GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE JR. - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 08/09/1910 - HFSID 31435

GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR
George Westinghouse, Jr. sends a typed letter about an article and to give more information.
Typed Letter Signed: "Geo. Westinghouse", 1p, 8¼x10¼. Erskine Park, Lenox, Massachusetts, 1910 August 9. To E.J. Edwards, Esq., Care National Bank, New York. Headed: "Personal". In full: "It is impossible for me to adequately express to you my appreciation of the article which you wrote for the Sunday New York Times, which I only saw, however, Monday afternoon. I have been trying to get you on the telephone to thank you orally, but so far have been unable to reach you, so am writing these few lines. If you were to see the record which has been made since Mr. Mather has been Chairman, you would be able to write an article which would raise the hair of some gentlemen. I shall be away from Lenox for a day or two. Would you like to see our country place at Lenox? If so, could you come up Friday afternoon and spend Saturday; or if it would suit you better, come up Saturday morning and spend Saturday and Sunday here. I hope you can. Very truly yours," By the age of 25, George Westinghouse, Jr. (1846-1914) was a Civil War veteran who had already introduced his first major invention, air brakes that allowed an entire train to stop at once (1868); previously, the brakes on each car had to be applied before the train would slow down. After patenting this invention, he began his career as an industrialist by establishing the first of his 60 companies, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (1869). Although direct current was the standard form of power in the U.S., Westinghouse learned that Europeans were experimenting with alternating current. Implementing their original plans, he and three engineers improved the transformer and united this device with Nikola Tesla's AC motor. In 1886, he organized the Westinghouse Electric Company to manufacture and market his new high-voltage alternating-current single-phase system for the transmission of electricity, the primary form of electricity now used in the U.S. Westinghouse, who served as President of the Westinghouse Electric Company from 1886-1911, also patented a number of devices for practicable and economical transmission of natural gas. Folds, vertical fold touches "n" in Westinghouse. Spreading of type and light type transfer. Encapsulated. Overall, fine condition.