Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Formerly	Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (1886–1945) Westinghouse Electric Corp. (1945–1997) CBS Corporation (1997–2000)
Company type	Viacom in 2000
Successor	Viacom
Headquarters	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Divisions	New England Westinghouse (1915–1926) Westinghouse Broadcasting (1920–1999) Westinghouse Aviation (1945–1960)
Subsidiaries	British Westinghouse (1899–1917) Bryant (1901–1927)[2] Infinity (1996–2000)[3] Westinghouse Licensing (1998–2000)[4] CBS (1995–2000)[5] CMT (1997–2000)[6] The Nashville Network (1997–2000)[7]

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation (later CBS Corporation) was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by

The Westinghouse trademarks are owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation,[9] and were previously part of Westinghouse Licensing Corporation.^[9][10] The nuclear power business, Westinghouse Electric Company, was spun off from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1999.

History

Beginnings

The evolution of Paramount

1912	Famous Players Film Company is founded
1913	Lasky Feature Play Company is founded
1914	Paramount Pictures is founded as a film distributor
1916	Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount
1920	Westinghouse Broadcasting forms with the launch of KDKA-AM
1927	CBS is founded; Famous Players–Lasky assumes Paramount's name
1929	Paramount buys 49% of CBS
1932	Paramount sells back shares of CBS
1950	Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs
1952	CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division
1958	CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films
1966	Gulf+Western buys Paramount
1968	Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television; CBS Films becomes CBS Enterprises
1970	CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom
1971	Viacom is spun off from CBS as a separate company
1985	Viacom buys full ownership of Showtime and MTV Networks
1987	National Amusements buys Viacom
1989	Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications
1994	Viacom acquires Paramount Communications
1995	Westinghouse buys CBS
1997	Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation
2000	Viacom buys CBS Corporation
2001	Viacom buys BET Networks
2005	Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom
2019	CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS
2022	ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global
v t e

Westinghouse Electric was founded by

Early on, Westinghouse was a rival to Thomas Edison's electric company. In 1892, Edison was merged with Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, making an even bigger competitor, General Electric. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945.^{[citation needed]}

1990s

In 1990, Westinghouse experienced a serious setback when the corporation lost over one billion dollars due to bad high-risk, high-fee, high-interest loans made by its Westinghouse Credit Corporation lending arm.^[14]

In an attempt to revitalize the corporation, the board of directors appointed outside management in the form of CEO

During the 20th century, Westinghouse engineers and scientists were granted more than 28,000 U.S. patents, the third most of any company.[21]

