WESTINGHOUSE, GEORGE (1846-1914), American in ventor and manufacturer, was born at Central Bridge (N.Y.), on Oct. 6, 1846. He entered the Union Army in the Civil War in 1863, but in 5864 was appointed third assistant engineer in the navy. In 1865 he invented a device for replacing derailed cars and also a reversible steel railway frog. In 1869 he patented his air-brake and organized the Westinghouse Air Brake company. In 1872 he invented the automatic air-brake. This brake was quickly adopted by railways in America and gradually in Europe. He also developed a system of railway signals, operated by com pressed air with the assistance of electrical contrivances. In
June 1912 he received the Edison Gold Medal for "meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternat ing current system for light and power." In 5893 this system was installed at the Chicago exposition. He built dynamos for the power plants at Niagara Falls, for the rapid transit systems of New York city, and for the London Metropolitan Railway. Westinghouse also devised a method for conveying gas through long-distance pipes, thus making it a practicable fuel. He died in New York on March 12,