2B -February 6, 2019 www.charlestonchronicle.net The Chronicle BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL BLACK INVENTORS Known as "Black Edison," Granville Woods was to work at the pumping stations and the shifting tiplex telegraph, also known as the "induction an African-American inventor who made key of cars in the city of Washington Court House, telegraph," or block system, in 1887. The device contributions to the development of the tele- Ohio. He was then employed by the Dayton and allowed men to communicate by voice over tele- phone, street car and more. Southeastern Railway Company as an engineer graph wires, ultimately helping to speed up im- for 13 months. portant communications and, subsequently, Synopsis preventing crucial errors such as train accidents. During this period, while traveling between Woods defeated Thomas Edison's lawsuit that Granville T. Woods was born in Columbus, Washington Court House and Dayton, Woods challenged his patent, and turned down Edi- Ohio, on April 23, 1856, to free African-Ameri- began to form ideas for what would later be cred- son's offer to make him a partner. Thereafter, cans. He held various engineering and indus- ited as his most important invention: the "induc- Woods was often known as "Black Edison." trial jobs before establishing a company to tor telegraph." He worked in the area until the develop electrical apparatus. Known as "Black spring of 1880, and then moved to Cincinnati. After receiving the patent for the multiplex tele- Edison," he registered nearly 60 patents in his graph, Woods reorganized his Cincinnati com- lifetime, including a telephone transmitter, a Early Inventing Career pany as the Woods Electric Co. In 1890, he trolley wheel and the multiplex telegraph (over moved his own research operations to New which he defeated a lawsuit by Thomas Edi- Living in Cincinnati, Woods eventually set up his York City, where he was joined by a brother, Ly- son). Woods died in 1910. own company to develop, manufacture and sell ates Woods, who also had several inventions of electrical apparatus, and in 1889, he filed his first his own. Early Life patent for an improved steam boiler furnace. His later patents were mainly for electrical devices, Woods's next most important invention was the Born in Columbus, Ohio, on April 23, 1856, to including his second invention, an improved power pick-up device in 1901, which is the basis free African Americans, Granville T. Woods re- telephone transmitter. of the so-called "third rail" currently used by ceived little schooling as a young man and, in electric-powered transit systems. From 1902 to his early teens, took up a variety of jobs, includ- The patent for his device, which combined the 1905, he received patents for an improved air- ing as a railroad engineer in a railroad machine telephone and telegraph, was bought by Alexan- brake system. shop, as an engineer on a British ship in a steel der Graham Bell, and the payment freed Woods mill, and as a railroad worker. From 1876 to to devote himself to his own research. One of his Death and Legacy 1878, Woods lived in New York City, taking most important inventions was the "troller," a courses in engineering and electricity—a sub- grooved metal wheel that allowed street cars By the time of his death, on January 30, 1910, in ject that he realized, early on, held the key to (later known as "trolleys") to collect electric New York City, Granville T. Woods had in- the future. power from overhead wires. vented 15 appliances for electric railways. re- ceived nearly 60 patents, many of which were Back in Ohio in the summer of 1878, Woods Induction Telegraph assigned to the major manufacturers of electri- was employed for eight months by the Spring- cal equipment that are a part of today's daily field, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad Company Woods's most important invention was the mul- life. Elijah McCoy Alice Parker Lewis Howard Latimer Elijah J. McCoy (May 2, 1844[2] – October 10, 1929) was an African Alice H. Parker was an African-American inventor who fled the frst United Lewis Howard Latimer was an inventor and draftsman best known Canadian-American inventor and engineer, who was notable for his States patent for the precursor to a central heating system. Parker was for his contributions to the patenting of the light bulb and the tele- 57 U.S. patents, most to do with lubrication of steam engines. highly educated compared to most Americans during the early 1900s. She phone. was a graduate of Howard University, a historically African-American uni- Lewis Howard Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on Sep- In Michigan, McCoy could fnd work only as a freman and oiler at the versity that accepted both male and female students since its founding in tember 4, 1848, to parents who had fed slavery. Latimer learned the Michigan Central Railroad. In a home-based machine shop in Ypsi- November 1866, shortly after the Civil War. While little is known about her art of mechanical drawing while working at a patent frm. Over the lanti, Michigan McCoy also did more highly skilled work, such as de- life, her design for a heating furnace is a defnite forerunner to what was course of his career as a draftsman, Latimer worked closely with veloping improvements and inventions. He invented an automatic developed decades later as a means of heating residential and commercial Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, in addition to designing lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and ships, "Im- structures. his own inventions. He died in Flushing, Queens, New York, on De- provement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines" (U.S. Patent 129,843). cember 11, 1928. Similar automatic oilers had been patented previously; one is the dis- Parker was ofcially granted her patent on December 23, 1919, while she Latimer's talents were well-matched to the post-Civil War period, placement lubricator, which had already attained widespread use was a resident of Morristown, NJ. The drawings included in the patent fl- which saw a large number of scientifc and engineering break- and whose technological descendants continued to be widely used ing show a heating furnace that was powered by gas. To heat an entire throughs. Latimer was directly involved with one of these inventions: into the 20th century. Lubricators were a boon for railroads, as they house, there were several heating units, each controlled by individual hot the telephone. Working with Alexander Graham Bell, Latimer helped enabled trains to run faster and more proftably with less need to air ducts. The ducts were then directed to diferent parts of the building draft the patent for Bell's design of the telephone. He was also in- stop for lubrication and maintenance. structure. volved in the feld of incandescet lighting, a particularly competitive feld, working for Hiram Maxim and Thomas Edison. McCoy continued to refne his devices and design new ones; 50 of his Although this design was never used in an actual structure, using gas to Latimer's deep knowledge of both patents and electrical engineering patents dealt with lubricating systems. power a heating furnace was a revolutionary idea since coal and wood made Latimer an indispensible partner to Edison as he promoted and dominated at this time. This patent also marks the frst time that a patent defended his light bulb design. In 1890, Latimer published a book documents the idea that duct work could individually deliver heat to difer- entitled Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the ent areas of the house. Edison System. He continued to work as a patent consultant until 1922..