Products and sponsorships

• Power generation: The company pioneered the power generation industry^[22] and in the fields of long-distance power transmission and high-voltage alternating-current transmission, unveiling the technology for lighting in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}
• Steam turbine generator: The first commercial Westinghouse steam turbine-driven generator, a 1,500 kW unit, began operation at Hartford Electric Light Co. in 1901. The machine, nicknamed Mary-Ann, was the first steam turbine generator to be installed by an electric utility to generate electricity in the US. George Westinghouse had based his original steam turbine design on designs licensed from the English inventor Charles Parsons. Today a large proportion of steam turbine generators operating around the world, ranging to units as large as 1,500 MW (or 1,000 times the original 1901 unit) were supplied by Westinghouse from its factories in Lester, Pennsylvania, Charlotte, North Carolina, or Hamilton, Ont. or were built overseas under Westinghouse license. Major Westinghouse licensees or joint venture partners included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan and Harbin Turbine Co. and Shanghai Electric Co. of China.
• Research: Westinghouse had 50,000 employees by 1900 and established a formal research and development department in 1906. While the company was expanding, it would experience internal financial difficulties. During the Panic of 1907, the Board of Directors forced George Westinghouse to take a six-month leave of absence. Westinghouse officially retired in 1909 and died several years later in 1914.
• Electrical technology: Under new leadership, Westinghouse Electric diversified its business activities in electrical technology. It acquired the Copeman Electric Stove Company in 1914 and Pittsburgh High Voltage Insulator Company in 1921. Westinghouse also moved into radio broadcasting by establishing Pittsburgh's KDKA, the first commercial radio station, and WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1921. Westinghouse expanded into the elevator business, establishing the Westinghouse Elevator Company in 1928; it sold its elevator business to Schindler Group (forming the Schindler Elevator Corporation) in 1989. Throughout the decade, diversification engendered considerable growth; sales went from $43 million in 1914 to $216 million in 1929.^[23]
• Aviation: Westinghouse produced the first operational American turbojet for the US Navy program in 1943. After many successes, the ill-fated J40 project, started soon after World War Two, was abandoned in 1955 and led to Westinghouse exiting the aircraft engine business with the closure of the Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division (Kansas City) in 1960.
• Gas turbines: During the late 1940s, Westinghouse applied its aviation gas turbine technology and experience to develop its first industrial gas turbine. A 2,000–horsepower model W21 was installed in 1948 at the Mississippi River Fuel Corp gas compression station in Wilmar, Arkansas.^[24] This was the starting point for the company to enter in industrial and utility gas turbine business,^[25] prior to the sale by Westinghouse of the power generation business to Siemens AG in 1997. Evolving from the Small Steam and Gas Turbine Division formed in the early 1950s, the Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division was located in Concordville, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia and the old Lester, Pennsylvania plant, until it was relocated to Power Generation headquarters in Orlando, Florida in 1987.
• Nuclear power: As a result of its participation in the US government's military program for nuclear energy applications (e.g., The Nuclear Navy) Westinghouse utilized that experience in the development and commercialization of nuclear energy systems for electric power generation. This business currently operates as the Westinghouse Electric Company and is owned by Brookfield Business Partners of Canada. Electricite de France (EDF) a major global player in the nuclear power business, was a long-time licensee of the Westinghouse nuclear technology.
• Industrial motors: Additional major industrial products in the widespread Westinghouse portfolio included electric motors of all sizes, elevators and escalators, controls, and lighting. The Large Motor Division, once headquartered in Buffalo, NY, entered a joint venture with Taiwan Electric Co. (TECO) in the 1970s and today operates as TECO-Westinghouse.^[26] Much of Westinghouse's higher voltage power equipment was sold to ABB in 1989 and renamed the ABB Power T&D Company.^[27]
• Rail transit: The Westinghouse Transportation Division (est. 1894) supplied equipment and controls for many North American
  AdTranz in 1996. Ultimately, the unit was acquired by Bombardier of Canada in 2001 and is still headquartered in Pittsburgh.^[28]
• Consumer electrics: Westinghouse was also among the initial manufacturers to make household electrical products including radios, televisions, and other audio/video equipment. This also included both small and large electric appliances of all kinds, from hair dryers and electric irons to clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators and air conditioning units. After more than 50 years, and after playing a strong No. 2 to rival
  White Consolidated Industries
  acquired the Westinghouse appliance unit in 1975.
• World's Fair time capsules: The company is also known for its
  St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. They sponsored the Westinghouse Auditorium at the fair, where they showed films documenting Westinghouse products and company plants.^[13]
  Westinghouse was one of the original corporate sponsors and exhibitors at Walt Disney World's EPCOT attraction in Orlando, Florida.

• Sharon plant: The Westinghouse Sharon Plant was a 58-acre Westinghouse transformer production facility in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The EPA's recent Five Year Review Report (2016) of this Superfund site determined that the Shenango River has been polluted due to Westinghouse operations in this area.^[29] Because of the findings, the state of Pennsylvania has issued a "Do Not Eat" advisory for fish around the Westinghouse site.^[30] This plant was no longer operational after 1984. Westinghouse submitted their final cleanup plan in 1998, and further action beyond their dissolution has been liable to CBS. The transformer business unit was sold to ABB in 1989. This site now houses a product design company.
• Adams County plant: Westinghouse was fined $5.5 million in 1996 for polluting groundwater in over 100 wells, as well as other water sources, while operating its Westinghouse Elevator Company plant in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Degreasers and other toxic chemicals were released over a five-year period in the 1980s.^{[31][verification needed]} This business unit was sold to Schindler in 1988. Future liability for cleanup has been directed to CBS following the dissolution of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1999.
• Horseheads site: Westinghouse operated a cathode-ray tube plant in Horseheads, New York. They were deemed responsible for pollution at the Kentucky Avenue Wellfield Superfund site in Horseheads, New York. Westinghouse polluted nearby soil, affecting the safety of a nearby aquifer and wells used by residents. One phase of the cleanup effort describes Westinghouse Electric Corporation's facility, designated "Disposal Area F" and the "Former Runoff Basin Area", which are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and arsenic, will be cleaned up using a combination of soil excavation and soil vapor extraction. At Disposal Area F, the area of contamination is about 0.3 acres. At the Former Runoff Basin Area, the contaminated soils cover approximately 0.7 acres. Disposal of the excavated soils occurred at appropriate off-site facilities. The removal of the PAHs and arsenic contamination will protect site workers and employees at the Westinghouse facility and the cleanup of the VOCs will help restore the quality of the Newtown Creek Aquifer.^{[32][verification needed]} In 1986, Westinghouse entered a joint venture at this plant with Toshiba to produce Cathode-Ray Tubes (CRTs). In 1989, Toshiba became part owner of this plant and the Westinghouse CRT business unit. Future liability has been shifted to CBS.
• Sunnyvale plant: Westinghouse operated a plant which manufactured electronics for military systems in Sunnyvale, California. Groundwater and soil near this plant are contaminated with PCBs, fuels, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Potential health threats to area residents include accidentally ingesting or coming into direct contact with site contaminants in soil or groundwater. There are municipal drinking water wells within 1⁄4-mile from this site, and 300,000 people get their drinking water from within three miles of the site.^{[33][verification needed]} This business unit was sold to Northrop Grumman in 1996. Future liability for this action has been passed on to CBS.

