George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was a very productive American inventor, engineer, and business leader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best known for creating the railway air brake and for helping develop the use of alternating current (AC) electrical power. During his career, he received over 360 patents for his inventions and started 61 companies, many of which are still in operation today.

His invention of a train braking system that used compressed air changed the way trains stopped safely. He started the Westinghouse Air Brake Company in 1869. He and his engineers also created track-switching and signaling systems, which led to the founding of the company Union Switch & Signal in 1881.

In the early 1880s, he developed tools for safely producing, sending, and using natural gas. This helped create a new energy industry.

At the same time, Westinghouse saw the value of using alternating current (AC) for electricity. In 1886, he founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. His company competed with Thomas Edison’s, which promoted direct current (DC) electricity. Westinghouse Electric won the contract to display its AC system at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The company later built the world’s first large-scale AC power plant at Niagara Falls, New York, which opened in August 1895.

Interestingly, Westinghouse received the 1911 Edison Medal from the American Institute of Electrical Engineers for outstanding work in developing the alternating current system.

Early years

George Westinghouse was born in 1846 in the village of Central Bridge, New York (see George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home). He was the son of Emeline (Vedder) and George Westinghouse Sr., a farmer and owner of a machine shop. His family originally came from Westphalia, Germany. They first moved to England and later traveled to the United States. Over time, the family changed their name from Wistinghausen to Westinghouse.

From a young age, George showed an interest in machines and business. His father supported his curiosity and gave him tasks to complete in the Westinghouse Company workshop. The company made farm equipment, including the Westinghouse Farm Engine.

When the Civil War began in April 1861, George, who was 14 years old, tried to leave home to join the army. His father stopped him. In June 1863, his parents allowed him to enlist. He first joined the 12th Regiment of the New York National Guard and later the 16th Regiment of the New York Cavalry. He was promoted to the rank of corporal before being honorably discharged in November 1863. A month later, he joined the Union Navy. He worked as an Acting Third Assistant Engineer on the gunboat USS Muscoota and later on the ship USS Stars and Stripes until the war ended. These ships helped block Southern port cities. After leaving the Navy in August 1865, George returned to his family and enrolled at Union College in Schenectady, New York. However, he lost interest quickly and left after his first term.

George continued to learn and improve his skills in his father’s company workshop. At age 19, he received his first patent for a rotary steam engine. At 21, he invented a car replacer, a tool that helped guide derailed railroad cars back onto the tracks, and a reversible "frog," a rail piece that allowed trains to switch between tracks. In 1868, George moved with his wife to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to use better and less expensive steel for making railroad frogs. There, he began developing his new idea for a railroad air brake.

Railroad air brakes and signaling/switching systems

During his travels, Westinghouse saw what happened after a collision where engineers on two trains, moving toward each other on the same track, saw each other but could not stop their trains in time because of the brake systems already in use. At that time, brake workers had to run along walkways on top of the train cars to manually apply the brakes. This was difficult and dangerous. It also meant trains could not have more than ten cars, and many brake workers were injured or killed each year.

In 1869, at age 23, Westinghouse first showed his new railroad braking system in Pittsburgh. His system used a compressed air system to stop trains. His first design included an air compressor and an air tank in the locomotive, with a single air pipe running the entire length of the train and flexible connections between the cars. This line controlled the brakes, allowing the engineer to apply or release the brakes on all cars at the same time. A charter was filed in July 1869 for the company that would later become the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

Although the system worked well, as shown when it stopped a serious accident in front of people watching, it was not completely safe. If the air line broke or disconnected, the train had no brakes. Over the next two years, Westinghouse and his engineers improved the system by changing how the brakes operated. They added valves that kept the brakes off unless pressure changed, and placed an air tank on each car. With this new design, if the air line broke, the train would automatically stop.

During the next ten years, Westinghouse built on his early inventions and expanded his work to railway signaling and track-switching systems. Before, signaling used oil lamps, and track switching was done by hand. Westinghouse’s designs changed this. In May 1881, he started the Union Switch and Signal Company to make, sell, install, and maintain these new control systems. These systems were later used by railroads worldwide.

Natural gas

By 1883, George Westinghouse became interested in natural gas. Natural gas was recently found near Murrysville, Pennsylvania, and it received much attention because of a dramatic explosion at the Haymaker Well in 1878. After visiting the well and seeing its potential for business use, Westinghouse began drilling for gas on his estate, Solitude (now known as Westinghouse Park) in Pittsburgh.

