Who Knew That Outdated George Was So Cool
If you've ever lived in Pittsburgh, you've most likely 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 don't live in Pittsburgh, perhaps you've heard of Westinghouse, the company that bears the man's title. The Westinghouse company name adorns merchandise from TVs to mild bulbs to nuclear energy plants -- even a Brooklyn, New York high school. The company additionally used to personal tv and radio stations. George Westinghouse was an inventor and engineer who held greater than 300 patents over the course of his life. He each created new applied sciences and refined current ones. He helped make Pittsburgh one among America's industrial centers. Lots of the companies that he founded remain in operation in the present day, EcoLight solutions together with the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (currently working underneath the title Wabtec), and the nuclear power powerhouse Westinghouse Electric Company. The man even beat out Thomas Edison within the race to construct the nation's electrical infrastructure.
Keep studying to be taught extra about George Westinghouse by means of his prime 5 inventions. Next time you doze off whereas riding in a automobile, thank George Westinghouse. In 1910, Westinghouse invented a compressed air shock absorber for automobiles. Earlier than that time, riding in a automotive could be extremely rough. Most early automotive suspensions used leaf or coil springs. Leaf springs are curved items of metal; the automotive's body sits at the top of the curve, EcoLight which gives considerably as the automobile travels over rough surfaces, relieving the bumps. A coil spring is a coiled piece of metal that compresses over bumps. A compressed air spring or shock absorber uses pressurized air or other gasses -- not metallic -- to absorb bumps. In the shock absorber, stress builds up. When the automobile hits a bump, the compressed gasoline within the shock absorber pushes back in opposition to the skin forces, protecting the trip smooth.
In the present day, many luxurious automobiles and off-highway vehicles use compressed air suspensions that operate on similar ideas to Westinghouse's initial thought. Low riders and cars that have adjustable suspensions use the technology. Who knew that outdated George was so cool? However the very best a part of this story is that the compressed air shock absorber got here from his early work on railroad security. Keep reading to find out extra. That wasn't all the time the case. Whereas early railroads knew the way to get huge, heavy locomotives going, stopping them was one other matter. That's the place George Westinghouse got here in. Westinghouse invented train airbrakes, and fashionable trains still use his fundamental design. Before the introduction of airbrakes, locomotive brakes needed to be applied manually: Brakemen in every automotive would manually apply the brakes based on alerts given by the engineer. Nonetheless, the brakemen couldn't at all times hear the alerts; they generally utilized the brakes incorrectly, resulting in accidents.
Compressed air in a tank is released by means of pipes on the underside of the practice cars, and the compressed air applies the brake footwear to the practice's wheels. Probably the most modern part of Westinghouse's design was that it was fail-safe: If the system felt a leak within the pipes, the brakes deployed robotically, stopping the practice earlier than its velocity turned a problem. Westinghouse's airbrakes are nonetheless used on trains at present. If you use pure gasoline to heat your house or cook, however, you may have a lot more to thank George for. After his improvements in 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 great invention: a valve that allowed for the safe distribution of natural fuel to homes. There's a problem with using pure gas for fuel at home: The gasoline is very pressurized when it leaves the properly -- it needs to be in order to maneuver the gas by means of distribution pipes.
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