Granville T. Woods, born April 23, 1856 in Columbus, Ohio, was an African American inventor who held over 50 US patents. He had to leave school at age 10 to work to help support his poor family. He worked in a machine shop, where he learned machining and blacksmithing.
In 1872, he worked as a fireman for the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri. In 1874, he moved to Springfield, Illinois where he worked at a rolling mill. He studied mechanical and electrical engineering in college but there is no evidence he received a college degree.
Among his inventions are a egg incubator, an automatic brake, a steam boiler furnace, and a patented Synchronous Multiplex Railway telegraphs, which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains.
Thomas Edison filed a claim to ownership of this invention, saying he had created it first. He took Woods to court twice, but Woods prevailed both time. Woods spent a lot of time defending his inventions from others who claimed they were the ones who invented them.
Woods died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City, January 30, 1910. In 2006, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
No comments:
Post a Comment