Timeline of company evolution

1880s

• 1884 – George Westinghouse begins developing a DC electric lighting system
• 1885 – Westinghouse becomes aware of the new European transformer based alternating current systems when he reads about them in the UK technical journal Engineering^[34]
• 1885 –
  William Stanley, Jr., working for Westinghouse, develops the first practical AC transformer^[35]
• 1886 – Westinghouse Electric Company founded in East Pittsburgh[36]
• 1886 – William Stanley, Jr. installs the world's first operational transformer based multiple voltage transmission system, a demonstration lighting system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
• 1888 – development of an induction ampere-hour meter for alternating current developed by Oliver B. Shallenberger
• 1888 – licensing of Nikola Tesla's AC and Induction motor patents (Tesla was hired for one year as a consultant, but he quit after a few months)^[37]
• 1889 – renames itself the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company

1890s

• 1891 – built world's first industrial AC system (Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant)
• 1893 – supplied electric lights and power for World's Columbian Exposition and generators for Gettysburg Electric Railway
• 1893 – hired Bertha Lamme Feicht, the company's first female engineer
• 1894 – transportation Division (rail equipment) founded^[38]
• 1895 – installed hydropower AC generators at
  Adams Power Plant, Niagara Falls which supplied power to Buffalo, New York
  , completed 1896
• 1898 – purchases Walker Mfg. Co of Cleveland, establishing main facility and plant in Cleveland which produces power-transmitting machinery, cable railway networks, castings and lighting^[39]
• 1899 – founded British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company

1900s to 1920s

• 1901 – acquires Bryant Electric Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, which continues operation as a subsidiary
• 1901 – operation of first Westinghouse steam turbine generator installed at Hartford Electric Light Co.
• 1904 – with Baldwin, markets Baldwin-Westinghouse electric locomotives and AC electrification of railroads, particularly to the New Haven Railroad
• 1909 – introduces continuous-filament tungsten light bulb; ousts George Westinghouse as chairman during bankruptcy reorganization
• 1914 – acquires Copeman Electric Stove Company in
  White Consolidated Industries
  )
• 1914 – George Westinghouse dies, with a legacy including 361 patents and the founding of 60 companies
• 1915 –
  Bolsheviks cancel a previous order of over 1 million rifles after overthrowing the Russian Provisional Government, and facing bankruptcy, Westinghouse is rescued by the American Government when it purchases the rifles for use by the military^{[citation needed}
  ]
• 1917 – share of British Westinghouse purchased by a British holding company, which becomes Metropolitan-Vickers
• 1917 – builds steam turbine manufacturing plant in Lester, PA (Tinicum Township) near the Philadelphia airport^[12]
• 1919 – 8XE Pittsburgh experimental station goes on the air
• 1919 – creates
  United Fruit, buys the American division of Marconi^[40]
• 1920 – acquires International Radio Telegraph Company (formerly known as the
  National Electric Signaling Company)^[41]
• 1921 – acquires the Pittsburg High Voltage Insulator Company
• 1920s – enters the
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts
  , later moving to Boston.
• 1926 – in partnership with GE and RCA founds NBC Broadcasting^[40]

