Westinghouse Electric Corporation 

Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Fate Sold
Successor Viacom, Inc. (after 1997 renaming to CBS Corporation)
Founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (1886) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Defunct 1999
Headquarters Monroeville, PA
Key people George Westinghouse, Founder
Industry Electronics, etc.

Founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and was renamed CBS Corporation in 1997. George Westinghouse had previously founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

The company pioneered long-distance power transmission and high-voltage transmission. Westinghouse Electric received the rights for the first patent for alternating-current transmission from Nikola Tesla and unveiled the technology for lighting in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

In addition to George Westinghouse, engineers working for the company included William Stanley, Nikola Tesla, Oliver B. Shallenberger, Benjamin Garver Lamme and his sister Bertha Lamme. It was historically the rival to General Electric which was founded by George Westinghouse's arch-rival, Thomas Edison (see War of the Currents).

The company is also known for its time capsule contributions during the 1939 New York World's Fair and 1964 New York World's Fair.

Contents

Timeline of company evolution

George Westinghouse

1880s

Starting years

1890s

Alternating currents promoter

1900s to 1920s

Growth and change

1930s and 1940s

Enters the nuclear age
Industrial atom smasher
Close up of Westinghouse logo on historic kitchen stove at John & Mable Ringling Museum, Sarasota

1950s to 1970s

Enters finance
Westinghouse Credit Corporation

1980s

1990s to 2000s

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Feurer R (2006). Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950, University of Illinois Press. 
  2. ^ "Heartland of UE Struggle". UE (September 2002). Retrieved on 2008-04-20.

External links