Undoubtedly, you’ve gone to the bathroom countless times.  We’d even venture to guess that, while there, you never gave a thought to how the toilet holds fast to the floor… but, we’re betting you’re glad that it does.

Now, many historians give all the credit to the man who invented the toilet.  Rumors have swirled that it was Thomas Crapper (not a pun); but, the first toilet actually dates back to around 1596 with Sir John Harrington.

Other than total necessity and obvious convenience, what made that flushing toilet “stick” – in place that is?

Just look down the next time you’re in the bathroom.  Do you see dingy, exposed bolts at the base of the toilet bowl?  Perhaps a disheveled cap that may be half on the bolt, but barely covers it?  Or, do you see a neat, barely noticeable cap that securely covers that ever-important bolt?

Enter Gary and Ruth Frazer, the masterminds behind Twister Caps, the “why didn’t anyone think of that before” answer to exposed or clumsily-covered toilet bolts.

Like most people, the Frazer’s didn’t think much of their existing toilet caps, until they saw their son’s dog running around with one in his mouth.  It was then that they came up with the idea for Twister Caps, a threaded, screw-on toilet bolt cap that fits all toilets – thanks to careful engineering.

The Davison team helped the Frazer’s invent the cosmetically-appealing cap that’s made of high-impact plastic, threaded on the inside and is very affordable.

Twister Caps easily screw onto 1/4″ or 5/16 ” toilet bolts.  Injection molding is the manufacturing process that creates the mass-produced Twister caps affordably.

While the thought process behind Twister Caps and their installation may be quite simple, a lot of work went into creating those convenient toilet caps so they would fit every toilet.

And, thanks to Twister Caps’ unique threading, they won’t easily lift off.  Their success, however… has skyrocketed!

Millions of Twister Caps have sold nationwide at stores like Ace’s, Lowe’s and Home Depot.

So, thank you, Gary and Ruth Frazer, for noticing something so small that many of us just flushed it out of our minds.  Way to make a splash!

A typical project does not get a royalty agreement, sell in stores or generate a profit.

April showers bring… wet, muddy streets and paths that make taking our precious pets out for a walk a little challenging and messy. But, Fido needs to go outside – no matter what the weather is doing.

Today, we’re stepping into a new pet invention that has made walking in rain, snow, sleet or any other condition a little more comfortable for our four-legged friends.  Let’s venture through how Pugz Shoes were made.

It all started with Kay Thompson, who loved taking her two Shelties, Rough Spot and Autumn Angel, out for their daily walks.  But, Michigan winters were hard on her pups’ paws.  Not only were conditions wet and cold, but the chemicals that were used to treat roads and sidewalks were also damaging.

Kay set out to solve the problem of soggy, soaked paws.

Providing warmth and protection, Pugz are made of a breathable faux leather and faux wool that keep paws clean and dry.  Their soft, cushioned soles also comfort paws and protect hardwood floors from scratch marks.

Finally, Pugz are designed with an adjustable hook-and-loop strap that ensures a secure fit on any pet.

Pugz are now available in sizes extra small through large and they come in fashionable boot or tennis shoe designs.  They’ve sold in retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, SkyMall and many others.

Now that you know how Pugz Shoes are made, see how their worn.

A typical project does not get a royalty agreement, sell in stores or generate a profit.

If you asked a person on the street who the “father of the motion picture” was, they would probably say Thomas Edison, and they would be somewhat right. Edison did invent a way of recording successive images in a single camera and paved the way for the modern film industry as we know it today. But if you asked a person familiar with film history who the “father of the motion picture” was, they would say Eadweard Muybridge, and they would be very right.

Eadweard Muybridge was a brilliant and eccentric English photographer who used photography to study motion, and gained worldwide fame photographing animal and human movements imperceptible to the human eye. Born in Kingston, England in 1830, he immigrated to the United States during the “49er” gold rush in California, where he worked as a publisher’s agent for the London Printing and Publishing Company. He traveled back to England at one point and there learned photography, and by the time he returned to San Francisco in 1867, he was a professional photographer. With his highly proficient technical skills and an artist’s eye; he soon gained notoriety with his large photographs of Yosemite Valley, California; pre-dating Ansel Adams’ famous photographs of the park by over 50 years.

