USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Volume I > Part 7
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In 1867 Mr. Westinghouse established steel works in Schenectady for the manu- facture of the car-replacer and reversible steel railroad frogs, but lack of capital proved an obstacle. As a result of cor- respondence, the inventor was invited to Pittsburgh, where he made a contract
with the Pittsburgh Steel Works for the manufacture of steel frogs, he himself acting as agent for their introduction. Traveling extensively, Mr. Westing- house took every occasion to interest in- vestors in the air brake, offering repeated- ly to railroad companies the right to use the invention if they would bear the ex- pense of a trial. In 1868 he met Ralph Baggaley, whom he interested in the description of the brake, and who, upon being offered a one-fifth interest if he would bear the expense of apparatus suf- ficient for one train, accepted the proposi- tion. The apparatus being constructed, permission was given by the superinten- dent of the "Pan Handle" railroad to ap- ply it to an engine and four cars on the accommodation train running between Pittsburgh and Steubenville. This train was fitted in the latter part of 1868, and the first application of the brake pre- vented a collision with a wagon on the track. The first patent was issued April 13, 1869, and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company was formed July 20 of the same year. The first orders for apparatus were from the Michigan Central railway and the Chicago & Northwestern railway. The brake was not without imperfections, but alterations were rapidly made, and it was brought into good condition in 1869, when works for the manufacture were be- gun, being completed in 1870. Constant attention was given to details, so that the brake underwent many changes. The policy of issuing no rights or licenses, but confining the manufacture to one locality and keeping it under one management, has not only been of the greatest possible use to the railroads in securing uniform- ity in brake apparatus throughout the United States and adjacent territory, but it has resulted in the erection of large works, equipped with the finest and new- est machinery, at Wilmerding, thirteen miles from Pittsburgh. In consequence of this there has arisen a beautiful town,
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brilliantly lighted with electricity, well paved and sewered, and having schools and churches.
In 1871 Mr. Westinghouse went abroad to introduce the air brake in England -- an undertaking which proved no easy task, inasmuch as the trains in Europe had hand brakes upon only what were termed "brake vans," there being no brakes upon the other vehicles. Mr. Westinghouse was thus required, be- tween 1871 and 1882, to spend in all seven years in Europe, and inventive ability was severely taxed to meet the new con- ditions of railroad practice.
Meanwhile, Mr. Westinghouse in- vented the "automatic" feature of the brake, which overcame other imperfec- tions in the first form, and removed the danger from the parting of trains on steep grades. In 1886 he invented the "quick action" brake, the improvement being made in what is known as the "triple valve." By this improved valve it became practicable to apply all the brakes on a train of fifty freight cars in two seconds. The automatic and quick action brakes are regarded by experts as far surpassing the original brake in ingenuity and inventive genius. They are not mere improvements, but distinct inventions of the highest class, unique and remarkable. Simple in action, yet complicated in the details of its construction, the automatic brake is wonderfully efficient, and has prevented many accidents, as when a por- tion of a train escaped from the control of the engineer, while the quick action brake gives complete and instant control to the engineer over a train more than a third of a mile in length.
The patents taken out by Mr. West- inghouse on the air brake are interesting in their variety, covering as they do every detail from the front end of the engine to the rear of the last car, and including stop-cocks, hose couplings, valves, pack- ings, and many forms of "equivalents" of
valves and other devices. Infringers of these patents have been invariably en- joined by the courts, which have declared the inventions to be of great value, pioneer in character, and therefore en- titled to very broad construction. Scien- tists unite in regarding the air brake in its completed form as one of the greatest inventions of the nineteenth century, and its usefulness is attested by its almost universal adoption by the railroads of the world. The claimants of the honor have been many, but the decisions of the courts in upholding the Westinghouse patents destroy such claims, and the additional inventions, increasing the efficiency of the brake, are sufficient to establish the su- periority of Mr. Westinghouse.
