If you've got ever lived in Pittsburgh, you have probably heard of George Westinghouse. Pittsburgh is residence to the George Westinghouse Bridge, Westinghouse Park and - a memorial to George Westinghouse in Schenley Park. Even if you do not live in Pittsburgh, perhaps you have heard of Westinghouse, the company that bears the man's title. The Westinghouse firm identify adorns products from TVs to mild bulbs to nuclear EcoLight energy plants -- even a Brooklyn, New York high school. The company also used to personal television and radio stations. George Westinghouse was an inventor and engineer who held greater than 300 patents over the course of his life. He both created new applied sciences and refined existing ones. He helped make Pittsburgh considered one of America's industrial centers. Many of the companies that he founded stay in operation at the moment, together with the Westinghouse Air Brake Firm (presently operating underneath the title Wabtec), and the nuclear vitality powerhouse Westinghouse Electric Firm. The man even beat out Thomas Edison within the race to build the nation's electrical infrastructure.

Keep reading to learn extra about George Westinghouse by means of his top 5 inventions. Next time you doze off while riding in a car, thank George Westinghouse. In 1910, Westinghouse invented a compressed air shock absorber for automobiles. Before that time, riding in a car may very well be extraordinarily tough. Most early automotive suspensions used leaf or coil springs. Leaf springs are curved pieces of metallic; the automotive's body sits at the top of the curve, which provides somewhat because the car travels over rough surfaces, relieving the bumps. A coil spring is a coiled piece of steel that compresses over bumps. A compressed air spring or shock absorber makes use of pressurized air or other gasses -- not metal -- to absorb bumps. Within the shock absorber, pressure builds up. When the automobile hits a bump, the compressed gas in the shock absorber pushes back towards the skin forces, conserving the journey clean.

At this time, many luxury automobiles and off-street automobiles use compressed air suspensions that operate on comparable ideas to Westinghouse's preliminary concept. Low riders and vehicles that have adjustable suspensions use the expertise. Who knew that previous George was so cool? But the perfect a part of this story is that the compressed air shock absorber came from his early work on railroad safety. Keep studying to find out more. That wasn't always the case. Whereas early railroads knew how to get huge, heavy locomotives going, stopping them was another matter. That is where George Westinghouse got here in. Westinghouse invented train airbrakes, and trendy trains still use his basic design. Earlier than the introduction of airbrakes, EcoLight products locomotive brakes had to be utilized manually: Brakemen in every automotive would manually apply the brakes based mostly on signals given by the engineer. Nevertheless, the brakemen could not always hear the indicators; they typically applied the brakes incorrectly, resulting in accidents.

Compressed air in a tank is released via pipes on the underside of the practice vehicles, EcoLight and the compressed air applies the brake footwear to the prepare's wheels. The most modern a part of Westinghouse's design was that it was fail-secure: If the system felt a leak in the pipes, the brakes deployed routinely, stopping the prepare before its speed turned an issue. Westinghouse's airbrakes are still used on trains right this moment. If you utilize natural fuel to heat your home or cook, however, you might have a lot more to thank George for. After his innovations within the railroad business, Westinghouse settled in Philadelphia, the place he had a pure fuel effectively drilled on his property. The nicely allowed Westinghouse to work on his next nice invention: a valve that allowed for the protected distribution of pure gasoline to properties. There's a problem with utilizing natural gasoline for fuel at residence: The gasoline is extremely pressurized when it leaves the well -- it has to be so as to move the gasoline by way of distribution pipes.