On the morning of May 21, 1884, the drilling team found gas at a depth of 1,500 feet. A sudden burst of dirt and water damaged the drilling rig. It took Westinghouse one week to create a method to control the gas flow. People encouraged him to develop a system to deliver gas to homes and businesses for heating and lighting. Over time, several natural gas drilling rigs stood above the estate’s Victorian-style gardens. Today, no visible remains of these rigs exist.

In 1884, Westinghouse obtained a permission to operate a utility company called "The Philadelphia Company." Over the next three years, he created tools and earned more than 30 patents for this technology. He used the Philadelphia Company to drill gas wells and promote gas use for homes and businesses. By 1886, the company owned 58 gas wells and 184 miles of pipes in the Pittsburgh area. By 1887, it provided gas to over 12,000 homes and 582 businesses across the state.

In 1889, as Westinghouse focused more on electricity, he left his role as president of the Philadelphia Company but stayed on its board. Growth in the natural gas industry slowed in the 1890s due to supply issues and safety problems with gas delivery. However, the Philadelphia Company continued to grow and led to the creation of other companies, such as Equitable Gas and Duquesne Light.

Electric power distribution

In the early 1880s, George Westinghouse became interested in electrical power distribution because of his work with railroads and natural gas. At that time, electric street lighting using arc lights was growing as a business. Many companies built systems powered by either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC), which were generated locally. Around the same time, Thomas Edison started the first DC electric utility to light homes and businesses using his patented incandescent bulb.

In 1884, Westinghouse began developing his own DC lighting system and hired physicist William Stanley to help. In 1885, Westinghouse learned about the electrical transformer, a device invented by Frenchman Lucien Gaulard and Englishman John Gibbs. An Italian engineer named Guido Pantaleoni, who worked for Westinghouse, told him about the Gaulard-Gibbs transformer and a system in Europe that used AC electricity. This system used transformers to increase (step up) the voltage for long-distance transmission and then decrease (step down) the voltage for use in homes and businesses. This made it possible for large power plants to send electricity over long distances, which was a major advantage over Edison’s DC systems, which could only transmit electricity about a mile before losing too much power. Westinghouse saw AC’s potential to create a more efficient and competitive electrical system.

In 1885, Westinghouse imported Gaulard-Gibbs transformers and a Siemens AC generator to test AC networks in Pittsburgh. Stanley, with help from engineers Albert Schmid and Oliver B. Shallenberger, improved the transformer design, creating the first practical and mass-produceable transformer. In 1886, Stanley installed the first multiple-voltage AC power system in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. This system used a hydroelectric generator to produce 500-volt AC, which was then reduced to 100 volts to light homes and businesses. That same year, Westinghouse founded the "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company," which he later renamed the "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in 1889.

By 1887, Westinghouse had installed 30 more AC-lighting systems, and his company had 68 AC power stations compared to Edison’s 121 DC stations built over seven years. This competition led to the "War of Currents" in the late 1880s. Edison and his company promoted the idea that AC electricity was unsafe, even suggesting a Westinghouse AC generator be used in New York’s electric chair.

Westinghouse also faced competition from the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which had built 22 power stations by 1887 and later acquired the Brush Electric Company. Thomson-Houston avoided patent disputes by making deals, such as sharing territory with lighting companies and paying royalties to use the Stanley transformer patent.

In 1890, Edison’s company, working with Thomson-Houston, used a Westinghouse AC generator to power the first electric chair in New York. Westinghouse tried to stop this by hiring a top lawyer, but the effort failed.

The War of Currents ended in 1892 when financier J. P. Morgan forced Edison’s company to switch to AC power and removed Edison from the company he had founded. Edison’s company merged with Thomson-Houston to form General Electric, a new company controlled by Thomson-Houston’s board.

During this time, Westinghouse focused on creating a complete AC system. He bought the Sawyer–Man lamp patent by acquiring Consolidated Electric Light and developed components like an induction meter. He also obtained patents for Nikola Tesla’s brushless AC induction motor and polyphase alternating current. However, the cost of buying patents and hiring engineers delayed progress on Tesla’s motor.

In 1891, Westinghouse’s company faced financial trouble after a bank collapse in London caused investors to demand repayment of loans. Lenders forced Westinghouse to cut spending on research and company acquisitions.

Also in 1891, Westinghouse built the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant in Colorado, which sent AC power 3.5 miles to the Gold King Mine. This was the first successful long-distance transmission of industrial-grade AC power and used two Westinghouse alternators—one as a generator and one as a motor.

In May 1892, Westinghouse Electric won the contract to power the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago using AC. To meet the contract’s requirements, Westinghouse quickly developed a new incandescent bulb based on the Sawyer–Man patent he had acquired.

By early 1893, Westinghouse engineer Benjamin Lamme made progress on Tesla’s induction motor, with help from his sister, Bertha Lamme Feicht. Westinghouse began calling their complete polyphase AC system the "Tesla Polyphase System" and claimed their patents gave them legal priority over other AC systems.

The World’s Fair featured an electrical exhibit that showed the safety, reliability, and efficiency of a full AC system to the public. This demonstration helped Westinghouse win the contract to build the Adams Power Plant at Niagara Falls, New York, in 1895. The company was hired to build ten 5,000-horsepower AC generators for the plant. Westinghouse’s Niagara Power Station No. 1 operated until the plant closed in 1961.

At the same time, General Electric was awarded the contract to build the three-phase AC distribution system needed for the project.

Other Westinghouse projects: steam engines, maritime propulsion, and shock absorbers

Westinghouse continued to succeed in his other businesses, but his main focus shifted to electric power generation. At first, the main sources of power were hydro turbines, which used falling water, and reciprocating steam engines, which were used when falling water was not available. Westinghouse believed that existing reciprocating steam engines were awkward and inefficient. He wanted to create rotating engines that would be more elegant. His first patent was for a rotary steam engine, but it was not practical at the time.

In 1884, a British engineer named Charles Algernon Parsons at Clarke, Chapman and Co began testing steam turbines and generators. He created a 10-horsepower (7.5 kW) turbo-generator. In 1895, Westinghouse purchased the rights to Parsons’ turbine. His engineers improved the technology and made it larger. In 1898, Westinghouse demonstrated a 300-kilowatt generating unit, which replaced reciprocating engines in his air-brake factory. The next year, he installed a 1.5-MW 1200 rpm unit for the Hartford Electric Light Company.

Westinghouse also developed steam turbines for use in ships. A major challenge was that large turbines operated most efficiently at about 3000 rpm, while efficient propellers worked best at around 100 rpm. This required a reduction gearing system, but designing such a system to handle both high rpm and high power was difficult. Any slight misalignment could damage the powertrain. Westinghouse and his engineers created an automatic self-alignment system that made turbine power practical for large ships.

In 1889, Westinghouse bought several mining claims in the Patagonia Mountains of southeastern Arizona and formed the Duquesne Mining & Reduction Company. He aimed to find a better way to mine and extract copper from "lean" ores, which were not very rich in copper. Success in this project could have helped him compete in electrical businesses that used a lot of copper. However, the project failed. No new copper reduction process was discovered, and the mine was not profitable. Westinghouse had founded the town of Duquesne as his company headquarters. It is now a ghost town. The town once had over 1,000 residents, and the mine reached its highest production in the mid-1910s.

Westinghouse also worked on heat pumps that could provide heating and cooling. When Westinghouse claimed he was trying to build a perpetual motion machine, the British physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), one of his correspondents, told him that such a machine would break the laws of thermodynamics. Westinghouse responded that even if it was impossible, he would still have a heat pump system to patent and sell.

After the widespread use of the automobile, Westinghouse invented a compressed air shock absorber for car suspension systems. The shock absorber was among the last of the 360 patents he received. It was awarded posthumously, two years after his death.

Labor relations

Westinghouse was the first factory owner in the United States to give workers a five-day-and-a-half work week, beginning in June 1881. Saturdays were made half-holidays to encourage community activities and personal growth. Westinghouse saw this practice during a visit to England.

The planned community of Wilmerding, Pennsylvania, was home to many Westinghouse workers. It also served as the headquarters for several companies, including Westinghouse Air Brake. Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing was located one mile down Turtle Creek Valley, east of Pittsburgh. Worker homes had running water, electricity, gas, and sometimes space for small gardens. Homeownership was made possible by regularly taking money from workers' paychecks. A pension and insurance system was also provided. Factories had good lighting, air flow, and medical rooms and staff to treat injuries. These improvements, paid for by Westinghouse, were considered very new and advanced, especially compared to the difficult conditions faced by workers in nearby steel mills.

Westinghouse was greatly admired by his workers, who called him "the Old Man" privately. A sign of his forward-thinking approach was that Westinghouse engineers could keep their names on patents, even though the company owned the rights to use the inventions. Westinghouse believed this was important for human dignity and intellectual property. Unlike Edison, Westinghouse did not put his name on all company patents as a co-inventor.

Westinghouse did not support labor unions. He did not refuse workers who joined unions, but he disliked agreements where workers might strike over issues unrelated to factory conditions. Only one strike occurred at any Westinghouse company during his leadership. It happened in 1903 at Westinghouse Machine Company, which was hurrying to light up the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Westinghouse responded by quickly hiring replacement workers for those who left. Despite this, Samuel Gompers, a labor organizer, was said to have stated, "If all employers treated their workers as kindly as Westinghouse did, the American Federation of Labor would no longer be needed."

A series of short films showing life in and around Westinghouse factories was created in 1904 and shown at the St. Louis World's Fair.

Personal life, later life, and death

In 1867, George Westinghouse met Marguerite Erskine Walker on a train, and they married in August of that year. They remained married for 47 years and had one son, George Westinghouse III, who had six children.

From 1871, George and Marguerite lived in a large home in Pittsburgh called Solitude. They built the house on land George purchased in 1871. They were part of a group of wealthy industrialists and business leaders in Pittsburgh, including neighbors and friends such as Henry Clay Frick, Henry J. Heinz, William Thaw, Andrew Mellon, Richard Beatty Mellon, and the brothers Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Carnegie. Their home welcomed guests like Nikola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, and William McKinley, who later became president.

By 1893, the Westinghouses created Erskine Park in Lenox, Massachusetts, as a summer home. They chose this location to escape the busy and polluted environment of Pittsburgh. The park was named after Marguerite’s grandparents’ family.

In 1898, the Westinghouses rented the Blaine House mansion in Washington, D.C., and later bought it in 1901. Marguerite was known for hosting large and elegant events at this home. In 1918, their Pittsburgh home, Solitude, was torn down, and the land was given to the city of Pittsburgh to create Westinghouse Park. The house in Erskine Park was sold by the family in 1917 and later destroyed.

In 1894, the Grand Army of the Republic, a group of Union soldiers from the Civil War, held a week-long meeting in Pittsburgh. George Westinghouse, a veteran himself, hosted a dinner and entertainment event for over 5,000 people at the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company’s new buildings in East Pittsburgh. He paid for all the preparations and the cost of transporting guests to and from the event by train.

George Westinghouse was proud of his invention, the airbrake. In 1904, he said, “If people remember me for helping make the airbrake, which made travel safer, that would be enough.”

George Westinghouse remained a leader in American industry until 1907, when the financial crisis of that year caused him to step down from managing the Westinghouse Electric company. By 1911, he was no longer involved in business, and his health was poor. He died on March 12, 1914, in New York City at the age of 67. He was first buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, but later moved to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where he was joined by his wife, Marguerite, who died three months after him. She was also moved from Woodlawn Cemetery at the same time as George.

Honors and awards

George Westinghouse was greatly respected by his colleagues and employees. For example, Nikola Tesla, who worked with him to create the AC polyphase system for electric power, described him in 1938 as follows: "In my view, George Westinghouse was the only person on Earth who could take my alternating-current system, under the difficult conditions at that time, and successfully overcome challenges from prejudice and powerful interests. He was a leader of great importance, a true gentleman of the world, someone for whom America can be proud, and to whom all people owe a great deal of thanks."

List of Honors and Awards adapted from Ref.

