Granville T. Woods — Teacher Resources

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Granville T. Woods

The Self-Taught Inventor Who Beat Edison at the Patent Office — Teacher Resources

He taught himself, beat the most famous inventor in America, and history almost forgot him.

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Quiz — Granville T. Woods

PART A — MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. At about what age did Woods leave school?

B) Ten.

Students should be able to state that Woods left school at about age ten because his family was poor, and went to work. The point of the question is what came next: he kept learning on his own and on the job — as a railroad fireman, in a rolling mill and a machine shop, and as chief engineer of the steamship Ironsides. [2]Fouché, Rayvon. Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Woods’s life, work, patents, and patent disputes. Students who answer A, C, or D are giving ages that do not appear in the lesson.

2. What did Woods’s induction telegraph make possible?

B) Moving trains sending and receiving messages.

Students should be able to explain that the induction telegraph let moving trains send and receive messages to and from stations and other trains. A coil of wire on the train passed close to a telegraph wire beside the track, and signals jumped the gap through induction, with no wires touching. The patent was granted on November 29, 1887. [1]Woods, Granville T. “Induction Telegraph System.” U.S. Patent No. 373,915, November 29, 1887. United States Patent and Trademark Office. The induction telegraph.[3]“November 29, 1887: Granville Woods Patents the Induction Telegraph.” APS News, American Physical Society, October 2023. His birth, smallpox, the induction telegraph, and the 1975 headstone. Students who answer A, C, or D are describing other technologies, not the induction telegraph.

3. What is a patent interference?

B) A hearing to decide who invented something first.

Students should be able to define a patent interference as a hearing held by the United States Patent Office when two or more inventors claim the same invention. The inventor who proves he conceived it first wins the patent. Woods faced interferences with Lucius Phelps and with Thomas Edison. [4]“The Black Edison: Granville T. Woods.” IPWatchdog, February 3, 2014. The Phelps and Edison interferences and the job-offer story. Students who answer A, C, or D are describing fines, taxes, or licenses, which are not part of an interference.

4. What did Woods use to prove he invented the induction telegraph first?

C) His notes, sketches, and a working model.

Students should be able to name the evidence Woods used — his notes, his sketches, and a working model — and connect it to the outcome: in 1887 the Patent Office ruled that Woods, not Phelps, came first. Records made at the time of invention are what decide these cases. [4]“The Black Edison: Granville T. Woods.” IPWatchdog, February 3, 2014. The Phelps and Edison interferences and the job-offer story. Students who answer A, B, or D are naming kinds of support that play no part in deciding who invented something first.

5. Which company bought the rights to Woods’s telegraphony invention?

A) The American Bell Telephone Company.

Students should be able to identify the American Bell Telephone Company as the buyer of the rights to telegraphony — Woods’s 1885 system for sending voice and telegraph messages over the same wire. [2]Fouché, Rayvon. Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Woods’s life, work, patents, and patent disputes.[10]“Granville T. Woods Way Debuts in Coney.” Brooklyn Paper, 2008. The street co-naming, P.S. 335, and the companies that bought his inventions. Students who answer B, C, or D are naming companies that do not appear in the lesson’s account of telegraphony.

6. Where was Woods buried in an unmarked grave?

C) Saint Michael’s Cemetery in Queens.

Students should be able to state that Woods was buried in an unmarked grave at Saint Michael’s Cemetery in Queens, New York, in a coffin he shared with two infants and another adult. Nothing marked the spot until 1975, when historian Middleton Harris raised money for a marker. [7]The New York Review of Books. Essay on St. Michael’s Cemetery, East Elmhurst, Queens, 2026. The unmarked grave, the shared coffin, and Middleton Harris’s markers. Students who answer A, B, or D are naming cemeteries that are not part of the lesson’s account of his burial.

7. In what year was Woods inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame?

C) 2006.

Students should be able to place Woods’s induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006. [9]National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Granville T. Woods.” Inducted 2006. Students who answer A or B are confusing the year of his death (1910) or the year his grave was finally marked (1975) with the Hall of Fame induction. Students who answer D are giving a year that does not appear in the lesson.

PART B — SHORT ANSWER KEY POINTS

Question 8. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain how Woods built the skills to become an inventor without finishing school.

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: he left school at about age ten; in 1872 he worked as a railroad fireman in Missouri, feeding the engine and learning how it ran; he worked in a rolling mill and a machine shop; in 1878 he joined the steamship Ironsides and within two years became its chief engineer [2]Fouché, Rayvon. Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Woods’s life, work, patents, and patent disputes.
  • How the skills were built: each job gave him hands-on knowledge of engines, machinery, and electricity, and he studied on his own alongside the work
  • Strong answers will connect: this self-taught foundation to his first patent in 1884 and to telegraphony in 1885, which the American Bell Telephone Company bought
  • Strong answers will note: learning did not stop when schooling did — every job taught him more about engines and electricity

Question 9. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain how Woods defended his induction telegraph at the Patent Office — and what he gained and lost from that fight.

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: Lucius Phelps claimed the same idea and the Patent Office held an interference; Woods used his notes, sketches, and a working model and won in 1887; Thomas Edison challenged the patent, and Woods won; Edison challenged again, and Woods won again [4]“The Black Edison: Granville T. Woods.” IPWatchdog, February 3, 2014. The Phelps and Edison interferences and the job-offer story.[5]Walnut Hills Historical Society. “Granville T. Woods, Electrical Engineer.” Walnut Hills Stories. 1880s Cincinnati newspaper reports and the sale of the patent to the Edison interests.[6]“Granville T. Woods: The Cincinnati Inventor Who Beat Thomas Edison.” Cincinnati Magazine. Edison’s two challenges to the induction telegraph patent.
  • What he gained: official recognition as the first inventor of the induction telegraph, recorded by the Patent Office
  • What he lost: the long fight ended with Woods selling the patent to Edison’s business interests for a relatively small sum, so winning did not make him wealthy [5]Walnut Hills Historical Society. “Granville T. Woods, Electrical Engineer.” Walnut Hills Stories. 1880s Cincinnati newspaper reports and the sale of the patent to the Edison interests.
  • Strong answers will note: the story that Edison then offered Woods a job is often told, but some writers on patent history say it may be folklore — the documented outcomes are the rulings and the sale

Question 10. Using at least two specific details from the lesson, explain why Woods was nearly forgotten — and what has been done to remember him.

