Granville T Woods

(April 23, 1856 – January 30, 1910), was an African American inventor. He was born in Columbus, Ohio and died in New York. Woods developed several improvements to the railroad system, and was referred to by some as the "Black Edison."

Granville patented over a dozen inventions for the electric railways & electric control and distribution his most noteworthy device in this area was the "Induction Telegraph", a system for communicating to and from moving trains. Accidents and collisions were causing great concern to both the public and the railways at that time and many electrical engineers were seeking improvement of the conventional telegraph as a solution.