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Granville T.
Woods
Born: April 23, 1856
Died: January
30, 1910
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio
Granville T. Woods: Inventor
It's hard to believe that a man who was forced to leave school at the age of ten could have patented over thirty-five electrical and mechanical inventions. Yet Granville T. Woods did just that, educating himself outside of school in practical skills for his future.
Born in Columbus, Ohio in April 23, 1856, Woods literally learned his skills on the job. Attending school in Columbus until age 10, he served an apprenticeship in a machine shop and learned the trades of machinist and blacksmith. During his youth he also went to night school and took private lessons. Even though he had to leave formal school at age ten Granville Woods realized that learning and education were essential for developing critical skills, abilities that would allow him to express his creativity with machinery. On the railroad. In 1872 he obtained a job as a fireman on the Danville and Southern railroad in Missouri, eventually becoming an engineer. He invested his spare time in studying electronics. In 1874 Woods moved to Springfield, Illinois worked in a rolling mill. He moved to the East in 1876 and worked part time in a machine shop. He took a mechanical engineering course in an eastern college. In 1878, he became an engineer aboard the Ironsides, a British steamer, and, within two years, he became Chief Engineer of the steamer. Even with this background and all his engineering skill he was unable to get anywhere in these jobs. His travels and experiences led him to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio.
But Granville T. Woods was a great electrician and an inventive genius. His
talents could not go unnoticed. 
Woods
invented fifteen appliances for electric railways. Granville Woods received his
first patent in 1884 on an improved steam boiler furnace (U.S.
229,854).
By 1880, he had established his own shop in Cincinnati, Ohio. Woods, along with his brother Lyates, went on to organize the Woods Electrical Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. And, in later years, he succeeded in selling many to his inventions to some of the country's largest corporations. American Bell Telephone Company bought many of his ideas, as did General Electric and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. In 1888 Granville Woods developed and patented a system for overhead electric conducting lines for railroads, which aided in the development of the overhead railroad system found in contemporary metropolitan cities, such as Chicago, St. Louis, and New York City.
In his early thirties, he became interested in thermal power and steam-driven engines. And, in 1889, he filed his first patent for an improved steam-boiler furnace. In 1892, a complete Electric Railway System (U.S. 463,020) was operated at Coney Island, NY. The railway system had no exposed wires, secondary batteries, or slotted causeway -- all previously necessary for electric railways. In 1887 he patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph (U.S. 373,915) , which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains. Train accidents and collisions were causing great concern to both the public and the railways at the time. Woods' invention made it possible for trains to communicate with the station and with other trains so they knew exactly where they were at all times. This invention made train movements quicker and prevented countless accidents and collisions.
The Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph (1887)was
designed "for the purpose of averting accidents by keeping each train informed
of the whereabouts of the one immediately ahead or following it, in
communicating with the stations from moving trains; and in promoting general
social and commercial intercourse" (Marr and
Ploski). Rail travel was made safer by the invention because it allowed
dispatchers to note at a glance the location of any moving trains. Before
Woods' telegraph, trains had no assistance in locating the location of any
moving train so accidents were frequent. The invention of the Induction
Telegraph saved lives by averting both major and minor accidents for railway
traffic.
The Induction Telegraph System was the result of the invention used the physics principle of electromagnetic induction. Induction is the effect produced by sending an electrical current through a coil-shaped wire, which generates a magnetic field around the coil. When a wire moves through a magnetic field, a current similar to the current in the coil is induced in the wire. No current is induced in the wire when either the wire stops moving or no current is in the coil. The Woods Induction Telegraph, a large oblong coil, or helix, was suspended from the train. A current was sent through the helix, generating a magnetic field about the train. When the train moved, the magnetic field moved along with it. The movement of the magnetic coil induced a current in stationary wires hung parallel to the track. Therefore, telegraph signals sent through the helix were also sent through the wires to stations and other trains.
Other inventions by Woods 
An
electric an incubator that was the predecessor to current machines that incubate
50,000 eggs at one time in 1900.
And in the next three years he patented a series of advances in the development
of air brakes. Other inventions dealt with air brake design in 1902,
1903,
and 1905.
Granville T. Woods attained great fame as an electrician, an inventor, and a person. He brought luster to his name and benefited mankind through inventions of exceptional interest to the world of communications and science. He will be remembered as an ingenious American and a prolific inventor. Granville T. Woods died in New York City on January 30, 1910.
Patent Bibliography
A prolific inventor, Granville Woods was
awarded more than 60 patents.
Selection of patents issued to Granville T. Woods (1888 to 1907)
Bibliography:
Afro-American Encyclopedia; or, the Thoughts, Doings, and
Sayings of the Race. American Negro Reference Book.