A strong answer should include:

  • At least two specific details: Woods died in New York City on January 30, 1910, with little money; he was buried in an unmarked grave at Saint Michael’s Cemetery in Queens, in a coffin shared with two infants and another adult; nothing marked the spot for sixty-five years [3]“November 29, 1887: Granville Woods Patents the Induction Telegraph.” APS News, American Physical Society, October 2023. His birth, smallpox, the induction telegraph, and the 1975 headstone.[7]The New York Review of Books. Essay on St. Michael’s Cemetery, East Elmhurst, Queens, 2026. The unmarked grave, the shared coffin, and Middleton Harris’s markers.
  • What has been done: in 1975 historian Middleton Harris raised money for a marker, and companies that had used Woods’s inventions helped pay for it; in 2006 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame; a Brooklyn school and Granville T. Woods Way at Coney Island carry his name [7]The New York Review of Books. Essay on St. Michael’s Cemetery, East Elmhurst, Queens, 2026. The unmarked grave, the shared coffin, and Middleton Harris’s markers.[8]New York State Assembly. Resolution No. 783, 2021. The 1975 marker at St. Michael’s Cemetery and P.S. 335, the Granville T. Woods School.[9]National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Granville T. Woods.” Inducted 2006.[10]“Granville T. Woods Way Debuts in Coney.” Brooklyn Paper, 2008. The street co-naming, P.S. 335, and the companies that bought his inventions.
  • Why he was nearly forgotten: strong answers will consider that an inventor with more than fifty patents, who sold many of them to large companies, could still be left out of the history most students are taught
  • Strong answers will connect: remembrance came from individuals who chose to act — a historian, community advocates, and the people behind the school and street names

Sources & Footnotes

  1. [1] Woods, Granville T. “Induction Telegraph System.” U.S. Patent No. 373,915, November 29, 1887. United States Patent and Trademark Office. The induction telegraph.
  2. [2] Fouché, Rayvon. Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Woods’s life, work, patents, and patent disputes.
  3. [3] “November 29, 1887: Granville Woods Patents the Induction Telegraph.” APS News, American Physical Society, October 2023. His birth, smallpox, the induction telegraph, and the 1975 headstone.
  4. [4] “The Black Edison: Granville T. Woods.” IPWatchdog, February 3, 2014. The Phelps and Edison interferences and the job-offer story.
  5. [5] Walnut Hills Historical Society. “Granville T. Woods, Electrical Engineer.” Walnut Hills Stories. 1880s Cincinnati newspaper reports and the sale of the patent to the Edison interests.
  6. [6] “Granville T. Woods: The Cincinnati Inventor Who Beat Thomas Edison.” Cincinnati Magazine. Edison’s two challenges to the induction telegraph patent.
  7. [7] The New York Review of Books. Essay on St. Michael’s Cemetery, East Elmhurst, Queens, 2026. The unmarked grave, the shared coffin, and Middleton Harris’s markers.
  8. [8] New York State Assembly. Resolution No. 783, 2021. The 1975 marker at St. Michael’s Cemetery and P.S. 335, the Granville T. Woods School.
  9. [9] National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Granville T. Woods.” Inducted 2006.
  10. [10] “Granville T. Woods Way Debuts in Coney.” Brooklyn Paper, 2008. The street co-naming, P.S. 335, and the companies that bought his inventions.

Note on This Lesson

In their own words: In 1886, a Cincinnati newspaper wrote that “Woods, who is the greatest electrician in the world, still continues to add to his long list of inventions.” In 1887, a newspaper reported the Patent Office’s decision naming “Woods prior inventor of the induction telegraph as against Mr. Edison, who claims to be the prior inventor,” adding that “the Edison & Phelps Company are now negotiating a consolidation with Woods’ Railway Telegraph Company.” [5]Walnut Hills Historical Society. “Granville T. Woods, Electrical Engineer.” Walnut Hills Stories. 1880s Cincinnati newspaper reports and the sale of the patent to the Edison interests.

On the job offer, a patent-law history notes: “There’s even a story, perhaps ‘folklore,’ that Edison asked Woods to work for him, but Woods turned down Edison’s offer.” [4]“The Black Edison: Granville T. Woods.” IPWatchdog, February 3, 2014. The Phelps and Edison interferences and the job-offer story. Sources disagree on the cause of Woods’s death, so this lesson does not name one. [2]Fouché, Rayvon. Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, and Shelby J. Davidson. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Woods’s life, work, patents, and patent disputes.[3]“November 29, 1887: Granville Woods Patents the Induction Telegraph.” APS News, American Physical Society, October 2023. His birth, smallpox, the induction telegraph, and the 1975 headstone.

Woods’s induction telegraph patent, U.S. Patent No. 373,915, can be read in full through Google Patents. [1]Woods, Granville T. “Induction Telegraph System.” U.S. Patent No. 373,915, November 29, 1887. United States Patent and Trademark Office. The induction telegraph.

The images in this lesson are illustrations created for teaching. They are not photographs of historical people or documents.

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