March 5: On This Day in World History … briefly
1872 – George Westinghouse patents the locomotive air brake
George Westinghouse Jr. was the American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who invented the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, gaining his first patent at the age of 19.
Westinghouse saw the potential in alternating current as an electricity distribution system in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it, a move that put his business in direct competition with the Edison direct current system.
In 1911 Westinghouse received the AIEE’s Edison Medal ‘For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system.’
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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