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乔治·威斯汀豪斯
George Westinghouse, c. early 1900s
出生(1846-10-06)1846年10月6日
美国,纽约,斯科哈里县
逝世1914年3月12日(1914岁—03—12)(67岁)
美国,纽约
国籍美国
奖项约翰·弗里茨奖 (1906)
IEEE爱迪生奖章 (1911)
签名

小乔治·威斯汀豪斯(英语:George Westinghouse, Jr.,1846年10月6日—1914年3月12日),是美国 宾州企业家和著名的工程师、他发明了火车的空气刹车系统,并且是电力工业的先驱。他在19岁就取得了第一个专利。威斯汀豪斯看到了交流电在电力配送系统上的潜力,早在1880年代,他便投入所有资源在于发展交流电系统并将它推上市场,他的行动导致他的事业与爱迪生的直流系统直接竞争。在1991年威斯汀豪斯获得了美国电气工程学会(AIEE)的爱迪生奖章以彰显他在"串连发展交流电系统的卓著贡献与成就"。[1]

早年生活

乔治·威斯汀豪斯于1846年出生在纽约中央桥,是老乔治·威斯汀豪斯与艾米莉的儿子,老乔治·威斯汀豪斯是一家机械商店的老板。[2]

他的祖先来自德国的威斯特伐利亚,他们先移居英国,然后移民到了美国。这个名字来自德语Westinghausen英语化而来。从他年轻时起,他就在机械和商业方面具有天赋。在十五岁时,随着南北战争爆发,威斯汀豪斯进入到纽约国民警卫队服役,直到他的父母催促他回家。 1863年4月,他又说服了父母允许他重新入伍,于是他加入了第16纽约骑兵队的M公司,并晋升为下士。 1864年12月,他从陆军转而加入海军,担任“USS Muscoota”级枪艇的第三助理工程师直到战争结束。[3] 在1865年8月退伍后,他回到斯克内塔第的家中,并就读于联合学院。然而,他对学业失去兴趣,并在第一个学期辍学。

威斯汀豪斯19岁时创造了他的第一个发明"旋转蒸汽机"。[4]他还设计了西屋农场引擎。在21岁时,他发明了一种“汽车替代品”,用于引导出轨的火车返回轨道的装置,以及一种火车铁轨转辙器,是一种用于切换铁路铁轨的开关的装置,可将火车引导切换到两条轨道之一。 [4][5]

空气刹车

当时,他目睹了一辆火车残骸,两名工程师互相看见,但是无法使用现有的制动器及时停下他们的火车。刹车从汽车到汽车,在汽车顶上的走道上行驶,手动刹车在每辆车上。 File:WestuinghouseSteamAndAirBrakes USP144006.png 西屋蒸汽和空气制动器(专,144,006) Westinghouse系统在机车上使用压缩机,在每辆车上使用备用阀和特殊阀门,在列车长度上使用单根管道(具有灵活性)连接)既重新填充油箱又控制制动,允许工程师同时在所有车辆上施加和释放制动器。这是一个故障保护系统,因为列车管道中的任何断开或断开都会将制动器应用到列车上。它于1873年10月28日由Westinghouse获得专利。[6] Westinghouse空气制动公司(WABCO)被颠覆性地组织制造和销售Westinghouse的发明。它几乎被铁路普遍采用。在重型卡车上也可以找到相同的故障安全空气概念设计。 1881年,他找到了Union交换机和Signal公司来制造他的信号和切换发明。[来源:] Westinghouse对铁路信号进行了许多改进(然后使用了油灯)。

At about this time, he witnessed a train wreck where two engineers saw one another, but were unable to stop their trains in time using the existing brakes. Brakemen had to run from car to car, on catwalks atop the cars, applying the brakes manually on each car.[来源请求]

 
Westinghouse Steam and Air Brakes (美国专利第144,006号)

In 1869, at age 22, Westinghouse invented a railroad braking system using compressed air. The Westinghouse system used a compressor on the locomotive, a reservoir and a special valve on each car, and a single pipe running the length of the train (with flexible connections) which both refilled the reservoirs and controlled the brakes, allowing the engineer to apply and release the brakes simultaneously on all cars. It is a failsafe system, in that any rupture or disconnection in the train pipe will apply the brakes throughout the train. It was patented by Westinghouse on October 28, 1873.[6] The Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. It was in time nearly universally adopted by railways. Modern trains use brakes in various forms based on this design. The same conceptual design of fail-safe air brake is also found on heavy trucks.[来源请求]