1930s and 1940s

• 1932 – announces Ignitron
  mercury-arc rectifier
• 1934 – opens its Home of Tomorrow in Mansfield, Ohio, to demonstrate Westinghouse home appliances
• 1935 – completes longest continuous electric steel annealing furnace in the world at Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan
• 1930s – funds invention of the magnetohydrodynamic generator
• 1937 – builds first "
  electrostatic nuclear accelerator^[42]
• 1940s – enters aviation with airborne
  M1 Helmet
• 1941 – after years of resistance to the unionization efforts of its employees and to the
  National Labor Relations Act,^[43] signs a national labor agreement with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America after a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the Act^[44]
• 1943 – purchased the lamp division of Kentucky-Radio Corporation (Ken-Rad) in Owensboro, Kentucky from Roy Burlew in exchange for 35,000 shares of Westinghouse stock valued at $1.6 million ($28.2 million today^when?)
• 1945 – renames itself the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and makes first automatic elevator
• 1945 – Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division (AGT) started
• 1948 – "You Can Be Sure... If It's Westinghouse" in Time magazine ad^[45]

1950s to 1970s

• 1951 – conducts first live network TV in U.S.^[40]
• 1952 – opens Cathode Ray Tube facility in Horseheads, New York; facility housed three divisions: Cathode Ray Tube, Electronic Tube, and Industrial and Government Tube
• 1954 – enters finance as Westinghouse Credit Corporation
• 1955 – buys KDKA-TV (then WDTV) in Pittsburgh and KYW-TV (then WNBK, now WKYC) and KYW Radio (originally, and currently WTAM) along with KYW-FM (then WTAM-FM, currently WMJI) in Cleveland; KYW is now licensed to a TV and AM radio station in Philadelphia^[40]
• 1955 – Westinghouse J40 engine failure causes all F3H fighters using the engine to be grounded, and all other jets using it switch to other engines; Westinghouse is forced out of aircraft engine business
• 1957 – introduces first successful "cobra head" roadway luminaire, the OV-25, integrating both ballast and optics in a more streamlined modern design
• 1961 – acquires Thermo King (sold in 1997 to Ingersoll Rand)
• 1964 – begins
  mass transit
• 1965 – invention of the first MEMS device, buys Marketeer Electronic Vehicles^[40]
• 1966 – founds Cinema Center Films^[40]
• 1966 – starts housing and real estate development divisions^[40]
• 1966 – buys a toy manufacturer^[40]
• 1967 – lights America's first computer-controlled outdoor electric sign^[46]
• 1967 – makes the lowest bid for the
  BART project^[47]
• 1969 – buys 7 Up bottling^[40]
• 1973 – develops world's first
  AMLCD
  displays
• 1974 – sells well-known home appliance division to
  White Consolidated Industries, which becomes White-Westinghouse
• 1979 – withdraws from all oil related projects in the Middle East after Iranian Revolution

1980s

• 1981 – acquires both
  Showtime^[48] for $576 million^[49]
• 1982 – acquires robot maker Unimation
• 1982 – sells
  Cooper Lighting
• 1983 – sells electric lamp division to Philips
• 1984 – buys Unimation robotics for $105 million^[40]
• 1986 – buys Los Angeles TV station^[40]
• 1986 – enters into joint venture with
  U.S. Navy in cooperation with its subsidiary TCOM Corp. located on the former Naval Air Station Weeksville in Elizabeth City, North Carolina^[50]
• 1987 – buys radio stations in
  Sacramento and Chicago^[40]
• 1987 – buys electrical equipment, engineering and waste disposal divisions[40]
• 1988 – sells elevator/escalator division to Schindler Group, now known as Schindler Elevator Corporation
• 1988 – enters into joint venture with Taiwan Electric to build electric motors; Taiwan Electric eventually becomes sole owner of business as TECO Motor Company
• 1988 – spins Industrial and Government Tube Division off as Imaging and Sensing Technologies Corporation
• 1988 – closes the East Pittsburgh generator and Lester, PA turbine plants, which had once been the primary Westinghouse manufacturing facilities
• 1988 –
  Bryant Electric subsidiary closed, assets sold to Hubbell
  in 1991
• 1988 – Transportation Division, including railroad (locomotive and mass transit) equipment business sold to AEG, later merged into Adtranz in 1996, Bombardier Transportation in 2001, and Alstom in 2021^[38][51]
• 1989 – sells transmission and distribution business to
  ASEA Brown Boveri
  Group (ABB)
• 1989 – buys Shaw-Walker Furniture and Reff Furniture^[40]
• 1989 – buys Legacy Broadcasting^[40]

