Granville T. Woods was born April 23, 1856, in Columbus, Ohio. He was born into freedom since both his mother and father were free Black individuals. Woods did not receive much of an education during his childhood. As a teen, he worked various jobs: railroad engineer, an engineer on a British ship, steel mill worker, and railroad worker.

In the late 1870s, Woods took engineering and electricity courses while living in New York City. He knew that engineering would play a significant role in his future, so he pursued it with diligence.

After graduating, Woods left New York and returned to Ohio. There, he began working for the Springfield, Jackson, and Pomeroy Railroad Company. He worked at the pumping station and he shifted the cars. He held that position for eight months before landing another job with Dayton and Southeastern Railway Company as an engineer.

In the Spring of 1880, Woods moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where he started his own company, which developed, manufactured, and sold electrical apparatuses. In 1887, Woods created his most important invention, the multiplex telegraph (a.k.a the induction telegraph or block system).

Not only did Woods’ telegraph increase the speed in which people communicated, but it also decreased the number of railroad accidents and other crucial errors. Thomas Edison filed a lawsuit against Woods that challenged his patent but Woods defeated the suit. After rejecting Edison’s offer to partner together, Woods was later referred to as the ‘Black Edison.’

In 1889, Woods filed a patent for an improved steam boiler furnace, and later, an improved telephone transmitter. After obtaining the patent for his transmitter (a combination of the telephone and the telegraph), Woods sold it to Alexander Graham Bell.

Selling his patent afforded the opportunity to conduct his own research which later resulted in the troller–a grooved metal wheel that enabled streetcars (trollies) to harness electric power from wires hanging overhead.

By 1890, Woods changed the name of his company to Woods Electric Co. He then packed his research up and took it to New York City. At this time, his brother, Lyates Woods (an inventor as well) joined Woods’ company.

Woods then developed the power pick-up device in 1901. This served as the basis for the third rail which is still used by most electric-based transit systems today. He later received patents for an improved air-break system.

Over the span of his life, Woods received almost 60 patents and invented 15 appliances that were used for electric railways. Granville T. Woods died on January 30, 1910, in New York City. He was 54 years old.

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