He served as a private in the cavalry for 2 years during the Civil War before being made Acting Third Assistant Engineer in the Navy in 1864.
Westinghouse received his first patent in late 1865 for a rotary steam engine, after serving in both the U.S. Army and the navy.
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 1869 to replace the standard manual braking system, which was often faulty. By the time he was 40 years old, he had formed the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.
After establishing the company, Westinghouse turned to improve rail signalling devices through the formation of the Union Switch and Signal Company. In 1883 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.
Westinghouse became interested in transmitting electricity over long distances. He saw the potential benefits of providing electric power to individual homes and businesses, and in 1884 formed the Westinghouse Electric Company. Prior to the formation of the Electric Company in 1886, Westinghouse invented many devices associated with air brakes, railway switching, signal systems and natural gas, industrializing them for around 20 years.
In 1885, Westinghouse imported a set of Gaulard-Gibbs transformers and a Siemens AC generator and set up an electrical system in Pittsburgh. With the aid of three American electrical engineers, he altered and perfected the transformer and developed a constant voltage AC generator.
Initially, Westinghouse met with resistance from Thomas Edison and others who said that direct current was a safer alternative. Critics argued that alternating current electricity was dangerous and a hazard to health. This idea was emphasized in the public mind by New York state's adoption of alternating current electrocution for capital crimes.
But direct current could not be transmitted over distances longer than three miles. Westinghouse purchased Nikola Tesla's patents and hired him to improve his AC motor for use in Westinghouse's new power system. He formed Westinghouse Electric in 1886 to compete with Thomas Edison's direct current (DC) system.
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.
Westinghouse demonstrated the potential of alternating current by lighting the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company got the order for the lighting equipment at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Westinghouse’s system generated alternating current and used a ‘stopper lamp’, evading the famous Edison’s bright lamp patents.
In the same year, the Electric Company secured the rights to develop and install the alternating current generating equipment at the Niagara Falls power station. Afterward, alternating current became the standard means of transmitting electricity.
After the great success achieved in 1893, the Electric Company developed their electrical systems, particularly turbo-generators, by acquiring licenses for the US patents of Person’s turbine in 1895, and began the electric train business.
The first major application of alternating current to railway systems was in the Manhattan Elevated railways in New York, and later in the New York subway system.
Suffering from heart problems, Westinghouse died on March 12, 1914.
George Westinghouse and his invention
