He obtained a patent for one of his most important inventions, the air brake, in April This device enabled locomotive engineers to stop trains with fail-safe accuracy for the first time. It was eventually adopted by the majority of the world's railroads. Seeing potential profit in the invention, Westinghouse organized the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in July , acting as its president. He continued to make changes to his air brake design and later developed the automatic air brake system and the triple valve.
Westinghouse then expanded into the railroad signaling industry in the United States by organizing the Union Switch and Signal Company. His industry grew as he opened companies in Europe and Canada.
Devices based on his own inventions and the patents of others were designed to control the increased speed and flexibility which was made possible by the invention of the air brake. Westinghouse also developed an apparatus for the safe transmission of natural gas.
Westinghouse saw the potential for electricity early on and formed the Westinghouse Electric Company in It would later be known as the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. There was opposition from the public to the development of alternating current electricity. Critics, including Thomas Edison , argued that it was dangerous and a health hazard. This idea was enforced when New York adopted the use of alternating current electrocution for capital crimes. Undeterred, Westinghouse proved its viability by having his company design and provide the lighting system for the entire Columbian Exposition in Chicago in Westinghouse's company took on another industrial challenge when it was awarded a contract with the Cataract Construction Company in to build three huge generators to harness the energy of the Niagara Falls.
Installation on this project began in April By November, all three generators were completed. Engineers at Buffalo closed the circuits that finally completed the process to bring power from Niagara a year later. The hydroelectric development of Niagara Falls by George Westinghouse in inaugurated the practice of placing generating stations far from consumption centers. The Niagara plant transmitted massive amounts of power to Buffalo, over 20 miles away. More than any other man, George Westinghouse was responsible for the introduction and development of alternating current for light and power.
With the desire to turn ideas into enterprises, he founded Westinghouse Electric and 59 other companies, eventually receiving more than patents for his work.
He died in March at the age of sixty-seven, with drawings for an electric wheelchair idea at his side. After establishing the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Westinghouse turned to improve rail signaling devices through the formation of the Union Switch and Signal Company. He also invented a rotary steam engine, which helped derailed freight trains get back onto their tracks, as well as a "frog" device that allowed trains to travel across connecting rails.
Westinghouse's interest in alternating current technology came after working on natural gas control and distribution projects, in which he invented a valve that helped take high-pressure gas and bring it down to low-pressure use. From that experience, he turned his attention to electricity, believing that a similar approach could distribute power for widespread use.
Confident that developing alternating current AC technology — converting high voltage to low through a transformer — was the way of the future, Westinghouse founded the Westinghouse Electric Company in It was a bold move, considering many heavy investors in the power industry, namely competitor Thomas Edison , were championing the direct current system.
Edison and his supporters waged a smear campaign against the AC system, telling the public that it was dangerous and a health hazard. The fierce competition between Edison and Westinghouse over electricity spilled into a legal battle called The Seven Years War. Still, Westinghouse had the upper hand and ultimately proved AC was the better technology: He not only bought Nikola Tesla's AC technology patents in and convinced Tesla to work for him, but he also laid out the case for its safety when, in , he lit up the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago using his AC generator.
Not long after, Westinghouse's company won the bid to build a large-scale generator system that would use the water power of Niagara Falls and convert it into electrical energy for multiple purposes. After his innovations in the railroad industry, Westinghouse settled in Philadelphia, where he had a natural gas well drilled on his property.
The well allowed Westinghouse to work on his next great invention: a valve that allowed for the safe distribution of natural gas to homes. There's a problem with using natural gas for fuel at home: The gas is highly pressurized when it leaves the well -- it has to be in order to move the gas through distribution pipes.
But what you don't want is highly pressurized gas coming out of the end of the line into someone's home. It just isn't safe. To solve the problem, Westinghouse invented a reduction valve that allowed natural gas to come out of its distribution pipes in low-pressure bursts. As a result, natural gas became safe enough for home use -- and Pittsburgh soon had the nation's first wide-spread natural gas delivery system.
But Westinghouse is more widely known for his work with electrical power , which led to his rivalry with Thomas Edison. No, George Westinghouse didn't invent shape-shifting robots from outer space.
However, his work on the natural gas reduction valve convinced him that there had to be a way to distribute alternating current AC electricity in wide networks. Alternating current is known as such because the electrical charge can change direction. A direct current DC electrical charge doesn't change direction. Both types of current provide power, but because alternating current changes directions, it's hard to deliver it safely to homes. But DC electricity is also hard to deliver safely and efficiently over long distances.
When Westinghouse was working on the problem, DC electricity could only travel about three miles 4. Thomas Edison was using DC to power New York City, but Westinghouse saw that there was great potential to generate current far from population centers. Working with engineer William Stanley and scientist Nikola Tesla, Westinghouse's company developed a transformer that allowed the current to be reduced in power for use in cities, or increased in power for distribution across long distances.
Westinghouse's Westinghouse Electric and Edison's General Electric companies went head-to-head trying to prove which company had the better system. However, when Westinghouse lit the World's Fair in Chicago with AC power, their system began to dominate power distribution.
Electricians use the same principles to deliver power today. A system that can transmit electrical power doesn't work if you can't generate enough of it to power a city.
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