Granville Woods portrait   Save
Ohio History Connection Archives/Library
Description: Portrait of African American inventor Granville T. Woods from Volume 18 of "The Cosmopolitan" in 1895. The portrait accompanies an article titled "Electric Motor Regulation" in a section of the magazine called "The Progress of Science." Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1856. He and his brother formed the Woods Railway Telegraph Company in Cincinnati in 1884. Largely self-taught, Woods worked his way up through the railroad industry, and eventually received 35 patents for electrical and mechanical devices between 1884 and 1907. Most of his inventions were for the improvement of the railroad system, including telegraphony, which allowed telegraph stations to send both voice and telegraph messages over a single wire. Woods is often referred to as "the Black Thomas Edison." He died in New York City in 1910. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: 051_C821v18_761_Woods
Subjects: Woods, Granville, 1856-1910; African American inventors--History; Railroads--Communication systems
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)