J.P. Davis. (Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall), 1966.
The Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Greatness of the Negro.
Alonzo
Louis Hall. (Memphis, TN: Striker Print), 1907. p. 158.
Black Contributors to Science and Energy Technology.
U.S.
Department of Energy (Washington, DC: Office of Public Affairs), 1979, p. 4.
DOE/OPA-0035(79)
Blacks in Science: Astrophysicist to Zoologist.
Hattie Carwell.
(Hicksville, NY: Exposition Press), 1977. p.35.
Cincinnati's Colored Citizens; Historical, Sociological and
Biographical.
Wendell P. Dabney. (Cincinnati, OH: Dabney Publishing
Co.), 1926. p. 72.
The College of Life or Practical Self-Education.
Henry Davenport
Northrop, Joseph R. Gay, and Penn L. Garland, editors. (Horace C. Fry: ),
1900. p.158.
The Colored Inventor.
H.E. Baker. (New York, NY: Arno Press),
1969.
Eyewitness: The Negro in American History.
W.L. Katz. (New York,
NY: Pittman), 1971.
1927 Intercollegian Wonder Book; or 1799 -- The Negro in Chicago --
1927.
Frederic H. Robb. (Chicago, IL: Washington Intercollegiate Club
of Chicago, Inc.), 1927. vol. 1, p. 99.
Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising.
William J.
Simmons. (Cleveland, OH: George M. Rewell & Co.), 1887, 1968. p.107 - 112.
The Negro Almanac: A Reference Work on the
Afro-American.
W. Marr II and H. Ploski. (New York, NY: Bellwether),
1971.
The Negro in Literature and Art in the United States.
Benjamin
Griffith Brawley. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press), 1937.
p. 251.
Negro Year Book: An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro,
1914-1932
Monroe N. Work, ed. (Tuskegee Institute, AL: Negro
Year Book Publishing Co.)
Reference Library of Black Americans.
H.A. Ploski, O.J.
Lindenmeyer, and E. Kaiser, editors. (New York, NY: Bellwether), 1971.
School History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1890.
Edward A. Johnson. (Chicago, IL: W.B. Conkey Co.), 1969. p.163f.
The Upward Climb; a Course in Negro Achievement.[Juvenile]
Sara
Estelle Haskin. (New York, NY: Council of Women for Home Missions and
Missionary Education), 1927. p. 97.
Illustrations:
Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising.
William J.
Simmons. (Cleveland, OH: George M. Rewell & Co.), 1887. p.107.
Negro Makers of History. 4th ed., rev.
Carter Godwain
Woodson.(Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, Inc.), 1945. p.303.
One Tenth of a Nation.
Harold Williams Taylor. (Corona , Long
Island, NY: Progressive Book Shop), 1946. p.14.
Biographical History of Blacks in America Since 1528.
E.A.
Toppin. (New York, NY: McKay), 1971. p. 470-472.
Black Inventors of America.
McKinley Burt, Jr. (Portland, OR:
National Book Co.), 1969. p. 24 - 39, includes a photograph on p. 24.
Black Pioneer of Science and Invention.
Louis Haber. (New York,
NY: Harcourt, Brace & World), 1970. p. 41 - 48, includes a photograph on
p. 42.
Dictionary of American Negro Biography.
edited by Rayford W.
Logan and Michael R. Winston. (New York : Norton), 1982. p. 663-665.
Encyclopedia of Black America.
edited by W. Augustus Low and
Virgil A. Clift. (New York : McGraw-Hill), 1981. p. 867.
Great Negroes Past and Present.
Russell L. Adams. (Chicago,
Afro-Am Pub. Co.), 1969. p. 52.
Historical Afro-American Biographies.
Wilhelmena S. Robinson.
(New York, Publishers Co.), 1969. p. 145, includes a photograph.
Negro in Our History., 5th ed.
Carter Goodwin Woodson and C.H.
Wesley. (Washington, DC: The Associated Publishers, Inc.), 1962. p. 464-465.
Magazine Articles
Ebony.
(Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Co.), (February 1967),
p.10, includes a photograph.
"Thanks to this Black man's invention trains stopped traveling blind."
Old Taylor Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey (advertisement)
Ebony.
(Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Co.), (March, 1972), p.
121.
Jet.
(Chicago, IL: Johnson Publishing Co.), (April 23,
1964), p. 11, includes a photograph.
Jet.
(Chicago, IL: Johnson
Publishing Co.), (April 26, 1982), p.24
Jet.
(Chicago, IL:
Johnson Publishing Co.), (April 29, 1971), p.10.
Copyright © 1995-2000
Comments/Suggestions: Mitchell C.
Brown
The
Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences All rights
reserved
URL:
http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/woods.html
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