• In 1874, he received the Scott Legacy Medal from the Franklin Institute.
• In 1884, he was given the Order of Leopold by Leopold II, King of the Belgians.
• In 1884 and 1889, he was honored with the Order of the Royal Crown of Italy by Umberto I.
• In 1895, he became a member of France's Legion of Honor.
• In 1905, the American Engineering Societies awarded him the John Fritz Medal.
• In 1906, the Berlin Royal Technical University granted him an honorary doctorate in engineering.
• In 1910, he was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
• In 1911, he received the AIEE Edison Medal.
• In 1913, he became the first American to be given the Grashoff Medal by Germany.
• In 1915, Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh was named in his honor. It is located near his former home.
• In 1918, his Pittsburgh home, called Solitude, was bought by the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania and given to the city of Pittsburgh to create Westinghouse Park. The house was later torn down.
• In 1930, the George Westinghouse Memorial, funded by 50,000 of his employees, was placed in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh.
• In 1932, the George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge was opened to carry US Route 30 over Turtle Creek Valley, where his companies operated. A plaque on the bridge reads:
• In 1936, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers held a special event to celebrate George Westinghouse's career and achievements on the 90th anniversary of his birth.
• Since 1953, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers has given a George Westinghouse Medal for work in the field of mechanical engineering. Since 1972, there has also been a gold medal and a silver medal for younger engineers.
• In 1986, the George Westinghouse Jr. Birthplace and Boyhood Home in Central Bridge, New York, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
• In 1989, Westinghouse was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
• On December 1, 2018, Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto declared the day Westinghouse Park Centennial Day.
• In 2019, the Westinghouse Park 2nd Century Coalition was formed.
• In 2021, Westinghouse's 175th birthday (his "dodransbicentennial") was celebrated. Westinghouse Park was certified as an arboretum and found eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
• In 2023, the Westinghouse Legacy 501(c)(3) organization was created to promote George Westinghouse's life and work. It is building an online archive about him and supporting projects in the Pittsburgh park named after him, including following the city's master development plan for the park and planning long-term archaeological research.

Timeline

(Adapted from Library of Congress)

• 1846: George Westinghouse is born.
• 1865: George Westinghouse gets first patent for a rotary steam engine.
• 1867: George Westinghouse marries Marguerite Erskine Walker.
• 1869: George Westinghouse receives a patent for the air brake. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company is created, with George Westinghouse as president.
• 1872: An automatic air brake is invented.
• 1878: The first foreign air brake company is started in Sevran, France.
• 1881: The Westinghouse Machine Company is formed. The Westinghouse Brake Company, Ltd., is founded in London, England.
• 1881: The air brake company starts a half-day on Saturdays.
• 1882: The Union Switch and Signal Company is created.
• 1884: The Westinghouse Brake Company, Ltd., is founded in Hanover, Germany.
• 1886: The Westinghouse Electric Company is formed. It later becomes the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company.
• 1889: Construction begins on an air brake factory in Wilmerding, PA.
• 1890: Westinghouse starts making electric railway motors.
• 1893: The Westinghouse Electric Company provides lighting for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
• 1895: Main buildings for the Electric and Manufacturing Company are built in East Pittsburgh.
• 1896: Generators made by Westinghouse use the power of Niagara Falls to produce electricity.
• 1898: The Westinghouse Company, Ltd., is organized in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• 1899: The British Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Ltd., is formed in London, England, with another plant in Manchester.
• 1901: Societe Anonyme Westinghouse is created with offices in Paris and works in Le Havre and Freinville. The Westinghouse Electricitats-Actiengesellschaft is organized in Berlin.
• 1903: The Canadian Westinghouse Company, Ltd., is founded. A Relief Department (for disability benefits, medical, and surgical services) is created.
• 1904: The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co. films the Westinghouse Works. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis features exhibits, film screenings, and power equipment from the Westinghouse Company.
• 1905: The Manhattan Elevated Railways and the New York subway system are electrified.
• 1907: George Westinghouse loses control of his companies.
• 1911: George Westinghouse ends all connections with his companies.
• 1914: George Westinghouse dies.
• 1918: George Westinghouse receives his final patent, four years after his death.

During his lifetime, the companies of George Westinghouse were located in the Pittsburgh region. Their locations, along with other major industrial sites, are numbered in the image and listed here:

• Westinghouse Air Brake: 25th Street and Liberty Avenue
• Westinghouse Air Brake: Allegheny City
• Westinghouse Air Brake: Wilmerding
• Union Switch & Signal and Westinghouse Electric: Garrison Alley
• Union Switch and Signal: Swissvale
• First Westinghouse home and gas wells: "Solitude"
• Haymaker gas wells: Murrysville
• Other gas wells: Murrysville
• Fuel gas line: Murrysville to Pittsburgh
• Edgar Thomson Works of Carnegie Steel: Braddock
• Carnegie Steel Company: Homestead
• Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing: East Pittsburgh
• Westinghouse Machine Company
• Westinghouse Foundries: Trafford

Patents

Below is a list of U.S. patents for inventions created by George Westinghouse. Many of these inventions were also patented in other countries, including Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Switzerland. Additional patents were filed under the names of his companies or his engineers. A complete list of U.S. patents can be found in Ref.

