Innovation & Wealth › The Gilded Age › Second Industrial Revolution: steel, oil, electricity
George Westinghouse
1846–1914; air brake 1869; Westinghouse Electric 1886· Innovator or entrepreneur· Innovators & entrepreneurs
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
An inventor-industrialist who made trains safer with the air brake and built Westinghouse Electric, champion of alternating current.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
A Civil War veteran from New York, Westinghouse patented the railway air brake in 1869 at age 22, letting engineers brake every car at once. He made money manufacturing his inventions through companies he controlled: air brakes, railway signals, natural gas distribution in Pittsburgh, then Westinghouse Electric (1886). He held about 360 patents and was known for treating workers well, offering an early Saturday half-holiday. After the Panic of 1907 bankers took control of his electric company.
Impact on society and the economy
His air brake, required on US trains by the 1893 Safety Appliance Act, made longer, faster trains safer. The AC system he championed underlies the world's power grids.
Fortune, legacy and how we know
Legacy: Wabtec (descended from Westinghouse Air Brake) and the Westinghouse name in power and nuclear. Sources: patents, company records, congressional debates, and Henry Prout's early biography (1921).
Still debated
Why he is far less famous than Edison or Tesla is a puzzle; he shunned publicity and wrote no memoir.
Connections (3)
▸George Westinghouse licensed the AC patents of Nikola TeslaWell documented
The connection
In 1888 Westinghouse paid Tesla and his partners cash and stock plus a royalty of $2.50 per horsepower of AC equipment sold, then hired Tesla for about a year in Pittsburgh to adapt the motor. When the costly war of the currents and an 1890–91 financial crisis strained the company, Tesla gave up the royalties.
When and how
Pittsburgh and New York, July 1888; Tesla worked at Westinghouse's Pittsburgh works in 1888–89.
How we know
The licensing contract and company records survive; later Westinghouse records show the royalty arrangement ended.
Debates
The story that Tesla tore up his contract out of loyalty comes from a 1944 biography; records suggest he sold his rights for a lump sum, reportedly $216,000.
▸George Westinghouse led the winning AC side in War of the currents: Westinghouse and Tesla vs EdisonWell documented
The connection
Westinghouse saw that AC, stepped up by transformers, could carry power far beyond DC's one-mile reach. He bought transformer rights, built AC systems from 1886 and licensed Tesla's motor, then won by underbidding GE to light the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and securing the Niagara Falls generator contract.
When and how
Pittsburgh and Great Barrington, Massachusetts (William Stanley's 1886 AC demonstration); Chicago, 1893; Niagara Falls, 1893–96.
How we know
Contracts, fair records, Niagara power company records and press reports document his firm's victories; by the late 1890s AC dominated new US installations.
Debates
Would AC have won anyway, through GE or European firms such as Siemens and Ganz, without Westinghouse's costly gamble? It is an open counterfactual.
▸Railways and the railway age were made safer by the air brake of George WestinghouseWell documented
The connection
Early trains stopped by brakemen turning hand wheels on each car, often while running along car roofs, a slow and deadly job. Westinghouse's 1869 air brake let the engineer brake every car at once with compressed air; his 1872 automatic version also braked cars that broke loose. Trains could run longer and faster safely.
When and how
Pittsburgh, from 1869; the 1893 federal Safety Appliance Act required power brakes and automatic couplers on interstate trains.
How we know
Patents, railroad adoption records and federal accident statistics after the 1893 act document the brake's spread and safety effect.
Debates
How much of the drop in railway deaths came from air brakes versus automatic couplers and better signals, mandated around the same time, is hard to separate.