George Westinghouse was an American engineer, entrepreneur, and inventor. He was a prolific inventor who obtained more than 400 patents during his career. Westinghouse is best known for inventing an air brake system that made railroads safer and promoting alternating current technology, which revolutionized the world's light and power industries.
Background
Ethnicity:
George Westinghouse was of German descent, his ancestor came to the United Kingdom, and then the United States, from Westphalia, Germany.
George Westinghouse was born on October 6, 1846, in Central Bridge, New York, the United States, to George Westinghouse Sr., a machine shop owner, and his wife, Emeline (Vedder). He was the eighth of ten children. When Westinghouse was ten years old, his father moved the family to Schenectady, New York, in order to be closer to his suppliers of iron parts.
Education
In school, teachers called George "inept" and "languid." The textbooks bored him. Penmanship, spelling, and grammar were "a deadly burden," but he loved math and was the best draftsman in the class, continually drawing locomotives and engines. While he grew up, he often polished his machinery skills and learned about his family business. Westinghouse worked in his father's factory as a child and gained experience and skill using a variety of machinery. However, the Civil War forced George to put his experiments on hold.
He was 15 when the Civil War broke out. Yet he was an extremely patriotic Yankee and opted to serve his country. He joined the National Guard of New York. However, he had to quit his duty, as his parents wanted him to return home. Westinghouse managed to convince his parents to let him rejoin the service, and in April 1863, he was re-drafted into military service.
For a time he was a cavalry member and was soon promoted to the rank of corporal. But the position of ordinary soldiers was not entirely fitting to a boy of his intellect. Before long he was in the Navy, as an engineer rather than a soldier. It was now on a navy gunship that he gained his love of engineering and his lifelong appreciation for a hard work ethic.
After serving in the war, Westinghouse returned home to attend Union College in Schenectady, New York but dropped out after only three months.
George Westinghouse became an inventor while still a teenager. He invented a revolutionary type of steam engine and immediately secured a patent for it. It was just the first of many inventions under the Westinghouse name and gave him the initial success needed to found a business. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, and briefly attending college, Westinghouse returned to his father's shop where, in 1865, he developed and patented a rotary steam engine. That particular product was not successful, but it was the first of many patents for Westinghouse.
He next became interested in the workings of the railroad. That same year he invented a device for placing derailed freight cars back on their track. Westinghouse's major contributions started with inventions revolving around railroad safety, most notably his compressed air brake system (patented in 1869) that functioned as a fail-safe to halt trains. Westinghouse's air brake was a replacement for the troublesome manual braking method and eventually became a standard of safety not only in America but also in Canada and Europe.
After establishing the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in 1869, 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. He continued to improve the brake system and developed a revolutionary automatic train brake in 1872. His inventions greatly improved the railroad industry by allowing trains to operate safely at higher speeds.
In addition to brakes, Westinghouse was interested in other aspects of the railroad. With the increasing volume of rail traffic, he saw the need to improve the signaling devices and interlocking switches of railroads. He studied European signaling systems and worked on signaling improvements using the combination of compressed air and electricity. In 1881 Westinghouse formed the Union Switch and Signal Company. Once again, his ideas made the railroads safer and more efficient.
With additional automatic features incorporated into its design, the air brake became widely accepted, and the Railroad Safety Appliance Act of 1893 made air brakes compulsory on all American trains. As the use of his automatic air brake spread to Europe, Westinghouse saw the advantages of standardizing all air-brake equipment so that the apparatus on cars of different lines would work together and improved designs could be used on earlier models. He thus became one of the first to adopt the modern practice of standardization.
Westinghouse then turned his attention to the problems of railroad signaling. By purchasing patents to combine with his own inventions, he was able to develop a complete electrical and compressed-air signal system. In 1883 he began to apply his special knowledge of air brakes to the problem of safely piping natural gas. A well drilled in the yard of his home served as the source of several dozen inventions for controlling and distributing natural gas. Westinghouse invented a reduction valve for natural gas which allowed the gas to be transmitted at high pressure but distributed at low pressure.
This interest in natural gas then led Westinghouse toward involvement in the control and distribution of 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 1886. It was a bold move, considering many heavy investors in the power industry, namely competitor Thomas Edison, were championing the direct current system.