In 1883 Mr. Westinghouse became in- terested in the operation of railway sig- nals and switches by compressed air, and developed and patented the system now manufactured by the Union Switch and Signal Company. To operate the signals, compressed air is used as the power, and electricity as the agent, to operate minute valves for setting the compressed air in motion. Under the patents obtained for this invention, the Union Switch and Sig- nal Company has introduced in Boston, Jersey City, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and many other places, what is termed the "Pneumatic Interlocking Switch and Signal Apparatus," whereby all the signals and switches are operated from a given point, using compressed air as the motive power and electricity to bring that power into operation. Through this invention the movement of signals and switches no longer requires consider- able physical force, the operations being controlled by tiny levers which a child can move. These plants are magnificent illustrations of what can be accomplished by a proper combination of steam, air and electricity.
The development of the switch and sig- nal appartus ultimately led Mr. West-
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inghouse to turn his attention to the sub- ject of electric lighting, and, having pur-' chased some patents from William Stan- ley, in 1883, he began the manufacture of lamps and electric lighting apparatus at the works of the Union Switch and Sig- nal Company. In 1885 he purchased the Gaulard and Gibbs patents for the dis- tribution of electricity by means of alter- nating currents, and in 1886 formed the Westinghouse Electric Company, engag- ing actively in the manufacture and sale of all kinds of electrical machinery. In 1889-90 this company absorbed the United States Electric Lighting Com- pany and the Consolidated Electric Light Company. In 1891 all these companies were reorganized into the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, which has built very extensive works at East Pittsburgh, and employs about four- teen thousand operatives. In the con- struction of these buildings, as in all the others under his management and con- trol, architects have, by direction of Mr. Westinghouse, borne in mind the health and comfort of those to be employed in them, and every proper provision has been made for their well-being. About this time Mr. Westinghouse became in- terested also in electric lighting com- panies in New York, Philadelphia, Balti- more and Pittsburgh, and has given special attention to the problem of the generation and distribution of electricity for commercial purposes. In 1881 the Westinghouse Machine Company was formed to manufacture engines designed by H. H. Westinghouse, brother of the inventor. The latter, becoming largely interested in it financially, was made its president, and the business has developed into one of large proportions with ex- tensive works at East Pittsburgh.
In all the enterprises in which he has been interested Mr. Westinghouse's dynamic personality has been a most potent influence. He has gathered
around him a group of engineers and scientists-men who dealt in an intangi- ble thing-inventive power. The few who were far-sighted enough to aid the air brake when it was seeking for recog- nition, have been enriched.
In 1884, natural gas having been brought from Murraysville to Pitts- burgh, Mr. Westinghouse suggested that drilling might develop natural gas in the Iron City, and, accordingly, he drilled a well on the grounds of his own residence, a venture which resulted in the produc- tion of gas in enormous quantities. An ordinance was enacted by the city author- izing him to lay pipes under the streets, and he purchased the charter of what is known as the Philadelphia Company, having power to carry on the natural gas business, no law relating especially to this business being then in existence. Mr. Westinghouse was the first justly to ap- preciate the perils and requirements in- volved in the distribution of such enorm- ous quantities of this almost odorless gas, under great pressure, with the possibility of leakage at every joint, and not only did he provide for this leakage by special appliances, but he also foresaw the need of large pipes for the reduction of friction when the pressure should decrease. His theory of the utility of pipes of large di- ameter has been amply justified by ex- perience, and the work of the Philadel- phia Company contributed very largely to the re-establishment of Pittsburgh in the iron and steel business.
In 1892, the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company was given the contract for the illumination of the World's Fair at Chicago, and shortly thereafter the incandescent electric lamps manufactured by it were declared by the courts to be an infringement of patents owned by a competitor. Although these patents were about to expire, Mr. West- inghouse was obliged to immediately design and manufacture in large quanti-
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ties an incandescent lamp which would not infringe them. This he did by mak- ing what was called "the stopper lamp," the use of which enabled the Westing- house company to fulfill its contract. To accomplish this it was not only necessary to design a lamp which would not in- fringe existing patents, but it was also necessary to design and make the special machinery required for its production, and all this had to be done in a very limited time. That Mr. Westinghouse succeeded and enabled his company to carry out its contract obligations, is one of the most remarkable tours de force in his career. The incident, however, is only one of many which illustrate Mr. Westinghouse's resourcefulness and en- ergy in the face of what seemed over- whelming odds.
From 1899 to 1906 Mr. Westinghouse again spent a considerable portion of his time in Europe, where he founded com- panies in England and France for the manufacture of electrical apparatus un- der patents owned by his American com- panies. Then came the financial panic of 1907, and involved three important Westinghouse companies: the Westing- house Electric & Manufacturing Com- pany, the Westinghouse Machine Com- pany, and the Security Investment Com- pany. Leaving largely to his associates the readjustment of the affairs of the two latter companies, which were practically his personal property, and disregarding his possible personal losses, Mr. Westing- house concentrated all his energies on the readjustment of the finances of the Elec- tric Company, and so successful was he in this that in December, 1908, but little more than a year after the panic, the com- pany's obligations were discharged and it was placed upon a firm financial basis with cash assets of over $17,000,000. Even in the midst of this exacting task, Mr. Westinghouse still found time to con- tinue the development of important in-
ventions, and his unvarying cheerfulness and optimism in the face of apparently unsurmountable difficulties won the ad- miration of all who worked with him.
Mr. Westinghouse's later work includes the development of gas-engines of large power, and steam-turbines for land and marine use. In co-operation with the late Rear-Admiral G. W. Melville, U.S. N., he was the first to suggest the use of reduction-gearing in connection with highspeed turbines, and by the invention of what is known as a "floating frame" for gearing of this kind he has inaugu- rated a new epoch in marine engineering.
The most recent but not the least of the products of Mr. Westinghouse's genius as applied to mechanics is his air spring for automobiles and motor trucks, the first form of which was brought to his attention by its inventors while it was still in an experimental state. Mr. West- inghouse quickly recognized the possibil- ities of such a device, and, after several years of development and testing, he brought out the air spring, which, be- cause of the great increase in comfort and safety which it affords to motorists, promises to become as well known as the air brake. In this air spring Mr. West- inghouse has accomplished the remarka- ble feat in mechanics of retaining air at a pressure of seventy or eighty pounds in a cylinder the piston of which is sub- jected to incessant reciprocating motion for hours at a time.
In addition to his mechanical genius, Mr. Westinghouse possesses the most thorough familiarity with financial ques- tions, and as long ago as 1896 predicted that the rapid increase in the production of gold and the decreased cost of its pro- duction would cause a depreciation of the gold standard and lead to the increased cost of living which has since become world-wide. He is a splendid type of the alert, energetic and progressive business man. His literary and classical educa-
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tion, his travel and wide experience have fitted him to direct the vast enterprises which his ability has either created or acquired. At the present time he is inter- ested in companies manufacturing the Westinghouse air brake in the United States, Canada, England, France, Ger- many, Russia, Italy and Australia, and has founded companies for the manufac- ture of electrical apparatus in the United States, Canada, England, France, Italy and Russia, with great works at Wilmer- ding, East Pittsburgh, Swissvale, and Trafford City, Pennsylvania, United States; Hamilton, Canada; Manchester and London, England; Havre, France ; Hanover, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; Vienna, Austria; Vado, Italy- which employ about 50,000 workmen. Some of the other companies in which he has large or controlling interests are: The Westinghouse Air Spring Company ; the Cooper Hewitt Electric Company, which manufactures mercury vapor lamps and rectifiers, and has a subsidiary com- pany in France which produces in addi- tion apparatus for the sterilization of water, milk, etc., by the application of ultra-violet rays; the Pittsburgh Meter Company, manufacturers of water and gas meters; the Westinghouse Friction Draft-Gear Company ; the Westinghouse Traction Brake Company ; the East Pitts- burgh Improvement Company; the Nernst Lamp Company; the Union Switch & Signal Company; the Traction & Power Securities Company, Ltd., of London, England, and the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company, Ltd.