But what really makes Muybridge remarkable is his pioneering work on capturing motion with still-photograph cameras. This started when, in 1872, the former governor of California Leland Stanford hired Muybridge for some photographic studies. There was a lot of debate among the elite horse owners of the time whether or not all four feet of a horse were ever off the ground at the same time while running. Since the human eye was not fast enough to perceive the action of the horse’s legs, Stanford hired Muybridge to photograph a horse running to see if he could capture its movement.

Muybridge began experimenting with an array of cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. His initial efforts did show that the horse’s legs were all off the ground for a micro second, but he knew he could do better and spent the next few years perfecting his stop-motion photography. In 1878 he created a “movie” called The Horse in Motion, which feature Stanford’s thoroughbred Sallie Gardner running at a track in Palo Alto, CA. To achieve this, he placed numerous large glass-plate cameras in a line along the edge of the track; the shutter of each was triggered by a thin string as the horse galloped passed. He copied the images in the form of silhouettes onto a disc to be viewed in a machine he invented, called a zoopraxiscope, which projected a series of images in successive phases of movement. Voila, the “motion picture” was born.

By 1880, Muybridge moved East and began work at the University of Pennsylvania, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion. He photographed animals from the Philadelphia Zoo to study their movement, and also used sets of cameras to photograph people in a studio against a measured grid background in a variety of action sequences, including walking up or down stairs, dancing, carrying buckets of water, or doing gymnastics.

In many of his “films,” his models were either nude or very lightly clothed. This was done for scientific and artistic reasons; as he put it, to improve how we understand the mechanics of human motion. He is credited with filming the first kiss ever recorded in motion. Surprisingly, he is said to have chosen to photograph the kiss with two women because, in the context of Victorian culture, this was more likely to be seen as innocent. For this reason, many of Muybridge’s photos showing interactions between what might be expected to be men and women use women for both roles.

Muybridge died in 1904, spending the remaining years of his life publishing books featuring his motion photographs and touring both Europe and North America, presenting his photographic “movies.” At one point, he had a visit with Thomas Edison, and though we can’t say for sure, Muybridge possibly inspired Edison with his phenomenal motion pictures to go on and invent the movie camera. So maybe we should call them the “Father and Step-Father of the motion picture.”

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_film

http://www.muybridge.org/

http://americanhistory.si.edu/muybridge/

http://www.biography.com/people/eadweard-muybridge-9419513

Photo source:

http://www.tfaoi.com/cm/5cm/5cm118.jpg

http://0.tqn.com/d/inventors/1/0/B/0/1/muybridge.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/auteurs_production/post_images/1447/090810muybridge718.jpg?1283965849

Before people were irritated by digital albums crammed full of ill-prepared dinners and pre-club selfies on Facebook, people were irritated by celluloid-photo ambushes of Grand Canyon vacations and second cousins at dinner parties.

Stick it to FB friends and neighbors who over-share by soaking in some real photography, shot on real film, developed by real people. Fans of the golden age of photography can slip away into a celluloid celebration at the George Eastman House in upstate New York.

The George Eastman House, which celebrates George Eastman who was almost solely responsible for bringing photography to the mainstream, is the only historic home and garden in the world where one can see first-hand how an American inventor and entrepreneur lived, as well as learn about the history, growth, and development of the industry he created and its impact on the world today.

Current exhibitions include Silver and Water by Los Angeles artist Lauren Bon, which consists of 19 amazing vista prints produced around America with her Metabolic Studio Optics Division. The photos are a product of the Liminal Camera, a gigantic pinhole device made out of a shipping container that contains both the camera operators and a processing facility.

As you tour Rochester, keep two things in mind: one, the mayor looks exactly like George Eastman; and two, there’s a fantastic amount of things to do and explore in this northern New York hamlet.

No city should be explored on an empty liver, which makes visiting the home of Genesee Brewery even more fortuitous. Genesee has been brewing since 1878 (and making manly commercials since 1985) and features a century-old, 9,200 square-foot packaging center that has been transformed into a beer destination, featuring interactive exhibits, multimedia content, gift shop, pilot brewery and pub-style restaurant. To get a craftier beer experience, visit during the city’s annual beer expo in June.

When satiated, take in a Rochester Red Wings game, the triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. Enjoy America’s past time as you marvel at major league talent at minor league prices. The most expensive ticket at Frontier Field is just under $13, and every Monday features free hot dogs, a snack and a soda for the first 500 children.

Round out your visit to Rochester by coming full circle. Head back to the George Eastman House for the 11th annual High Falls Film Festival (April 18 – 20, 2013) and take in some of the best independent films from all over the world.

