Granville Woods

[11] Granville attended school in Columbus, Ohio, until age 10 but had to leave due to his family's poverty, which meant he needed to work;[12] he served an apprenticeship in a machine shop and learned the trades of machinist and blacksmith.[15] Over the course of his lifetime, Granville Woods obtained more than 50 patents for inventions including an automatic brake and an egg incubator and for improvements to other technologies such as the safety circuit, telegraph, telephone, and phonograph.[31] Later that year, he was arrested and charged with libel after taking out an advertisement in a trade magazine warning against patronizing the American Engineering Company of New York City.[37] In 1902, the Kansas City American Citizen described Woods as an articulate, well-spoken man who was meticulous in his style of clothing and preferred to dress in black.[38] At times, he would refer to himself as an immigrant from Australia,[39] in the belief that he would be given more respect if people thought he was from a foreign country, as opposed to African American.frequently expressed their pride in his achievements, saying he was "the greatest of Negro inventors",[40] and referring to him as "professor" despite his lack of formal college education.Woods died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Harlem Hospital in New York City on January 30, 1910, having sold a number of his devices to such companies as Westinghouse, General Electric, and American Engineering.[41][42] In 2004, the New York City Transit Authority organized an exhibition on Woods that utilized bus and train depots and an issue of four million MetroCards commemorating the inventor's work on third rail electrification.
1906 Woods Queen Victoria Electric
1916 Woods Gasoline-Electric engine
Woods improved the Westinghouse air brake and subway tunnels
Woods' grave marker in St. Michael's Cemetery
Columbus, OhioNew York CityEast Elmhurst, New YorkInventorAfrican AmericanCivil Wartrainsstreetcarsinductiontelegraphelectric railroadNative AmericanapprenticeshipblacksmithSpringfield, IllinoisCincinnati, OhiophonographtelephoneMorse codeAmerican Bell Telephone Companya magnetic field around a coiled wiresmallpoxThomas EdisonCharles van DepoeleGreat Blizzard of 1888Mayor Hugh J. GrantConey IslandGeneral Electricsafety dimmerair brakeGeorge WestinghouseSt. Michael's Cemeterycerebral hemorrhageHarlem HospitalWestinghouseElmhurst, QueensBaltimore City Community CollegeNew York City Transit AuthorityMetroCardsNational Inventors Hall of FameStillwellMermaidConey Island–Stillwell Avenue rail and bus terminalEarle B. PhelpsMiddleton, William D.Kalmbach Publishingmta.infoMetropolitan Transportation AuthoritySimmons, Rev. William J.Find-A-Grave