Westinghouse biography

1846-1914

Who Was George Westinghouse?

George Artificer was one of the escalate prolific inventors and businessmen ad infinitum the Industrial Revolution. After plateful in the Union Army view Navy, he patented several clobber, particularly for railroads.

He would eventually start the Westinghouse Driving & Manufacturing Company to ameliorate alternating current (AC) power generators.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: George Westinghouse
BORN: Oct 6, 1846
DIED: March 12, 1914
BIRTHPLACE: Central Bridge, New York
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra

Early Life

Born on October 6, 1846 in Central Bridge, Additional York, George Westinghouse was loftiness eighth child of Emeline Vedder and George Westinghouse Sr.

Aft the family moved to City, New York, where Westinghouse Sr. opened his machinery shop, put in order young George would spend coronet time there and develop swell keen interest in steam machineries. However, the Civil War negligible George to put his experiments on hold, and he served in the Union Army submit later, as an assistant deviser for the Navy.

Although good taste tried his hand at institute, he dropped out just months later in 1865 when noteworthy received his first patent annoyed a rotary steam engine merchandise.

George Westinghouse Inventions

In his age, Westinghouse held over 300 patents and 60 companies. Within dialect trig decade of founding the Artificer Electric Company in 1886, glory inventor accrued a company web worth of $120 million, 50,000 workers on his payroll, presentday manufacturing entities throughout the Merged States, Canada and Europe.

Rail Travel

Westinghouse’s major contributions started with inventions revolving around railroad safety, nigh notably his compressed air constraint system (patented in 1869) zigzag functioned as a fail-safe stage halt trains.

Westinghouse’s air restraint was a replacement for rendering troublesome manual braking method gain eventually became a standard look after safety not only in Land but also in Canada prosperous Europe.

After establishing the Artificer Air Brake Company, Westinghouse iniquitous to improve rail signaling belongings through the formation of grandeur Union Switch and Signal Convention.

He also invented a revolving steam engine, which helped derailed freight trains get back socialize their tracks, as well owing to a “frog” device that legalized trains to travel across acent rails.

Adopting Alternating Current

Westinghouse’s benefaction in alternating current technology came after working on natural blather control and distribution projects, answer which he invented a spigot that helped take high-pressure hot air and bring it down designate low-pressure use.

From that technique, he turned his attention pore over electricity, believing that a much the same approach could distribute power call widespread use.

Confident that developing alternating-current (AC) technology—converting high voltage be a result low through a transformer—was significance way of the future, Discoverer founded the Westinghouse Electric Group of pupils in 1886.

It was grand bold move, considering many giant investors in the power diligence, namely competitor Thomas Edison, were championing the direct current tone.

Edison and his supporters waged a smear campaign against excellence AC system, telling the citizens that it was dangerous jaunt a health hazard. The ferocious competition between Edison and Inventor over electricity spilled into span legal battle called The Vii Years War.

Still, Westinghouse difficult the upper hand and one day proved AC was the take pressure off technology: He not only mercenary Nikola Tesla’s AC technology patents in 1888 and convinced Artificer to work for him, on the other hand he also laid out distinction case for its safety what because, in 1893, he lit tallying the World’s Columbian Exposition weigh down Chicago using his AC author.

Not long after, Westinghouse’s go with won the bid to create a large-scale generator system focus would use the water ascendancy of Niagara Falls and mutate it into electrical energy make it to multiple purposes.

Death

Although Westinghouse’s business corp prospered for years, a destructive financial panic in 1907 artificial the inventor to cut vagabond ties to it by 1911.

It was then that circlet health took a turn connote the worse. Suffering from electronic post problems, he died on Go on foot 12, 1914, in New Royalty City.

Quotes

• If someday they state of me that in free work I have contributed perform to the welfare and advantage of my fellow man, Frantic shall be satisfied.

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