Railway corporations almost universally adopted Westinghouse’s improved steam-powered air brakes after he patented the idea in 1872.  Previous to Westinghouse’s invention railways employed brakemen to move from car to car and apply or release the brakes.  This was a dangerous practice and highly inefficient because trains often could not stop before derailing or an accident.  Today variations of Westinghouse’s original design are still used.

While Westinghouse did pioneer alternating current, he did fully believe in the efficiency and widespread use it represented over direct current.  He bought the patent rights from Nikola Tesla in the 1880s, and Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company began wide scale introduction of the polyphase AC motor.  

Inventor Bio

Born in Central Bridge, New York, Westinghouse worked in his father's shop until age 15, when he joined the Union Army and served throughout the Civil War. In 1882 he organized the Union Switch and Signal Company, purchasing patents of others and combining them with his own for railroad signals and interlocking switches. In 1886 he founded the Westinghouse Electric Company, foreseeing the possibilities of alternating current as opposed to direct current, which was limited to a radius of two or three miles.

Westinghouse enlisted the services of Nikola Tesla and other inventors in the development of alternating current motors and apparatus for the transmission of high-tension current, pioneering large-scale municipal lighting. His company became the outstanding competitor of General Electric, which in 1896 arranged to use his patents by a cross-licensing agreement. By the turn of the century, the various Westinghouse enterprises had grown to employ more than 50,000 workers. As a result of financial problems, Westinghouse lost control of his electric company in 1907 but remained in control of his other companies until he died.