Who Knew That Old George Was So Cool
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 when you don't reside in Pittsburgh, perhaps you've heard of Westinghouse, the corporate that bears the man's title. The Westinghouse firm identify adorns products from TVs to light bulbs to nuclear power 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 more than 300 patents over the course of his life. He each created new technologies and refined current ones. He helped make Pittsburgh one of America's industrial centers. Lots of the companies that he founded stay in operation right this moment, including the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (at present working under the identify Wabtec), and the nuclear power powerhouse Westinghouse Electric Firm. The man even beat out Thomas Edison in the race to build the nation's electrical infrastructure.
Keep reading to study more about George Westinghouse by his high 5 innovations. Next time you doze off while riding in a car, thank George Westinghouse. In 1910, Westinghouse invented a compressed air shock absorber for automobiles. Earlier than that time, riding in a automotive could possibly be extraordinarily tough. Most early automotive suspensions used leaf or coil springs. Leaf springs are curved items of metallic; the automobile's physique sits at the highest of the curve, which gives considerably because the car travels over tough surfaces, relieving the bumps. A coil spring is a coiled piece of metal 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, strain builds up. When the car hits a bump, the compressed fuel in the shock absorber pushes back towards the skin forces, protecting the journey clean.
At the moment, many luxurious automobiles and EcoLight lighting off-highway vehicles use compressed air suspensions that function on similar rules to Westinghouse's initial thought. Low riders and vehicles which have adjustable suspensions use the know-how. Who knew that old George was so cool? But the most effective part of this story is that the compressed air shock absorber got here from his early work on railroad safety. Keep reading to find out extra. That wasn't always the case. While early railroads knew the best way to get huge, heavy locomotives going, stopping them was one other matter. That's where George Westinghouse got here in. Westinghouse invented practice airbrakes, and fashionable trains still use his fundamental design. Earlier than the introduction of airbrakes, EcoLight outdoor locomotive brakes needed to be utilized manually: Brakemen in each automobile would manually apply the brakes based mostly on signals given by the engineer. Nonetheless, EcoLight lighting the brakemen couldn't all the time hear the signals; they sometimes utilized the brakes incorrectly, leading to accidents.
Compressed air in a tank is released via pipes on the underside of the train cars, and the compressed air applies the brake sneakers to the practice's wheels. Probably the most revolutionary a part of Westinghouse's design was that it was fail-safe: If the system felt a leak in the pipes, EcoLight lighting the brakes deployed robotically, stopping the practice before its pace became a problem. Westinghouse's airbrakes are still used on trains at the moment. If you utilize natural gas to heat your home or cook, nevertheless, you might have much more to thank George for. After his innovations within the railroad business, Westinghouse settled in Philadelphia, the place he had a natural gas effectively drilled on his property. The effectively allowed Westinghouse to work on his subsequent nice invention: a valve that allowed for the safe distribution of pure gas to properties. There's an issue with using natural gas for fuel at house: The gas is extremely pressurized when it leaves the effectively -- it must be in order to maneuver the gasoline by way of distribution pipes.