Just because photos can be tedious, doesn’t mean the film medium or one of the greatest American inventors was. So drop those preconceived notions this blog filled you with in the earlier graphs and treat yourself to some beautiful photography and the beautiful people and city of Rochester, N.Y.

Sources:

George Eastman Wikipedia page

http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Our_Company/History_of_Kodak/George_Eastman.htm

http://www.eastmanhouse.org/events/detail.php?title=silverwater-02-2013

Among other things, April is International Amateur Radio month. Amateur radio, often called “ham” radio, is where “hams” (ie, amateur radio enthusiasts) use different types of radio communications equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for fun, but also for some public services like disasters (it’s said that a Welsh ham radio operator named Artie Moore picked up the distress signals from the Titanic on April 15, 1912). An estimated six million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio and entire communities have formed worldwide for these “hams” to stay in touch with each other. But how did ham radio start and what exactly is a ham radio?

The birth of amateur radio starts, of course, with the invention of the radio. There are many contributors to the birth of radio; Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, proved the feasibility of radio communication in Italy in 1895. However, Nikola Tesla was able to transmit signals from New York City to West Point and is credited with the first patent of radio technology. Some argue that these were just wireless transmission of Morse code, and that it was actually Ernst Alexanderson, a General Electric engineer, who built the first true radio which made voice radio broadcasts practical. The first broadcast took place on Christmas Eve, 1906, and was a Christmas story from the Bible while a violin played “Silent Night.”

No matter who gets the credit, one thing is clear; these first radio operators were the pioneers of amateur radio. In fact, by 1909, the first amateur radio club, The Junior Wireless Club, was organized in New York, later changing its name to the Radio Club of America. But, it was the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912 that prompted new international radio laws which also affect amateur radio, including frequency restrictions and operating procedures. That’s because in those early days, everybody occupied any wavelength they wanted, so Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other’s receivers.

Governments stepped in to regulate technical and operational characteristics of transmissions and issue individual stations licenses with an identifying call sign. Regulations also designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication. For instance, it prohibited amateurs from transmitting over the main commercial and military wavelengths and limited their transmitting signals below a wavelength of 200 meters (or “short waves”).

So today the term “amateur” is used to specify persons interested in radio solely for personal use and without any financial interest. It also distinguishs it from commercial broadcasting, public safety (such as police and fire), or professional two-way radio services (such as maritime, aviation, taxis, etc.). And that term “ham operator” – that was used as a derogatory word by professional radio people to mean “incompetent”, like a ham actor. The funny thing is that the “ham” radio folks took to the name and now love being called “hams” – just not with cheese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

http://blog.conduit.com/2010/04/08/april-international-amateur-radio-month/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17582767

http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/radio.htm

http://ac6v.com/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Act_of_1912

Most people think that every device in use today is the brainchild of one or more brilliant inventors who had a great idea and worked diligently to turn that idea into a marketable product. Most of the time, that narrative is true. But, occasionally, a fabulous new product is created by accident. Maybe an unknown chemical got put into a mixture. Maybe it was heated too long, or not enough. Whatever it was, the end result was an amazing invention. Here are few of those lucky mistakes that may not have been the original intent of the inventor, but turned out to be successful!

• Post-It Notes –Back in the late 1960’s, a 3M scientist named Spencer Silver was trying to find a stronger adhesive than 3M already made, but ended up with a much weaker one – in fact, you could peel it off once it was put on something. Luckily, he didn’t throw it away but kept it around. About four years later one of Silver’s colleagues at 3M, Arthur Fry, stumbled upon a use for the new adhesive. Turns out that Fry sang in his church choir and liked to put bookmarks in his hymnbook, but the pieces of paper he used as bookmarks always fell out. He remembered Silver’s new adhesive and put a little on the bookmarks. Sure enough, they stuck where he put them and, better yet, he could peel them off without damaging his hymnbook. The Post-It note was born.

• Slinky – In 1943 a US naval engineer named Richard James was working on creating a meter to monitor horsepower on naval battleships. He had set up springs to support and stabilize the new meter when one of the springs fell to the ground and continued bouncing around. He saw how the spring moved and somehow immediately thought that it would make a great kids’ toy. He brought the spring home and showed his wife, who dubbed it “Slinky.” They spent the next two years figuring out the best steel gauge and coil to use for the toy and went on to market it as a toy at Gimbels’ in Philadelphia in 1945. The couple started the James Spring & Wire Company with $500 dollars and began production. Kids have loved Slinkys ever since.