1990s to 2020s

• 1990 – buys Knoll International Furniture
• 1994 – buys United Technologies' Norden electronic systems^[40]
• 1994 – Cleveland operations and facilities purchased by Eaton Corporation for $1.6 billion; Cleveland Westinghouse facilities, as well as manufacturing plants converted into other commercial enterprises^[39]
• 1994–95 – separates IT and phone service sales into Westinghouse Communications division
• 1995 – under the leadership of Michael H. Jordan buys CBS for $5.4 billion ($10.8 billion today)^[16][52]
• 1996 – buys
  Infinity Broadcasting for $4.7 billion^[40]
• 1996 – sells Westinghouse Electronic Systems defense business to Northrop Grumman for $3 billion ($5.8 billion today), becoming Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
• 1997 – sells Thermo King division to Ingersoll Rand
• 1997 – buys American Radio Systems for $2.6 billion, increasing station network to 175^[40]
• 1997 – sells most non-broadcast operations; renames itself CBS Corporation as of December 1
• 1997 – sells its non-nuclear power generation and energy units to
  Siemens Westinghouse
  until 2003
• 1998 – CBS Corporation creates Westinghouse Licensing Corporation subsidiary to manage the Westinghouse brand
• 1999 – sells remaining manufacturing asset, its nuclear energy business, to
  BNFL
• 1999 – buys
  Outdoor Systems for $8.7 billion and King World Productions for $2.5 billion^[40]
• 2000 – CBS acquired by
  Viacom
• 2005 – Viacom is split into two companies in January, with a new Viacom being spun off of the old Viacom company, and the old Viacom being renamed as CBS Corporation, thus reviving Westinghouse's last name prior to sale, and reversing the 2000 Viacom-CBS merger^[53][54]
• 2019 – Viacom and CBS Corporation remerge to form Paramount Global (known as ViacomCBS until 2022)^[55]
• 2021 – Westinghouse Electric Corporation acquires the Westinghouse trademarks from ViacomCBS^[9]

Employees

CEOs

• George Westinghouse, 1886–1909^[56]
• Edwin Herr, 1911–1929^[57]
• Frank Anderson Merrick, 1929 – February 1938^[58]
• George Bucher, February 1938–1946^[59]
• Gwilym Price, 1946–1957^[60][61]
• Mark Cresap, Jr. 1957–1963^[62]
• Don Burnham, 1963–1975^[63]
• Robert Kirby, 1975–1983^[64]
• Douglas Danforth, December 1983 – December 1987^[65][66]
• John Marous, 1988 – June 29, 1990^[67]
• Paul Lego, June 30, 1990 – January 1993^[68]
• Gary Clark, January–July 1993
• Michael Jordan, July 1993 – 1997^[69]

Other

• Guy Tripp, a former Thomson-Houston employee who joined Westinghouse and became chairman of its board of directors in 1912, and served until his death in 1927.^[70]

Overseas subsidiaries

Westinghouse established subsidiary companies in several countries including British Westinghouse and Società Italiana Westinghouse in Vado Ligure, Italy. British Westinghouse became a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919 and the Italian Westinghouse factory was taken over by Tecnomasio in 1921.

See also

• List of Westinghouse locomotives
• Siemens Westinghouse
  , also known as Siemens Power Generation, Inc.
• War of the currents
• Westinghouse Electric Company
• Westinghouse Works, 1904
• Westinghouse Broadcasting, also known as Group W
• Westinghouse Lamp Plant
• Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division
• Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division
• White-Westinghouse
• Paramount Global
• Westinghouse Licensing Corporation
• Schindler Elevator Corporation

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westinghouse.

• Timeline of Westinghouse historical events
• "Who Killed Westinghouse?" Archived October 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine – March 1998 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette series detailing Westinghouse's history and break-up
• The Westinghouse Legacy Pittsburgh Technology Council
• "What Happened to Westinghouse?". Pittsburgh Technology Council. March 1999. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2012.
• "The Westinghouse Electric Company". Antique Light Sockets. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
• Assembling a Generator, Westinghouse Works, 1904
• Westinghouse Electric Corporation Steam Division photograph collection (1898–1964) at Hagley Museum and Library
• A Fact History of Westinghouse (for the Golden Jubilee)
• Westinghouse Power Generation Business Unit, A booklet prepared in 1993 as a statement of commitment of the Power Generation Business Unit (PGBU) to the future of Westinghouse's leading position in the industry Archived April 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine