Westinghouse, George 1846-1914. US inventor
and founder of the Westinghouse Corporation
1886. After service in the Civil War he
patented a powerful air brake for trains in
1869. His invention allowed trains to run
more safely with greater loads at greater
speeds. In the 1880s he turned his attention
to the generation of electricity. Unlike
Thomas Edison, Westinghouse introduced
alternating current (AC) into his power
stations.