Many unsolicited honors have come to Mr. Westinghouse. In 1874 the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania awarded him the Scott permium and medal for his improvements in air brakes; he has received the decorations of the Legion of Honor, the Royal Crown of Italy, and the Order of Leopold of Bel- gium. In 1890 Union College conferred
upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy ; in 1896 he was the second recipient of the John Fritz medal; in the same year he received the degree of Doc- tor of Engineering from the Koenigliche Technische Hochschule, Berlin; and in 1912 he was awarded the Edison gold medal for his achievements in the intro- duction and development of the alternat- ing current system of distributing elec- trical energy. Mr. Westinghouse is an honorary member and past president of the American Society of Mechanical En- gineers; an honorary member of the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science; an honorary member of the National Electric Light Association ; the Royal Institution of Great Britain; Academy of Political and Social Science in the City of New York; American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia; Franklin Institute; Amer- ican Association for the Conservation of Vision; American Institute of Electrical Engineers; American Institute of Mining Engineers; American Society of Civil En- gineers; American Society of Automobile Engineers; American Society of Naval Engineers (Associate) ; American Protec- tive Tariff League; American Museum of Natural History; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; New York Botanical Garden; Pilgrims of the United States; Japan Society of New York; Pan-Amer- ican Society of United States; Automo- bile Club of America; Chamber of Com- merce, New York; City Midday Club, New York; Economic Club, New York ; Metropolitan Club, New York; Railroad Club, New York; Republican Club, New York; Sleepy Hollow Country Club, New York; Union League Club, New York; Country Club, Duquesne, Oakmont Country, Pittsburgh, University, Union, all of Pittsburgh; Engineers' Club, Bos- ton, Massachusetts; Chevy Chase Club, Washington, D. C .; Western Pennsyl- vania Exposition Society.
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Mr. Westinghouse married, August 8, 1867, in Brooklyn, New York, Marguerite Erskine Walker, and they are the par- ents of one son, George Westinghouse (3d). The unfailing sympathy and strong qualities of mind and heart pos- sessed by Mrs. Westinghouse are re- garded by her husband as having been important factors in his success.
Strength-that is the impression invar- iably received in talking with George Westinghouse-strength dominated by keen mentality and by genius consecrated to the service of his fellow-men. "The Wizard of the Air Brake" has been the creator of an entirely new industry, and has immeasurably increased the wealth and prestige of his home city of Pitts- burgh. But he has done much more. The offspring of his genius has been the means of saving countless lives, and has caused multitudes to bless him as a bene- factor of humanity.
LAMBERTON, Robert Alexander, Lawyer, Legislator, Educator.
Among those men whose work for their generation is of the highest and most permanent value must necessarily be considered the great educators. The precious material in which they work is the most priceless treasure of the state, for the whole social fabric is built up upon those picked youths who pass out each year from the universities. Since this young manhood holds in its hands the nation's future,-all its hopes of a splendid progress and all its possibilities of a sordid retrogression,-great is the responsibility and the attendant honor of those men who worthily guide, instruct and inspire this vanguard of the future. Belonging to this limited class of men and carrying out its highest standards with the most generous and scrupulous spirit, Dr. Lamberton did nobly his part towards a generation of young men
whose formative years were passed un- der his wholesome and stirring influence.
He was born at Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, December 6, 1824, son of Major Robert Lamberton and Mary Harkness, his wife. Major Lam- berton served in the war of 1812 with Great Britain, and was a merchant and postmaster at Carlisle from 1808 to 1841 ; he was the son of General James Lam- berton, who was born near Londonderry, in the Province of Ulster, Ireland (where some of the family had removed from Ayrshire, Scotland, at the time of the persecution of the Covenanters), and landed at Philadelphia, September 20, 1783, and settled in the Cumberland Val- ley, Pennsylvania, where another mem- ber of the family, John Lamberton, had settled before the Revolution.
The family name of Lamberton is of pure Scottish origin, and, like the ancient surnames of Scotland, was territorial in its origin, being derived from the settle- ment in early times of a Saxon named Lambert, whose "tun" or town it became. The name arose about the time of the Norman Conquest (1066). The most famous of the name in ancient times was William de Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, in Scotland, and the friend of King Robert Bruce, at whose coronation he assisted in 1306.
