Earlier this week, I posted this link on the George Westinghouse Memorial in Pittsburgh. The picture accompanying it concentrated on the
lovely lily pond on the site, while my text recounted how the memorial was
built and, more recently, renovated. But today, I thought I would focus on who is being commemorated here, and why:
Westinghouse.
In the detail seen here, Westinghouse appears
between a mechanic and an engineer. The latter two figures—created in full
relief, enabling the memorial to be viewed on all sides—symbolize those who
would translate his vision into reality. Three independent solid bronze panels to
the side, sculpted by Paul Fjelde in a semi-circular curve, list Westinghouse’s
achievements, including:
*the first substitution of high-voltage electricity
for operating a main-line railway;
*steam turbines becoming a basic source of universal
electricity;
*Niagara Falls’ water serving as the basis of a
great power system;
*The alternating current system, first exhibited at
the Chicago Exposition of 1893;
*The air brake, which increased railroad safety and
efficiency; and
*Modern signaling systems derived from Westinghouse’s
innovations.
In widely contrasting ways, railroads played key
roles not only in the business but personal lives of Westinghouse and his great
rival, Thomas Edison. “The Wizard of Menlo Park” attributed his deafness to a
traumatic accident he suffered as a 12-year-old “news butcher” on the Grand
Trunk Railway run between Port Huron and Detroit. Although Edison saw the
affliction as “not… a handicap but a help to me,” as it shut
him off from distracting small talk, it also encouraged a single-mindedness
that led him to neglect food, sleep and family.
Westinghouse’s experience with the railroad was far
happier: he met his wife Marguerite while riding the train—and thereafter, even
when they were apart, he telegraphed or telephoned her.
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