George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse (October 6 1846 – March 12 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer now best known for the brand of electrical goods that bear his name. Friend to Nikola Tesla and one of Thomas Edison's main rivals in the early implementation of the American electricity system, he was also active in the railroad and telephone industries. In 1911, he received the AIEEs Edison Medal 'For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system for light and power.'

Later years

In 1893, in a significant coup, the Westinghouse company was awarded the contract to set up an AC network to power the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, giving the company and the technology widespread positive publicity. Westinghouse also received a contract to set up the first long-range power network, with AC generators at Niagara Falls producing electricity for distribution in Buffalo, New York, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.

Related Topics:
World's Columbian Exposition - Chicago, Illinois - Niagara Falls - Buffalo, New York

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With AC networks expanding, Westinghouse turned his attention to electrical power production. At the outset, the available generating sources were hydroturbines where falling water was available, and reciprocating steam engines where it was not. Westinghouse felt that reciprocating steam engines were clumsy and inefficient, and wanted to develop some class of "rotating" engine that would be more elegant and efficient.

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In fact, one of his first inventions had been a rotary steam engine, but it had proven impractical. However, a British engineer named Charles Algernon Parsons began to experiment with steam turbines in 1884, beginning with a 10 horsepower (7.5 kW) unit. Westinghouse bought rights to the Parsons turbine in 1885, and began work towards improving the Parsons technology and scaling it up.

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Skeptics questioned that the steam turbine would ever be a reliable large-scale power source, but in 1898 Westinghouse demonstrated a 300 kilowatt unit, replacing reciprocating engines in his air-brake factory. The next year he installed a 1.5 megawatt, 1,200 rpm unit for the Hartford Electric Light Company.

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Westinghouse then turned his attention to using such large steam turbines to drive big ships. The problem was that such large turbines were most efficient at about 3,000 rpm, while an efficient propeller operated at about 100 rpm. That meant reduction gearing, but building a reduction gear system that could operate at such high rpm and at high power was tricky. Even a slight misalignment would shake the power train to pieces. Westinghouse and his engineers were able to devise an automatic alignment system that made turbine power practical for large vessels.

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Westinghouse remained productive and inventive through almost all his life. Like Edison, he had a practical and experimental streak. At one time, Westinghouse began to work on heat pumps that could provide heating and cooling, and even believed that he might be able to extract enough power in the process for the system to run itself.

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Any modern engineer would clearly see that Westinghouse was after a perpetual motion machine, and the British physicist Lord Kelvin, one of Westinghouse's correspondents, told him that he would be violating the laws of thermodynamics. Westinghouse replied that might be the case, but it made no difference. If he couldn't build a perpetual-motion machine, he would still have a heat pump system that he could patent and sell.

Related Topics:
Perpetual motion machine - Lord Kelvin - Thermodynamics

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With the introduction of the automobile after the turn of the century, Westinghouse went back to earlier inventions and came up with a compressed-air shock absorber scheme to allow automobiles to deal with the wretched roads of the time.

Related Topics:
Automobile - Shock absorber

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Westinghouse remained a captain of American industry until 1907, when a financial panic led to his resignation from control of the Westinghouse company. By 1911, he was no longer active in business, and his health was in decline.

Related Topics:
1907 - 1911

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