Westinghouse pursued many improvements in railway signals (which then used oil lamps). In 1881 he founded the Union Switch and Signal Company to manufacture his signaling and switching inventions.[来源请求]

电力配送

 
Westinghouse Electric Company 1888 catalog advertising their "Alternating System"

西屋公司对天然气配送和电话交换的兴趣使他对19世纪80年代早期新的电力分配领域产生了兴趣。电气照明是一项不断发展的业务,许多公司正在建造室外直流(DC)和交流(AC)弧光照明的街道照明系统,托马斯爱迪生推出了第一个直流电力设施,旨在用他的专利白炽灯泡照亮家庭和企业。 1884年,西屋公司开始开发自己的DC家用照明系统,并聘请物理学家威廉·斯坦利(William Stanley)进行研究。西屋公司于1885年开始意识到新的欧洲交流系统,当时他在英国技术期刊工程中读到了这些系统。[7] AC有能力通过变压器“升压”电压以进行长距离分配,然后通过变压器“降压”以供消费者使用,从而允许大型集中式发电厂在具有更多分散人口的城市中长距离供电。这是由托马斯爱迪生电力公司销售的低压直流系统的优势,由于使用的电压较低,该系统的范围有限。西屋公司看到AC有可能实现更大的规模经济,从而建立一个真正具有竞争力的系统,而不是简单地建立另一个几乎没有竞争力的DC照明系统,使用的专利不同,可以绕过爱迪生的专利。[8]

Westinghouse's interests in gas distribution and telephone switching led him to become interested in the then new field of electrical power distribution in the early 1880s. Electric lighting was a growing business with many companies building outdoor direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) arc lighting based street lighting systems and Thomas Edison launching the first DC electric utility designed to light homes and businesses with his patented incandescent bulb. In 1884 Westinghouse started developing his own DC domestic lighting system and hired physicist William Stanley to work on it. Westinghouse became aware of the new European alternating current systems in 1885 when he read about them in the UK technical journal Engineering.[7] AC had the ability to be "stepped up" in voltage by a transformer for distribution long distances and then "stepped down" by a transformer for consumer use allowing large centralized power plants to supply electricity long distance in cities with more disperse populations. This was an advantage over the low voltage DC systems being marketed by Thomas Edison's electric utility which had a limited range due to the low voltages used. Westinghouse saw AC's potential to achieve greater economies of scale as way to build a truly competitive system instead of simply building another barely competitive DC lighting system using patents just different enough to get around the Edison patents.[8]

1885年,西屋公司进口了许多Gaulard-Gibbs变压器和一台西门子交流发电机,开始在匹兹堡试验交流网络。 Stanley在工程师Albert Schmid和Oliver B. Shallenberger的协助下,将Gaulard-Gibbs变压器设计发展成为第一台实用变压器。[9] 1886年,在Westinghouse的支持下,Stanley在马萨诸塞州Great Barrington安装了第一个多电压交流电源系统,这是一个由水力发电机驱动的示范照明系统,产生500伏交流电压降至100伏特,用于照亮家庭和企业中的白炽灯泡。。 同年,西屋公司成立了“西屋电气与制造公司”; [18]他于1889年将其更名为“西屋电气公司”。

 
Westinghouse patent for an AC lighting system with battery backup from 1887 (美国专利第373,035号)

In 1885 Westinghouse imported a number of Gaulard–Gibbs transformers and a Siemens AC generator, to begin experimenting with AC networks in Pittsburgh. Stanley, assisted by engineers Albert Schmid and Oliver B. Shallenberger, developed the Gaulard–Gibbs transformer design into the first practical transformer.[9] In 1886, with Westinghouse's backing, Stanley installed the first multiple-voltage AC power system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a demonstration lighting system driven by a hydroelectric generator that produced 500 volts AC stepped down to 100 volts to light incandescent bulbs in homes and businesses. That same year, Westinghouse formed the "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company";[10] in 1889 he renamed it as "Westinghouse Electric Corporation".