• Vulcanized Rubber – This may not sound that cool, but vulcanized rubber has had a tremendous impact on society. Before Charles Goodyear (yes, of car tire fame) figured out his new manufacturing method, rubber was hard to work with and not very stable. The story goes that back in the 1830’s, he spent years trying to figure out a way to stabilize rubber to make it easier to work with and to be resistant to heat and cold. In 1839, he accidentally spilled some India rubber, sulfur and lead on to a hot stove. What resulted was a substance that was hard, but pliable. In fact, the new material had “memory”; it returned to its original shape after being twisted around. His accident led to him to discover the vulcanization process that eventually led to car tires, the rubber band, and many other products.

• Microwave Oven- The microwave was originally intended to be a form of radar to detect German U-Boats and warplanes in World War II. At Raytheon, a big defense contractor even back then, scientists made a new magnetron; a vacuum tube that releases energy (microwaves) to power radar equipment. It worked great. However, the credit for turning that microwave into the oh-so-convenient device in every kitchen actually goes to Percy Spencer. Spencer, a Raytheon scientist, was working on the new microwave emitter when he noticed that a candy bar in his shirt pocket had melted. He realized that the candy bar melted because the microwaves were emitting heat, and thought that maybe this could be a new way to heat food. Sure enough, through a few experiments popping corn (yes, the first microwave popcorn) and other foods, he knew he had stumbled upon a faster way to heat food, and the microwave oven was born. DING!

Of course, the list is much longer than the few examples listed here: Velcro, silly putty, Superglue, Play-Doh, and Teflon, were also “happy accidents.” So the moral of the story is, always be observant and know that even your failures as an inventor may teach you something important. As Louis Pasteur said, “chance favors the prepared mind,” so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the result you had intended.

The best thing about an idea is that anyone can have one: young or old, man or woman, it doesn’t matter. Everyone has ideas. But, the thing that separates inventors from everybody else is that they act on their ideas and try to turn them into something real. It takes hard work and determination to turn your idea into a product; which is probably why most inventions are brought to market by adults. But, what if we told you that there are a surprising number of inventions that were developed by kids? That’s right, kids! There are some remarkable kids out there who not only had an idea for a new gadget or device, but had the fortitude to go through all of the steps to bring it to market. So let’s meet a few of these young inventors who never listened when someone said, “You can’t do that, you’re just a kid.”

• Kathryn Gregory, of Bedford Massachusetts, who became an inventor in 1994 when she was just ten years old. One day, she was outside building a snow fort on a snowy winter’s day. After a while, her wrists started to hurt because the snow got into the space between her coat and her gloves. Rather than complain about it, she fixed the problem by inventing Wristies; protective winter gear that was designed to be worn under your coat and gloves to block the snow, wind, and cold from entering any unprotected gaps. The story goes that she tested the invention with her scout troop who really liked them. Encouraged by her “market research,” she started a company. By 1997, her company was manufacturing Wristies and she became the youngest person to sell on QVC. Her company continues to prosper almost 20 years later.

• Abbey Fleck, who was eight when she invented “the best way in the world to cook bacon;” the MAKIN’BACON microwave dish. The story goes that back in 1991, Abbey was making bacon withher father who always laid the bacon out on a paper towel after microwaving to absorb the excess fat. Well, that day he ran out of paper towels and laid the bacon out on a newspaper. Needless to say, her Mom wasn’t pleased, to which Dad responded “I couldn’t just let it drip dry.” But Abbey said, “Why not? Let’s put the bacon on a rack with a dish underneath to catch the drippings.” Bingo, the MAKIN’BACON dish was born. So Abbey and her Dad tinkered around with some designs and came up with the MAKIN’BACON dish, with a triple rack to hang bacon on while it’s cooking in the microwave, a bowl to catch the drippings, and even a handle to take it safely from the microwave. Today, the dish is still going strong and sells at Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Le Gourmet Chef and many other stores. Abbey is all grown up now, but she still loves her bacon!

