George Westinghouse, and Greats of England, Italy

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Birthdays

Fortnightly Magazine - October 2019
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On October 6, 1846, one of our industry's greatest founders, George Westinghouse, was born in Central Bridge, New York. Just twenty-four miles from Schenectady, New York, which ultimately and ironically became the headquarters of Westinghouse's chief rival, the Edison General Electric Company.

Westinghouse enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, serving with the 16th New York Volunteer Cavalry in the Civil War. The regiment was repeatedly in action in northern Virginia, fighting several engagements against the Confederate cavalry of John Mosby, known as the Gray Ghost.

 He transferred to the Navy in late 1864 following the death of a brother killed in battle. Westinghouse received a commission as an engineering officer and was assigned to a new steamship, the U.S.S. Muscoota. In early May 1865, soon after Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and Lincoln's assassination, the Muscoota was dispatched to Key West. The Navy wanted to block the escape of Jefferson Davis, who had been the Confederacy's president.

The next month, while still eighteen years old, engineering officer Westinghouse received a letter from his father. The young man had received his first patent, for a rotary steam engine.

Westinghouse became rich and famous for his invention four years later of air brakes for railroads. Shaping the energy industries came next.

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