电流战争

Westinghouse公司在一年内安装了30多个交流照明系统,到1887年底,它有64个交流电站到爱迪生的121个直流电站。[11]这场与爱迪生的竞争在19世纪80年代后期引发了所谓的“电流战争”,托马斯爱迪生和他的公司加入了公众的观念,认为交流配电中使用的高压是不安全的。爱迪生甚至建议在纽约州的新电动椅上使用Westinghouse交流发电机。西屋公司还不得不与交易对手Thomson-Houston Electric Company打交道,该公司在1887年底建造了22座发电站[11]并且到1889年又收购了另一家竞争对手Brush Electric Company。 Thomson-Houston正在扩大业务,同时试图避免与Westinghouse的专利冲突,安排诸如达成照明公司领域协议,支付使用Stanley变压器专利的版税以及允许Westinghouse使用他们的Sawyer-Man白炽灯泡专利等交易。与汤姆森 - 休斯顿勾结的爱迪生公司在1890年设法安排第一把电动椅用Westinghouse交流发电机供电,迫使西屋公司试图通过聘请当天最好的律师来阻止这一举动(不成功)保卫威廉·凯姆勒,第一个被安排死在椅子上的人。电流战将以金融家为代表,例如J. P. Morgan,将爱迪生电气推向AC并推出托马斯爱迪生。[12] 1892年,爱迪生公司与汤姆森 - 休斯顿电气公司合并成立通用电气公司,这是一家控制着汤姆森 - 休斯顿董事会的企业集团。[13]

The Westinghouse company installed 30 more AC-lighting systems within a year and by the end of 1887 it had 68 alternating current power stations to Edison's 121 DC-based stations.[11] This competition with Edison led in the late 1880s to what has been called the "War of Currents" with Thomas Edison and his company joining in with a spreading public perception that the high voltages used in AC distribution were unsafe. Edison even suggested a Westinghouse AC generator be used in the State of New York's new electric chair. Westinghouse also had to deal with an AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company who had built 22 power stations by the end of 1887[11] and by 1889 had bought out another competitor, the Brush Electric Company. Thomson-Houston was expanding their business while trying to avoid patent conflicts with Westinghouse, arranging deals such as coming to agreements over lighting company territory, paying a royalty to use the Stanley transformer patent, and allowing Westinghouse to use their Sawyer–Man incandescent bulb patent. The Edison company, in collusion with Thomson-Houston, managed to arrange in 1890 that the first electric chair was powered with a Westinghouse AC generator, forcing Westinghouse to try to block this move by hiring the best lawyer of the day to (unsuccessfully) defend William Kemmler, the first man scheduled to die in the chair. The War of Currents would end with financiers, such as J. P. Morgan, pushing Edison Electric towards AC and pushing out Thomas Edison.[12] In 1892 the Edison company was merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric, a conglomerate with the board of Thomson-Houston in control.[13]

开发与竞争

During this period Westinghouse continued to pour money and engineering resources into the goal of building a completely integrated AC system, obtaining the Sawyer–Man lamp by buying Consolidated Electric Light, developing components such as an induction meter,[14] and obtaining the rights to inventor Nikola Tesla's brushless AC induction motor along with patents for a new type of electric power distribution, polyphase alternating current.[15][16] The acquisition of a feasible AC motor gave Westinghouse a key patent for his system, but the financial strain of buying up patents and hiring the engineers needed to build it meant development of Tesla's motor had to be put on hold for a while.[17]

In 1890 Westinghouse's company was in trouble. The near collapse of Barings Bank in London triggered the financial panic of 1890, causing investors to call in their loans to W.E.[18] The sudden cash shortage forced the company to refinance its debts. The new lenders demanded that Westinghouse cut back on what looked like excessive spending on acquisition of other companies, research, and patents.[19][20]

 
Workmen with one of the two Westinghouse alternators used in the Ames Hydroelectric AC power installation

In 1891 Westinghouse built a hydroelectric AC power plant, the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant. The plant supplied power to the Gold King Mine 3.5 miles away. This was the first successful demonstration of long-distance transmission of industrial-grade alternating current power and used two 100 hp Westinghouse alternators, one working as a generator producing 3000-volt, 133-Hertz, single-phase AC, and the other used as an AC motor.[21] At the beginning of 1893 Westinghouse engineer Benjamin Lamme had made great progress developing an efficient version of Tesla's induction motor and Westinghouse Electric started branding their complete polyphase AC system as the "Tesla Polyphase System", announcing Tesla's patents gave them patent priority over other AC systems and their intentions to sue patent infringers.[22]

In 1893, George Westinghouse won the bid to light the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago with alternating current, slightly underbidding General Electric to get the contract.[23][24] This World's Fair devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a key event in the history of AC power, as Westinghouse demonstrated the safety, reliability, and efficiency of a fully integrated alternating current system to the American public.[25]