Dr. Lamberton's mother was the daughter of William Harkness . (2nd), who entered the colonial service and served as ensign in the French and In- dian War and in the Revolutionary War, and was present at a number of engage- ments, Brandywine and Germantown being included.
In early boyhood, Dr. Lamberton gave evidence of intellectual powers of high order and of the accompanying ambition that renders these powers of avail. He was graduated in his nineteenth year as valedictorian of his class, from Dickinson College, June, 1843. After leaving col-
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lege he taught for two years, and then clined. He was for many years counsel began the study of the law in the office . for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad of William M. Biddle, Esq., of Carlisle, Company at Harrisburg, and in the Su- preme Court of the United States he argued for the company the "State Freight Tax Case," in which he main- tained that the tax was unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court so decided, re- versing the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania; and in the "Gross Receipts Tax Case," which he argued for the same company, the Supreme Court of the United States then decided that the tax was constitutional, but it has since prac- tically reversed itself. and, having removed to Harrisburg in 1846, completed his studies under James McCormick, Esq. His admission to the bars of Cumberland and Dauphin coun- ties, Pennsylvania, took place in August, 1846. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, June 23, 1853, and in the Supreme Court of the United States on March 26, 1872. His work as a practitioner met such a measure of immediate success and gave such a promise of future growth, that a legal career of undoubted leadership was Dr. Lamberton was a staunch church- man, serving as a vestryman of St. Stephen's Church and as superintendent of St. Paul's Mission, now St. Paul's Church, Harrisburg, for many years; and from the organization of the diocese in 1871 to 1891, a period of twenty years, he served as the secretary of the Di- ocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Central Penn- sylvania (now Bethlehem), and was one of its deputies to the General Convention of the Church until his death. about to open for him. The breaking out of the Civil War called forth about this time the ardent men of the country, and Mr. Lamberton was among those who responded to the Nation's summons. In 1862 he enlisted in the First Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Militia, and was elected captain of the Brant Light Guards (Company E), receiving two days later the commission of lieutenant- colonel of the regiment. His record was one of great credit, for which apprecia- tion was shown by his being placed on Governor Curtin's staff at the time of Lee's invasion of the Cumberland Valley and Gettysburg in 1863.
Upon his return to civil life, Mr. Lam- berton resumed his interrupted practice, throwing himself with great ardor into the political questions of the day. In 1873 he was elected as delegate-at-large on the Democratic ticket to the Pennsyl- vania Constitutional Convention. His work in that body showed marked abil- ity and a large and statesmanlike grasp of vital issues. He did excellent work on the important committees on execu- tive department and counties, townships, and boroughs. In the fall of 1874, when a lieutenant-governor of the state was first chosen (a Democrat being elected), he was urged to be a candidate, but de-
The work of Mr. Lamberton in con- nection with secret societies showed his high ability as an executive officer. He was an enthusiastic Freemason, and was elected grand master of Masons in Penn- sylvania, serving from 1869 to 1871. He also served in the highest offices of the Odd Fellows, making for himself a rec- ord for leadership, being grand master in the year 1856-57, and a grand repre- sentative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States from 1860 to 1876. He was the only person who had been grand master of both Masons and Odd Fellows in Pennsylvania.
The qualifications of Mr. Lamberton as an executive officer of high ability and his brilliant attainments in scholarship attracted the notice of the board of trus- tees of Lehigh University, of which he
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had been a member since 1871, and a tender was made to him of the presidency of that institution in 1880. He accepted the offer, and became the president in March of that year; the University of Pennsylvania conferred upon him in the same year the degree of Doctor of Laws. For thirteen years Dr. Lamberton filled this post with signal success, his fidelity to the highest standards of personal and national conduct, his scholarship, and his enthusiastic devotion to the noblest in human nature in all its phases, combined to form a personality that through thou- sands of young men sends out, and still will send, influences of enduring signifi- cance to the American people. He devel- oped the fine material at his hand along new lines, causing an awakening and up- lifting in the affairs of the University and its personnel, as was shown in many ways. New buildings were constructed and new plans for betterment outlined and carried out. He inaugurated indeed a new era for Lehigh.
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