ENGINEER AND INVENTOR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 205, 18 January 1913, Page 1 (Supplement)

ENGINEER AND INVENTOR

GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE. r , George Westinghouse has a wonderful capacity for working with his hands, ag "Well as with his head. He is a skilled workman, In boyhood he learned the uses of tools; in youth he practised every resource of the machine-shop; luring the years of. manhood he haa worked in the same way as competently as if his livelihood depended on the manual exercise of his mechanical skill. He knows the draughting-board as well as turret-lathe'or the milling machine. No one has to tell him whether a thing is planned right or wrong, or made right or wrong; his own inspection is a severe test. He will talk with you about a new idea, or a new way of doing things, and illustrate his meaning with a pencil sketch drawn on the spot.

Another characteristic of Mr. Westinghouse is his unbeatable hopefulness. Call it, if you like, the constant manifestation of a sanguine temperament. Anyhow, there it is, the ever-cheery mind, that conviction that wheatever he undertakes must win, no matter what the forces of opposition may be. Andrew Carnegie is credited with the remark: "George Westinghouse is a genius who can't be downed." Back of the hopefulness which always looks on the bright side while estimating clearly the obstacles which have to be overcome, there is a superb, astonishing vitality. Not only is Westinghouse big mentally; he is big physically, and filled with power. Illness he has never known. His vitality, his temperament, his training and his outlook on life have more than once carried llim safely through dark and. treacherous places. Through the panic of 1907 and the long consequent fight which has become historic, he preserved his ardor with a strength, cheerfulness and unbroken capacity for, work which amazed even those friends who had long known his possession of these qualities. The past four or five years have, indeed, been among the richest in his inventive genius. While an enumeration of the inventions of Air. Westinghouse, and those in whose development he has participated, and those which he has otherwise fostered and encouraged, might be interesting to the curious in these matters, there is no space available here to print even the names of the patents which stand to his personal credit, What is of more interest and importance is the spirit which has brought forth these inventions and which has contributed so greatly to the progress of our times. This is a far-sighted and liberal spirit in which integrity and courage are strong and conspicuous powers. George Westinghouse is not one who seeks personal gain when he advocates a policy which , has relation to the public welfare; he has worked for the public interest when he had much to lose by the antagonisms which he migljt and did arouse. George Westinghouse was born at Central Bridge, Schoharie County, New York, on October 0, 1846. His father was a manufacturer of agricultural maemery. and in his workshop, which is still in operation in Schnectady under the name of "'The Westinghouse Com-, pany," the boy got his first experiences with mechanical matters. He used to work there out of school and college hours, because it was his greatest pleasure to do so. He did not neglect his studies, but his teachers encouraged him to develop his inclination for mechanics. This was especially the case • with the president of Union College, who had a very strong appreciation of the mechanical genius of the youth, who, at the age of 15, had built a rotary engine. Before he was 17, young Westinghouse enlisted for the Civil War. He served in the infantry, cavalry and navy, in the latter joining the engineer corps. In August, J.BCS, obtaining his discharge, he returned to Union College, passing his examinations so creditably that he entered the sophomore, not the freshman, class. In the same year, 1565, he invented a device for replacing derailed ears on the tracks. Soon after that he invented another device for railroad work, and while introducing this to railroad officials the idea of a power brake occurred to him. That was in 1566. In 1867 he had worked out his plans for the airbrake and had protected it with patents. By this time he had removed from Schenectady to Pittsburg. In 1868 the air brake was first tried on a tnin. It was an immediate success. The inventor was at this time only 22 years of age.

Although fame 'and fortune came to him very early in life, they came as the results of hard work and persistence. There was 110 luck in the matter. The enormous growth of railway mileage and operation in the past 42 years would 'have been impossible without the control of train movements which Mr. Westinghouse's invention gives, an invention which still advances in efficiency from year to year. After the air brake came the introduction of switch and signal systems. From these to the study of electricity was a natural step. it was in 1885 that he began to develop the alternating current system. The result is part of the history of onr time. He also invented a system for facilitating and controlling the flow of natural gas over long distances, both for domestic and commercial fuel. Tie was early in the Held of gas engine development; he took the Parsons steam turbine to America and incorporated improvements of his own; he 'built the first huge electrie for Niagara, and for the electric railways of New York; he created, organised and directed in this and other countries great manufacturing and engineering companies employing many thousands of men, and a hundred arid fifty millions of eapiial. In Pittsburg and vicinity a hundred and fifty thousand persons draw their livelihood through the immeiwn industries which he built up. 1 o-day, at (m, he is active as ever, as sanguine, as inventive.

_ A conspicuous tribute to liis integrity was liis selection, in June, 1005, along with ex-President Orgver Cleveland and Justice Morgan J. O'Brien, as one of tin? trustees of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. It was in a

time of "general unrest following disclosures concerning insurance affairs and the linancial situation. The controlling interest of the lupiitable stoclc was placed in (lie hands o! these three trustees, who were given full power to vote it according to their judgment. The trus : l<'eshi|i was for a term of live years. The selection of Cleveland, Westinghouse and O'Brien met with universal'public Mitinfad.ion, I pun Mr. Westinghonso have been conferred decorations from the Krencli Republic and from (he Kings of Italy and Belgium. lie was (he second recipient ~f the John Frilz .Medal, Ihe lirst being his friend of mauv years, Lord Kelvin. The Kocnigliche Techiiisohe Ilochschnle of Berlin gave liim the degree of Doctor of Engineering; Union College gave him (lie I'h.l). lie j s an honorary member of (lie American Society of .Mechanical Engineers, and was its president in 1010; he is one of the two nf three honorary members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and an honorary member of the National Electric Light; Association; and only last year the Edison '.Medal was awarded to him bv the \merican Institute of Electric 'Engineers; it was conferred upon him at the meeting in May last.