George Westinghouse
George Westinghouse | |
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Born | Central Bridge, New York, U.S. | October 6, 1846
Died | March 12, 1914 New York City, U.S. | (aged 67)
Known for | Founder of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation |
Spouse |
Marguerite Erskine Walker
(m. 1867) |
Children | 1 |
Awards |
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Signature | |
George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American
Early years
George Westinghouse was born in 1846 in Central Bridge, New York (see George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home), the son of Emeline (Vedder) and George Westinghouse Sr., a machine shop owner.[3] His ancestors came from Westphalia in Germany, who first moved to England and then emigrated to the US. The name had been Anglicized from Westinghausen.
From his youth, Westinghouse was talented with machinery and business. At the breakout of the
Westinghouse was 19 years old when he created his first invention, a
Air brakes
At about this time, he witnessed a train wreck where two engineers saw one another, but were unable to stop their trains in time using the existing brakes. Brakemen had to run from car to car, on catwalks atop the cars, applying the brakes manually on each car.[8]
In 1869, at age 22, Westinghouse invented a railroad braking system using compressed air. The Westinghouse system used a compressor on the locomotive, a reservoir and a special valve on each car, and a single pipe running the length of the train (with flexible connections) which both refilled the reservoirs and controlled the brakes, allowing the engineer to apply and release the brakes simultaneously on all cars. It is a failsafe system, in that any rupture or disconnection in the train pipe will apply the brakes throughout the train. It was patented by Westinghouse on October 28, 1873.[9]
Westinghouse pursued many improvements in
Electric power distribution
Westinghouse's interests in gas distribution and telephone switching led him to become interested in the then-new field of electrical power distribution in the early 1880s. Electric lighting was a growing business with many companies building outdoor
In 1885 Westinghouse imported a number of Gaulard–Gibbs transformers and a
War of currents
The Westinghouse company installed 30 more AC-lighting systems within a year and by the end of 1887 it had 68 alternating current power stations to Edison's 121 DC-based stations.
Development and competition
During this period, Westinghouse continued to pour funds and engineering resources into the goal of building a completely integrated AC system — obtaining the Sawyer–Man lamp by buying Consolidated Electric Light, developing components such as an induction meter,[19] and obtaining the rights to inventor Nikola Tesla's brushless AC induction motor along with patents for a new type of electric power distribution, polyphase alternating current.[20][21] The acquisition of a feasible AC motor gave Westinghouse a key patent for his system, but the financial strain of buying up patents and hiring the engineers needed to build it meant development of Tesla's motor had to be put on hold for a while.[22]
In 1890 Westinghouse's company was in trouble. The near collapse of
In 1891 Westinghouse built a hydroelectric AC power plant, the
In 1893, George Westinghouse won the bid to light the 1893
Westinghouse's demonstration that they could build a complete AC system at the Columbian Exposition was instrumental in them getting the contract for building a two-phase AC generating system, the
Other projects
In 1889, Westinghouse purchased several mining claims in the Patagonia Mountains of southeastern Arizona and formed the Duquesne Mining & Reduction Company. A year later he founded what is now the ghost town of Duquesne to use as his company headquarters. He lived in a large Victorian frame house, which still stands, but in disrepair. Duquesne grew to over a 1,000 residents and the mine reached its peak production in the mid-1910s.[32][33]
With AC networks expanding, Westinghouse turned his attention to electrical power production. At the outset, the available generating sources were hydroturbines where falling water was available, and reciprocating steam engines where it was not. Westinghouse felt that reciprocating steam engines were clumsy and inefficient, and wanted to develop some class of "rotating" engine that would be more elegant and efficient.
One of his first inventions had been a rotary steam engine, but it had proven impractical. The British engineer Charles Algernon Parsons began experimenting with steam turbines in 1884, beginning with a 10-horsepower (7.5 kW) turbine. Westinghouse bought rights to the Parsons turbine in 1885, improved the Parsons technology, and increased its scale.
In 1898 Westinghouse demonstrated a 300-kilowatt unit, replacing reciprocating engines in his air-brake factory. The next year he installed a 1.5-megawatt, 1,200 rpm unit for the Hartford Electric Light Company.
Westinghouse then developed steam turbines for maritime propulsion. Large turbines were most efficient at about 3,000 rpm, while an efficient propeller operated at about 100 rpm. That required reduction gearing, but building reduction gearing that could operate at high rpm and at high power was difficult, since a slight misalignment would shake the power train to pieces. Westinghouse and his engineers devised an automatic alignment system that made turbine power practical for large vessels.
Westinghouse remained productive and inventive almost all his life. Like Edison, he had a practical and experimental streak. At one time, Westinghouse began to work on heat pumps that could provide heating and cooling.