• U.S. patent 34,605, 1862, machines that separate grain and seeds; patent awarded to George Westinghouse Sr.
• U.S. patent 50759A, 1865, improvement in rotary steam engines; first patent awarded to George Westinghouse Jr.
• U.S. patent 61967A, 1867, improved railroad switch and car replacer; device to help return derailed train cars to the tracks.
• U.S. patent 76365A, 1868, improved railway frog; device for switching trains between tracks.
• U.S. patent 88929A, 1869, improvement in steam-power-brake devices; the air brake.

• U.S. patent 106,899, 1870, improvements in steam engines and pumps.
• U.S. patent 109,695, 1870, improvement in atmospheric car-brake pipes.
• U.S. patent 144,006, 1873, improvement in steam and air brakes.
• U.S. patent 136,631, 1873, improvement in steam-power-brake couplings.
• U.S. patent 149,901, 1874, improvement in valves for fluid brake-pipes.
• U.S. patent 159,533, 1875, pneumatic pump.
• U.S. patent 223,201, 1879, improvement in auxiliary telephone exchanges.
• U.S. patent 223,202, 1879, automatic telephone switch for connecting local lines using a main line.
• U.S. patent 218,149, 1879, improvement in fluid-pressure brake apparatus.
• U.S. patent 246,053, 1881, interlocking switch and signal apparatus.
• U.S. patent 280,269, 1883, fluid-pressure regulator.
• U.S. patent 301,191, 1884, system for conveying and using gas under pressure.
• U.S. patent 306,566, 1884, method for detecting leaks in gas mains.
• U.S. patent 314,089, 1885, system for protecting railroad tracks and gas-pipe lines.
• U.S. patent 330,179, 1885, method for detecting and removing leaks from gas mains.
• U.S. patent 342,552, 1886, system of electrical distribution.
• U.S. patent 342,553, 1886, induction coil.
• U.S. patent 357,295, 1887, commutator for dynamo electric machines.
• U.S. patent 366,362, 1887, electrical converter; a type of transformer.
• U.S. patent 373,035, 1887, system of electrical distribution.
• U.S. patent 357,295, 1888, electric meter (with Philip Lange).
• U.S. patent 399,639, 1889, system of electrical distribution.
• U.S. patent 400,420, 1889, fluid-meter.
• U.S. patent 425,059, 1890, fluid-pressure automatic brake mechanism.
• U.S. patent 427,489, 1890, alternating current electric meter.
• U.S. patent 437,740, 1890, fluid-pressure automatic brake.
• U.S. patent 676,108, 1890, electric railway system.
• U.S. patent 446,159, 1891, switch and signal apparatus.
• U.S. patent 454,129, 1891, pipe-coupling.
• U.S. patent 499,336, 1893, draw-gear apparatus for cars.
• U.S. patent 497,394, 1893, conduit electric railway.
• U.S. patent 543,280, 1895, incandescent electric lamp.
• U.S. patent 550,465, 1895, electric railway.
• U.S. patent 579,506, 1897, current-collecting device for railway vehicles.
• U.S. patent 579,525, 1897, system of circuits and apparatus for electric railways.
• U.S. patent 595,007, 1897, elevator.
• U.S. patent 595,008, 1897, electric railway.
• U.S. patent 609,484, 1898, fluid pressure automatic brake.
• U.S. patent 645,612, 1899, method of distributing energy.
• U.S. patent 672,114, 1900, draft appliance for railway cars.
• U.S. patent 672,117, 1900, draw-gear and buffing apparatus.
• U.S. patent 687,468, 1900, draw-gear and buffing apparatus.
• U.S. patent 727,039, 1900, automatic fluid pressure brake apparatus.
• U.S. patent 773,832, 1903, controlling system for electric motors.
• U.S. patent 922,827, 1908, gearing.
• U.S. patent 972,421, 1908, turbine.
• U.S. patent 1,031,759, 1912, vehicle supporting device; a shock absorber.
• U.S. patent 1,185,608, 1916, automobile air spring.
• U.S. patent 1,284,006, 1918, automatic train control (filed by his executors).