• Hart Main, who was 13 when he invented Man-Cans, candles in more “man-friendly” scents. As Hart tells the story, his sister was selling candles for a school fundraiser that had “really girlie scents” like apple, cinnamon, and lavender. Hart had an idea to make candles that had more manly aromas, like coffee, grass, campfire, and even sawdust. So, he bought some supplies with a $100 he made from delivering newspapers and went to work. He used high quality paraffin that he melted on his Mom’s stove and poured it into old soup cans that had the labels removed—he used cans because he didn’t want a manly scented candle in a “girlie” glass jar. He went around school and his neighborhood and sold his candles one at a time. He soon ran out of old cans so he went to the market and bought cases of soup. But now he had another brilliant idea: rather than throw the soup away, he gave the soup to a local soup kitchen to feed the homeless. In the three years he has been in business, his company has donated to more than 18 soup kitchens in the Ohio River valley and served more than 50,000 meals to the homeless. Oh yeah, he’s sold a lot of candles too!

These are just a few of the many inventions that came from kids. Others include earmuffs, the trampoline, the Popsicle, and even Braille—the alphabet using raised dots that enables the blind to read. There are so many other stories, but it’s pretty clear even from these few—kids are pretty smart. So, the next time your child or niece or even the neighbor’s kid says, “Hey, I have a great idea”, instead of laughing off the possibility that a kid could come up with a great invention, you may just want to open your ears and listen!

http://inventors.about.com/od/kidinventions/a/Wristies.htm

http://www.wristies.com/KK_Wristies_Inventor_s/152.htm

http://www.cnbc.com/id/42497934/page/2

http://www.makinbacon.com/welcome.htm

http://www.man-cans.com/

It is always great to see a familiar face… especially when that face is one of our clients who just happens to be in our hometown for a visit!

Coming all the way from her home in Minnesota, Jean Rindfuss, the mastermind behind Chicago Metallic’s Meatball Baker, decided to stop in to visit with one of her contacts at the company where her idea for healthier meatballs was made into a QVC-selling success story…. enter Davison!

Jean and her husband, Don, who was major motivation for the creation of her innovative kitchen product, contacted Davison Vice President of Business Development and Licensing while they were passing through western Pennsylvania.

“[Jean] and her husband [were] traveling to Florida and [were] making a couple stops along the way. They contacted me… and mentioned they were going to pass through Pittsburgh on their way to Virginia Beach… [so, we] went out for dinner and a drink,” said the VP.

They met up at yinzer-favorite Fat Head’s Saloon in Pittsburgh’s South Side. And, this isn’t the first time that the Rindfuss family has visited Davison after utilizing our Better Way to Invent.

Read more about Jean and where her Davison-designed Meatball Baker has led her to.

When most people hear the name George Washington Carver, they immediately think, “Oh, he was that famous African-American inventor.” But, the truth is, he was a famous American inventor whose ideas changed society much like Alexander Graham Bell and Henry Ford. Though renowned for developing innovative uses for a variety of agricultural crops such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, Carver accomplished much more in his life. He was Iowa State University’s first African American student, and was a skillful musician, artist, and orator. He went on to invent hundreds of products from plants and is credited with changing the South’s agricultural economy from completely cotton and tobacco dependent to a multiple-crop producer. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP; he was inducted into the Royal Society of Arts in London; and had a national monument dedicated to him by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. So, let’s take a look at the man who not only broke racial barriers, but was a great American inventor as well.

George Washington Carver was born on his uncle’s farm in Missouri in 1864. His very early life was traumatic: his father died before he was born, and he and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate night-raiders when he was just a baby. When the Civil War ended, his uncle found him and brought him back to the farm, though Carver’s mother was never found. Carver’s uncle and aunt raised him and his brother from that point forward. When he was about twelve years old, Carver decided he wanted to attend school. Unfortunately, because of segregation, there were no schools that accepted black students close to the farm, so he had to leave his aunt and uncle’s home and travel to southwest Missouri to find a school he could attend. There, he studied diligently, worked as a farm hand to support himself, and went on to attend high school in Minneapolis, Kansas.

Carver had applied to many colleges for years, but was rejected because of racial barriers. While he waited to be accepted, he used his cultivation skills to start a small conservatory of plants and flowers. It was his love of plants and flowers that would guide him the rest of his life. Carver finally gained acceptance to a small art college when he was in his late twenties. Since the school had no science classes, Carver had to study piano. But, soon after that, in 1891, he was able to transfer to Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) to study botany—and he became the first African American student ever admitted to the college. He received both a BS and a Master’s degree in agriculture from Iowa State, and because of his proficiency in plant breeding, Carver was appointed to the faculty, becoming Iowa State’s first African American faculty member as well.