 
Aerial view of Niagara Falls, with the American Falls at left and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right

Westinghouse's demonstration that they could build a complete AC system at the Colombian Exposition was instrumental in them getting the contract for building a two-phase AC generating system, the Adams Power Plant, at Niagara Falls in 1895. At the same time, a contract to build the three-phase AC distribution system the project needed was awarded to General Electric.[26] The early to mid-1890s saw General Electric, backed by financier J. P. Morgan, involved in costly takeover attempts and patent battles with Westinghouse Electric. The competition was so costly a patent-sharing agreement was signed between the two companies in 1896.[27]

其它项目

In 1889, Westinghouse purchased several mining claims in the Patagonia Mountains of southeastern Arizona and formed the Duquesne Mining & Reduction Company. A year later he founded what is now the ghost town of Duquesne to use as his company headquarters. He lived in a large Victorian frame house, which still stands, but in disrepair. Duquesne grew to over a 1,000 residents and the mine reached its peak production in the mid-1910s.[28][29]

With AC networks expanding, Westinghouse turned his attention to electrical power production. At the outset, the available generating sources were hydroturbines where falling water was available, and reciprocating steam engines where it was not. Westinghouse felt that reciprocating steam engines were clumsy and inefficient, and wanted to develop some class of "rotating" engine that would be more elegant and efficient.

One of his first inventions had been a rotary steam engine, but it had proven impractical. The British engineer Charles Algernon Parsons began experimenting with steam turbines in 1884, beginning with a 10-horsepower (7.5 kW) turbine. Westinghouse bought rights to the Parsons turbine in 1885, improved the Parsons technology, and increased its scale.

 
The residence of George Westinghouse in Washington, D.C., from 1901 to 1914

In 1898 Westinghouse demonstrated a 300-kilowatt unit, replacing reciprocating engines in his air-brake factory. The next year he installed a 1.5-megawatt, 1,200 rpm unit for the Hartford Electric Light Company.

Westinghouse then developed steam turbines for maritime propulsion. Large turbines were most efficient at about 3,000 rpm, while an efficient propeller operated at about 100 rpm. That required reduction gearing, but building reduction gearing that could operate at high rpm and at high power was difficult, since a slight misalignment would shake the power train to pieces. Westinghouse and his engineers devised an automatic alignment system that made turbine power practical for large vessels.

Westinghouse remained productive and inventive almost all his life. Like Edison, he had a practical and experimental streak. At one time, Westinghouse began to work on heat pumps that could provide heating and cooling, and believed that he might be able to extract enough power in the process for the system to run itself.[来源请求]

Westinghouse was after a perpetual motion machine, and the British physicist Lord Kelvin, one of Westinghouse's correspondents, told him that he would be violating the laws of thermodynamics. Westinghouse replied that might be the case, but it made no difference. If he couldn't build a perpetual-motion machine, he would still have a heat pump system that he could patent and sell.

With the introduction of the automobile after the turn of the century, Westinghouse went back to earlier inventions and devised a compressed air shock absorber for automobile suspensions.

个人生活、晚年生活与去世

In 1867, Westinghouse met and soon married Marguerite Erskine Walker. They were married for 47 years,[30] and had one son, George Westinghouse III, who had six children.[31] The couple made their first home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They later acquired houses in Lenox, Massachusetts, where they summered, and in Washington, District of Columbia.[来源请求]

Westinghouse remained a captain of American industry until 1907, when the financial panic of 1907 led to his resignation from control of the Westinghouse company. By 1911, he was no longer active in business, and his health was in decline.[来源请求]

George Westinghouse died on March 12, 1914, in New York City at age 67. He was initially interred in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY then removed on December 14, 1915. As a Civil War veteran, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, along with his wife Marguerite, who survived him by three months. She had also been initially interred in Woodlawn and removed and reinterred at the same time as George.[32]

劳资关系

乔治·威斯汀豪斯于1881年在他的匹兹堡工厂第一个率先实施星期六放假半天的制度,当时一周工作六天仍为一般惯例。 [来源请求]

荣誉与奖励

File:Westinghousememorial.jpg
The Westinghouse Memorial in Schenley Park.

