At DiCello Levitt, many of our cases concern not only access to justice, but also access to technologies and the use of those technologies. Our firm celebrates the contributions of scientists, who have invented technologies that have improved our lives. Granville Woods was an American inventor who registered nearly 60 patents over his lifetime, concentrating on trains and streetcars.
• Engineer – Woods was the first Black mechanical and electrical engineer following the Civil War, establishing a business in Cincinnati, Ohio, called the Woods Electric Company.
• Inventor – Woods’ most important invention and patent was the multiplex telegraph used to send messages between train stations and moving trains.
• Telegraph – After successfully defending himself against patent infringement claims brought by Thomas Edison for the multiplex telegraph patent, Woods was offered a partner position by Edison in the Edison Company, which Woods declined.
• Key contributor to the development of the telephone – His patent for an improved telephone transmitter, which combined the telephone and telegraph, was bought by Alexander Graham Bell.