Thomas Edison tried to take credit for a device created by a Black American inventor

Abstraction: Granville Woods patent battles against Edison in segregation-era America

Key points:

• Granville T. Woods (1856–1910), first Black American mechanical and electrical engineer post-Civil War, held nearly 60 patents
• 1887: Woods patented the induction telegraph enabling train-to-station messaging; Edison sued him twice claiming prior invention and lost both times
• Key inventions: synchronous multiplex railway telegraph, "Dead Man's Handle" automatic brake, and precursor to the third rail
• Dubbed "Black Edison" by newspapers; sometimes posed as an Australian immigrant to avoid racial discrimination in business
• Sold patents to Edison, Westinghouse, and General Electric — historians cite difficulty marketing Black-owned inventions to white-dominated markets
• Died destitute in 1910; inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006

Connections: Thomas Edison · Granville Woods · General Electric · Patent Law · Invention History

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/granville-woods-black-inventor-thomas-edison-electricity-invention-telegraph-2023-11