In 1918 his former home, Solitude, was razed and the land given to the City of Pittsburgh to establish Westinghouse Park. In 1930, the Westinghouse Memorial, funded by his employees, was placed in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh. Also named in his honor, George Westinghouse Bridge is near the site of his Turtle Creek plant. Its plaque reads:

IN BOLDNESS OF CONCEPTION, IN GREATNESS
AND IN USEFULNESS TO MANKIND THIS BRIDGE
TYPIFIES THE CHARACTER AND CAREER OF
GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE 1846–1914
IN WHOSE HONOR IT WAS DEDICATED ON
SEPTEMBER 10, 1932

The George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home in Central Bridge, New York, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[33]

In 1989, Westinghouse was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

  • 符号清单项目

参考文献

专利

注释

  1. ^ George Westinghouse. IEEE Global History Network. IEEE. [July 22, 2011]. 
  2. ^ Westinghouse__George.html. PSU.edu. [October 7, 2017]. (原始内容存档于October 17, 2015). 
  3. ^ Register of Commissioned Officers of the United States Navy. 1865. pg. 209.
  4. ^ 4.0 4.1 George Westinghouse Timeline 互联网档案馆存档,存档日期October 21, 2014,.
  5. ^ He would later patent the device. It was issued as 美国专利第76,365号 in April 1868, when he was 22. It would be reissued as 美国专利第RE3,584号 in August 1869.
  6. ^ Improvement in steam and air brakes. Google.com. [October 7, 2017]. 
  7. ^ Richard Moran, Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group - 2007, page 42
  8. ^ Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson Princeton University Press - 2013, page 89
  9. ^ Center, Copyright 2015 Edison Tech. William Stanley - Engineering Hall of Fame. www.EdisonTechCenter.org. [October 7, 2017]. 
  10. ^ Steam Hammer, Westinghouse Works, 1904. World Digital Library. May 1904 [July 28, 2013]. 
  11. ^ 11.0 11.1 Jr, Robert L. Bradley. Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies. John Wiley & Sons: 50. October 24, 2011 [October 7, 2017] –通过Google Books. 
  12. ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, page 97
  13. ^ Bradley, Robert L., Jr. (2011). Edison to Enron: Energy Markets and Political Strategies. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-47091-736-7, pages 28-29
  14. ^ Marc Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, page 1713
  15. ^ John W. Klooster, Icons of Invention: The Makers of the Modern World from Gutenberg to Gates, page 305
  16. ^ Jill Jonnes, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Edison Declares War
  17. ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, page 127
  18. ^ Carlson 2013,第130页.
  19. ^ Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University Press, page 131
  20. ^ Jill Jonnes, Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Random House - 2004, page=29
  21. ^ Mattox, D. M. The Foundations of Vacuum Coating Technology. Elsevier Science: 39. January 15, 2013 [October 7, 2017] –通过Google Books. 
  22. ^ Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University Press, page 167
  23. ^ Richard Moran, Executioner's Current: Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and the Invention of the Electric Chair, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group - 2007, page 97
  24. ^ Quentin R. Skrabec, George Westinghouse: Gentle Genius, pages 135–137
  25. ^ America at the Fair:: Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (Google eBook) Chaim M. Rosenberg Arcadia Publishing, 20 February 2008
  26. ^ Carlson, W. Bernard (2013). Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, Princeton University Press, page 167–173
  27. ^ Skrabec, Quentin R.; Westinghouse, George. Gentle Genius. History: 190. Agreement stayed in effect until 1911 
  28. ^ John and Bette Bosma. Southwest Arizona Ghost Towns Harshaw, Mowry, Washington Camp, Duquesne, Lochiel (PDF). April 2006 [January 10, 2015]. 
  29. ^ Sherman, James E. & Barbara H. Ghost Towns of Arizona. University of Oklahoma. 1969. ISBN 0806108436. 
  30. ^ Henry Prout, A Life of George Westinghouse, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1921 pg. 3
  31. ^ Westinghouse clan gathers here, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 10, 2008
  32. ^ Patterson, Michael Robert. George Westinghouse. www.arlingtoncemetery.net. [2018-02-09]. 
  33. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. 

参考书目

外部视频链接
  Booknotes interview with Jill Jonnes on Empires of Light, October 26, 2003, C-SPAN

外部链接

{{IEEE愛迪生獎章獲獎者 1909–1925}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Westinghouse, George}} [[Category:美國企業家]] [[Category:美國工程師]] [[Category:美國發明家]] [[Category:紐約州人]]

Template:Westinghouse Template:IEEE Edison Medal Laureates 1909-1925 Template:John Fritz Medal Template:Presidents of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Template:Hall of Fame for Great Americans