Westinghouse - Chapter 14 - Westinghouse Electric Company

Описание: (SUTHERLAND)

He had a unique ability to look at problems and come up with solutions of his own, but he was also willing to take other ideas from other people.If he had to buy ideas or buy patents, he did.

(NARRATOR)

In a miraculous three weeks, Mr. Westinghouse and his staff redesigned the Gaulard and Gibbs transformer.

(REIS)

Gaulard and Gibbs certainly had the idea correct. It was the mechanical part of actually manufacturing and building these transformers that they came up short. It was a rather crude device when Westinghouse acquired it.

(NARRATOR)

The Westinghouse Electric Company was started on March 8, 1886, in the Garrison Alley Works in Pittsburgh.

(SKRABEC)

The Garrison Alley operation was really a research operation and a developmental operation. He was working on a number of projects there, including the transformer.

(SUTHERLAND)

He was interested in developing ideas into products and products into companies and companies providing employment.

(NARRATOR)

In the beginning, Westinghouse Electric didn't have it easy. Along with research into alternating current, it was about that time that Westinghouse began to seriously compete with Edison in the incandescent-lamp business, with a full plant making single-pin lamps, which were a slightly different design than the Edison screw-in bulbs.

This was the beginning of the Battle of the Currents. The fierce competition between Westinghouse and Edison for domination in the electrical field would not end for another decade.

Interestingly, it resulted in one of the earliest-known format wars between which standard of light bulb and socket would be the dominant one.

Customers who chose to go with Westinghouse single-pin sockets could buy this clever adapter to use Edison screw-in bulbs. A few commercial alternating-current plants were put into operation over the next few months, but there were still problems.

Even though AC power could be generated in large bulk and transmitted many miles away to light cities, there was still no practical AC motor and, thus, no practical way to power machines with alternating current.