A researcher for his company, Nikola Tesla, designed a polyphase system of alternating current and applied it to motors and lights. Westinghouse was one of the first inventors to understand that cheap, long-distance electrical power could come from transformers that would convert high alternating voltages to lower voltages at the point of use. Westinghouse's revolutionary idea was initially tough to sell to the public.
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 1888 and convinced Tesla to work for him, but he also laid out the case for its safety when, in 1893, 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.
Despite the success of this invention, the Westinghouse company ran into some financial troubles in the early 1900s. In 1907 the company went bankrupt due to the general business crisis and the financial panic of the time. Westinghouse regained control of the company a year later, but could not quickly recover its prosperity. In 1911 he retired from active management of the company, though he continued to experiment with new products.
George Westinghouse died in New York City on March 12, 1914. The Westinghouse Company continued to market the alternating current system as well as electrical devices that worked well with the new system. To this end, the company developed many new innovations during Westinghouse's lifetime and afterwards. Among these were the first steam turbine for an electric utility, the first mail roll drive for a steel mill, the first American-built tungsten lamp, the first commercial radio station, and the first television camera tube.
George Westinghouse was chiefly responsible for the adoption of alternating current for electric power transmission in the United States. Also, the air-brake system was a revolutionary invention, as it was much safer than applying brakes manually, a system that was prevalent back then. The invention not only developed the safety standards of the American railroad system but also provided a push to the transportation industry. Westinghouse established a company to commercialize his inventions and those of others. He introduced a better, cost-effective, and less harmful AC distribution system.
Acclaimed in his time as the "greatest living engineer," George Westinghouse was accorded numerous honors in the United States and abroad. In 1911, Westinghouse was honored with the IEEE Edison Medal for his achievements in the field of the AC power system. In 1986, the George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home in Central Bridge, New York, was enlisted on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1989, Westinghouse was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
George Westinghouse's concern for living conditions, as well as the educational and cultural growth of employees and their families, was paramount. He became the first employer to implement nine-hour days, 55-hour workweeks, and half-holidays on Saturdays. In the early 1900s, the Westinghouse Company built houses on a tract of land that it had purchased and then sold those homes to its workers at a very inexpensive price. The company also offered educational and cultural activities, usually run through the local Young Men's Christian Association, to obtain better workers.
Quotations:
"If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow man, I shall be satisfied."
Personality
George Westinghouse had few hobbies or interests outside of work. From his pre-teen years until his death, he focused his mind and tremendous energy on inventing things and building companies. Once he became convinced of an idea or path of action, he could not be swayed, even by all the experts in the world, and often by opposition from his own people. Yet he was capable of admitting he was wrong and always worked around the clock to improve upon his own work, which seems to have never been finished. His creative spirit never died.
He always expected excellent, speedy work from his colleagues, but he treated them better than almost any other employer of his era. He took great pride in creating worthwhile, durable jobs for thousands. Despite his power and wealth, he was never obsessed with profits, especially over the short term. He had confidence that if he made things that made the world a better place, the businesses would prosper. He was "purpose-driven."
Quotes from others about the person
"George Westinghouse was, in my opinion, the only man on this globe who could take my alternating-current system under the circumstances then existing and win the battle against prejudice and money power. He was one of the world's true noblemen, of whom America may well be proud and to whom humanity owes an immense debt of gratitude." - Nikola Tesla
Connections
In 1867 George met his future wife, Marguerite Erskine Walker. It actually was a chance meeting on a train. Marguerite was an artist and an inventor. They would soon marry in August of 1867. A union that would last for 47 years. Marguerite would dutifully follow George around Europe as he tried to introduce his new air brake system. She would often be seen offering encouragement and inspiration to George. George would often attribute his success to the loving support of his wife. The couple would have one son, George Westinghouse III who would give them six grandchildren.
Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse were championing the direct current system. The fierce competition between Edison and Westinghouse over electricity spilled into a legal battle called The Seven Years War.
George Westinghouse bought Tesla's patent rights to motors and transformers that used AC. Westinghouse offered Tesla a job in the Westinghouse laboratories as well as future royalties (a percentage of revenue or profits earned in the future) for the use of his ideas.
George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius
George Westinghouse's story is rich in drama and in breadth, a story of power, city building, and applying the Golden Rule in business. His biography intersects with those of many great personalities of the Gilded Age, such as J.P Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, the Mellon Family, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Nikola Tesla.