While attending his graduate classes and teaching undergrads, Carver was also becoming an expert in plant and fungus pathology. He published several articles on his work, which earned him respect throughout the nation. In 1896, he completed his master’s degree and was invited by Booker T. Washington to join the faculty of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute as the Director of Agriculture. It was at Tuskegee that Carver developed his crop rotation method, a method to alternate the planting of soil-depleting crops, like cotton, with soil-enriching crops, such as peanuts, peas, soybeans, sweet potatoes, and pecans.

Through Carver’s rotation system, crops flourished—especially peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans. This led him to develop many alternate uses for these plants, although the popular story of him inventing peanut butter is actually not true. Here are a few of the innovative things he did create from these crops: adhesives, axle grease, fuel briquettes (think biofuel), ink, linoleum, metal polish, paper, plastic, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, and wood stain. All in all, Carver’s work resulted in the creation of over 300 products from peanuts, more than 100 products from sweet potatoes, and hundreds more from a dozen other plants native to the South. He also produced 500 different shades of dye; and, in 1927, he invented a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans.

Despite the hundreds of things he created, Carver was an extremely altruistic man and really never tried to personally benefit from his work, financially or otherwise. He only filed for three patents in his entire life, one for a cosmetic and the other two for paints. All of his other innovations he freely gave to the world through open publications. He is credited with saying: “How can I sell them (his ideas) to someone else? God gave them to me.” In 1940, Carver donated his life savings to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, with the mandate that it should continue his research in agriculture. Inscribed on the tombstone of this remarkably selfless man is the epitaph: “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”

We could think of no better way to celebrate Black History Month than to feature African American inventors, such as Granville Woods, who changed history, and without whom our lives would be drastically different today. Many people may have never heard of Granville Woods, but he and his inventions had a profound impact on all of our lives.

A self-educated man, Woods taught himself mechanical and electrical engineering and became a successful inventor, holding more than 50 patents.  He is considered to be one of the ten most important African American inventors of all time, and was so prolific that he has often been compared to Thomas Edison. Probably his best known invention was a telegraph that allowed messages to be communicated from a moving train to a train station, allowing train engineers and station masters to know how close a train was to another, which greatly reduced accidents and collisions between trains.

Woods was born in 1856 in Columbus, Ohio and attended school until he was about 10 years old.  Forced to quit school so he could get a job, he became an apprentice in a machine shop and learned the trades of machinist and blacksmith while repairing railroad equipment and machinery. He developed a fascination for the electricity that powered the machinery, and spent the next few years learning everything he could about electrical engines and all of the other machinery used in railroads.  He also took as many night school courses in mechanics as he could afford, and would encourage his fellow workers to teach him everything they knew. Ultimately, this love of railroad and electrical engines would lead to him to creating a variety of inventions relating to the railroad industry.

One of his first inventions was a device which essentially was a combination of a telephone and a telegraph that allowed a telegraph station to send voice and telegraph messages over a single wire. Woods filed for a patent for his “telegraphony” in 1885 and later sold the rights to this device to Alexander Graham Bell’s company The American Bell Telephone Company.  The money he made on that deal enabled him to become a full-time inventor.

In 1887, he patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, which allowed communications between train stations and moving trains, and resulted in a huge improvement in rail safety. Surprisingly, Thomas Edison sued Woods, saying that he had created a similar telegraph first and that he was entitled to the patent for the device. The courts sided with Woods, so Edison sued him again. After losing again, the story goes that Edison decided it would be better to have Woods work for him than against him, and offered Woods a prominent position in the engineering department of the Edison Electric Light Company. Woods turned him down.

By now, Granville Woods was becoming a well-known figure in the invention world, and he began to produce a string of inventions and patents. In 1887, in addition to his Multiplex telegraph, he also filed patent applications for a train’s electromagnetic brake apparatus.  In 1888, he manufactured a system of overhead electric conducting lines for railroads, upgraded tunnel construction for electric railways, created a galvanic battery, and made more improvement to railway telegraphy. In 1889, he filed a patent for an improvement to the steam-boiler furnace and automatic safety cut-outs for electric circuits.

In 1892, Woods used his knowledge of electrical systems in creating a method of supplying electricity to a train without any exposed wires or secondary batteries.  He devised a system where the track had a third rail with iron blocks spaced every 12 feet and electricity was passed to the train as it passed over these blocks.  Ironically, when he filed a patent for this “third rail” propulsion system, Thomas Edison had beaten him to it, holding a patent on a similar system ten years earlier.  So, though their paths crisscrossed several times in throughout thier lives, both Woods and Edison had a mutual respect for each other and a mutual love of inventing.