Westinghouse was after a
With the introduction of the
Personal life, later life, and death
In 1867, Westinghouse met and soon married Marguerite Erskine Walker. They were married for 47 years,[34] and had one son, George Westinghouse III, who had six children.[35]
Westinghouse remained a captain of American industry until 1907, when the financial panic of 1907 led to his resignation from control of the Westinghouse company. By 1911, he was no longer active in business, and his health was in decline.[36]
George Westinghouse died on March 12, 1914, in New York City at age 67. He was initially interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY then removed on December 14, 1915. As a Civil War veteran, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, along with his wife Marguerite, who survived him by three months. She had also been initially interred in Woodlawn and removed and reinterred at the same time as George.[37]
Honors and awards
In 1918 his former home, Solitude, was razed and the land given to the City of Pittsburgh to establish Westinghouse Park. In 1930, the Westinghouse Memorial, funded by his employees, was placed in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh. Also named in his honor, George Westinghouse Bridge is near the site of his Turtle Creek plant. Its plaque reads:
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The George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home in Central Bridge, New York, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[38]
In 1989, Westinghouse was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
References
Patents
- U.S. patent 34,605, grain and seed winnowers
- U.S. patent 106,899, improvements in steam engine and pump
- U.S. patent 109,695, improvement in atmospheric car-brake pipes
- U.S. patent 136,631, improvement in steam-power-brake couplings
- U.S. patent 149,901, improvement in valves for fluid brake-pipes
- U.S. patent 159,533, pneumatic pump
- U.S. patent 218,149, improvement in fluid-pressure brake apparatus
- U.S. patent 280,269, fluid-pressure regulator
- U.S. patent 366,362, electrical converter
- U.S. patent 399,639, system of electrical distribution
- U.S. patent 314,089, system for the protection of railroad-tracks and gas-pipe lines
- U.S. patent 400,420, fluid-meter
- U.S. patent 425,059, fluid-pressure automatic brake mechanism
- U.S. patent 427,489, alternating current electric meter
- U.S. patent 437,740, fluid-pressure automatic brake
- U.S. patent 446,159, switch and signal apparatus
- U.S. patent 454,129, pipe-coupling
- U.S. patent 497,394, conduit electric railway
- U.S. patent 499,336, draw-gear apparatus for cars
- U.S. patent 543,280, incandescent electric lamp
- U.S. patent 550,465, electric railway
- U.S. patent 579,506, current-collecting device for railway-vehicles
- U.S. patent 595,007, elevator
- U.S. patent 595,008, electric railway
- U.S. patent 609,484, fluid pressure automatic brake
- U.S. patent 672,114, draft appliance for railway cars
- U.S. patent 672,117, draw-gear and buffing apparatus
- U.S. patent 676,108, electric railway system
- U.S. patent 687,468, draw-gear and buffing apparatus
- U.S. patent 727,039, automatic fluid pressure brake apparatus
- U.S. patent 922,827, gearing
- U.S. patent 995,508, elastic-fluid turbine
- U.S. patent 1,119,913, electric railway
Notes
- ^ "George Westinghouse". IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ISBN 9781317503026– via Google Books.
- ^ "Westinghouse__George.html". PSU.edu. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Register of Commissioned Officers of the United States Navy. 1865. p. 209.
- ^ a b George Westinghouse Timeline Archived October 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ George Westinghouse article at Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ He later patented the device. It was issued as U.S. patent 76,365 in April 1868, when he was 22. It was reissued as U.S. patent RE3584 in August 1869.
- ^ "The Life of a Brakeman – The Neversink Valley Museum of History & Innovation". Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ^ "Improvement in steam and air brakes". Google.com. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ Witzel, Morgen, ed. (2006). Encyclopedia of the History of American Management (1st ed.). Continuum – via Credo Reference.
- ^ Geisst, Charles R., ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of American Business History (1st ed.). Facts on File – via Credo Reference.
- ^ Moran 2002, p. 42.
- ^ Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson. Princeton University Press. 2013. p. 89.
- ^ "William Stanley – Engineering Hall of Fame". Edison Tech Center. 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "Steam Hammer, Westinghouse Works, 1904". World Digital Library. May 1904. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-1118192511. Retrieved 7 October 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, p. 97
- ISBN 978-0-47091-736-7, pp. 28–29
- ISBN 9780806535562.
- ISBN 9780313347436.
- ISBN 9781588360007.
- ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, p. 127
- ^ a b Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson. Princeton University Press. 2013. p. 130.
- ^ Jill Jonnes (2004). Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Random House, p. 29[ISBN missing]
- ISBN 978-0080947051. Retrieved 7 October 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University Press, p. 167[ISBN missing]
- ^ Moran 2002, p. 97.
- ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, pp. 135–137
- ^ Chaim R. Rosenberg (2009). America at the Fair: Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Arcadia Publishing,[ISBN missing][page needed]
- ^ Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University Press, pp. 167–173
- ^ Skrabec, Quentin R.; Westinghouse, George. "Gentle Genius". History. p. 190.
Agreement stayed in effect until 1911
- ^ John and Bette Bosma (April 2006). "Southwest Arizona Ghost Towns Harshaw, Mowry, Washington Camp, Duquesne, Lochiel" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2015.
- ISBN 0806108436.
- ^ Henry Prout, A Life of George Westinghouse, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1921 p. 3
- ^ Westinghouse clan gathers here, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 10, 2008
- )
- ^ "Burial Detail: George Westinghouse". ANC Explorer.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 13 March 2009.
Bibliography
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The electrification of Railways, G. Westinghouse. Page 945+.
- Fraser, J. F. (1903). America at work. London: Cassell. Page 223+.
- Leupp, Francis E. (1918). George Westinghouse; his life and achievements Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
- Hubert, P. G. (1894). Men of achievement. Inventors. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Page 296+.
- Jonnes, Jill (2003). Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-75884-3
- Klein, Maury (2009). The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America. New York: Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1596916777
- Moran, Richard (2002). Executioner's current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the invention of the electric chair. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-72446-6.
- New York Air Brake Company. (1893). Instruction book. 1893.
- Prout, Henry G. A Life of George Westinghouse.
- Westinghouse Air Brake Company. (1882). Westinghouse automatic brake. (ed., Patents on p. 76.)
External links
External videos | |
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Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light, October 26, 2003, C-SPAN |
- Westinghouse Corporation
- Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World, October 26, 2003.
- ANC Explorer – Westinghouse's grave at Arlington National Cemetery