Who is westinghouse

After Edison developed the first practical incandescent light bulb in , supported by his own direct current electrical system, the rush to build hydroelectric plants to generate DC power in cities across the United States practically guaranteed Edison a fortune in patent royalties. But early on, Edison recognized the limitations of DC power. Nikola Tesla claimed that Edison even offered him significant compensation if he could design a more practical form of power transmission.

Tesla accepted the challenge. The future of electric distribution, Tesla told Edison, was in alternating current—where high-voltage energy could be transmitted over long distances using lower current—miles beyond generating plants, allowing a much more efficient delivery system. By , after only a year in the business, Westinghouse had already more than half as many generating stations as Edison. But Thomas Edison had an idea. In November , Edison received a letter from a dentist in Buffalo, New York, who was trying to develop a more humane method of execution than hanging.

Having witnessed a drunk man accidentally kill himself by touching a live electric generator, Alfred P. Southwick became convinced that electricity could provide a quicker, less painful alternative for criminals condemned to death. Westinghouse, Pittsburgh. In June , Edison began to demonstrate the lethal power of alternating current for reporters.

Perceiving that increased safety on this new system of transportation was necessary for further development, Westinghouse invented and patented a compressed-air brake system in to replace the standard manual braking system, which was often faulty.

He incorporated the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, the first of more than 60 companies he would form to market his and others' inventions. In total Westinghouse made over inventions that revolved around railroad travel, including a rotary steam engine, an effective means of righting cars that had been derailed, and a "frog," a switch that allowed trains to "hop" across rails at a junction.

In he applied his knowledge of air brakes to the safe piping of natural gas, and within two years he obtained 38 patents for piping equipment.

He purchased Nikola Tesla's patents and hired him to improve his AC motor for use in Westinghouse's new power system. Advocates of DC power set out to discredit AC power, charging that the use of AC power was a menace to human life and publicizing New York state's use of the Westinghouse AC generator as its official means of execution. He reasoned that a similar device could work with electricity, and he found it in a so-called secondary generator developed in England.

With skilled associates like William Stanley, he turned the crude secondary generator into a transformer that proved to be the key to widespread distribution of electric power. His firm faith in the alternating-current system led to the founding of the Westinghouse Electric Company in , which was in bold opposition to the well-entrenched backers of the direct-current system, led by Thomas Edison.

But in a span of just 10 years, the value of the alternating-current system had been convincingly demonstrated. By the turn of the century, Westinghouse's enterprises had grown to employ over 50, workers. Acclaimed in his time as the "greatest living engineer," George Westinghouse was accorded numerous honors in the U.

Perhaps the finest tribute of all came from inventor Nikola Tesla, whose patents for the polyphase system of alternating current and the induction motor were acquired by Westinghouse and gave the company its early leadership in electric power developments.

This system was also a factor in the Westinghouse Electric Company winning the contract to install the first power machinery at Niagara Falls, which bore Tesla's name and patent numbers. History of George Westinghouse - Innovation Changing the World It began in the Age of Steam—a 19th century success story that resonates in the 21st century.

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