Great Documentaries's video: Westinghouse - Chapter 20 - The Westinghouse Engineers

(NARRATOR) Even though the Battle of the Currents may have been over, the fierce competition between Westinghouse and Edison continued. (REIS) It's well-known today that Thomas Edison had 1,093 patents during his lifetime. History also records that George Westinghouse is credited with 361 patents during his lifetime. But, again, understanding the differences in their personalities has a major impact on how many patents each was granted. It is well-known and well-documented that if you were a worker that worked on an item that was patented and worked for Thomas Edison, the name on that patent was Thomas Edison. It's also well-known and well-documented that if you were a worker that worked for George Westinghouse at the time and had worked on an item that was patented, the name on the patent was that of the employee or the worker. Benjamin Lamme, for example, one of the great Westinghouse engineers, perhaps best-known for having designed the first three 5,000-horsepower generators that went into Niagara Falls. Benjamin Lamme alone had 162 patents during his career at Westinghouse, every one of them recorded in the name of Benjamin Lamme. So I always thought if we could get all these patents of all the great engineers and others that worked for Westinghouse, if he had the same practice as Edison in putting his name on those patents, he'd have well in excess, also, of 1,000 patents during his lifetime. (NARRATOR) George Westinghouse always surrounded himself with the best and the brightest. (SKRABEC) He had a real knack as a manager that Edison didn't in that he could bring a lot of very creative, very intelligent people together and at least get them to work towards a project. And these people were hard to bring together.They had big egos. And he was able to manage that. He was a tremendous manager, something that Edison was not and most inventors are not. (NARRATOR) By 1900, George Westinghouse had started or was associated with nearly 40 companies. By 1910, that number would rise close to 60 companies. He was worth many millions of dollars several times over, although some joked that Marguerite spent it faster than even he could make it. (REIS) Later in life, George Westinghouse worked on some other ideas that perhaps he's not as well-known for today. Westinghouse Electric Company actually went into the production of full-sized Westinghouse alternating- current electric locomotives in the early part of the 1900s, and this came about in part because the East Coast of the United States, the New York City area for example, considered steam locomotives too dirty and also too unsafe. There had been a great wreck in New York when an engineer on a steam locomotive failed to see the signals because of the smoke from the locomotive. So the East Coast of the United States electrified their railroads. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Westinghouse Electric manufactured full-sized, electric alternating- current locomotives at the East Pittsburgh Works of Westinghouse Electric here in Pennsylvania. (NARRATOR) On May 16, 1905, he made history by combining two of his passions, transportation and alternating-current electricity, where his electric train was matched against a steam locomotive of similar size. As he stands front and center, his smile is no doubt covered by his trademark moustache. That day, his electric locomotive proved superiority in handling a train of 50 steel gondolas, opening up the future of new electric railroad innovations for the Westinghouse Electric Company.