Invention air brake by George Westinghouse

In the early 1870s, after more than forty years of stopping trains with hand brakes, American railroads equipped their passenger trains with revolutionary new Westinghouse.

In 1866, Westinghouse was aboard a train that had to come to a sudden halt to avoid colliding with a wrecked train. To stop the train, brakemen manually applied brakes to each individual car based on a signal from the engineer.

Early railcar brakes were activated manually. Rail companies hired brakemen and assigned them to turn manual wheels to actuate railcar brakes. Signaling standards were devised, typically consisting of using the whistle to signal the brakemen.

Perceiving that increased safety on the new system of transportation was necessary for further development, Westinghouse invented and patented a compressed-air brake system in April 1869 to replace the standard manual braking system, which was often faulty.

George's invention worked with compressed air which released brakes off the wheels, if air pressure was lowered, or accidentally leaked, the brakes would activate. This system is the root of modern rail braking systems and related to brakes for large trucks. That July 1869 he founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

In 1873, Westinghouse refined his braking system, developing an automatic braking system in which each piece of railroad rolling stock was equipped with an air reservoir and a triple valve, also known as a control valve.

The new braking system made it possible for trains to travel safely at much higher speeds. By 1877 most American railroads had outfitted their passenger trains with airbrakes, and one railroads editor declared that “no road claims to be first class that does not employ (them).”
Invention air brake by Westinghouse

Electric power by Westinghouse

Westinghouse was born in Central Bridge, New York, the son of a prosperous machine factory owner. 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. By the time he was 40 years old, he had formed the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

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 alternating-current 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 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.
Electric power by Westinghouse