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