Westinghouse Electric Corporation
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For present day nuclear company, see Westinghouse Electric Company.
Template:Infobox Company The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an organization founded by George Westinghouse in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and was renamed CBS Corporation in 1997. CBS Corp sold its nuclear business to BNFL which renamed it Westinghouse Electric Company.
George Westinghouse had previously founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. 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. The company pioneered long-distance power transmission and high-voltage transmission. In addition to George Westinghouse, engineers working for the company include William Stanley, Nikola Tesla and Oliver Schallenberger. It was historically the rival to General Electric.
Timeline of company evolution
- 1889 - renamed the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company
- 1899 - British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company founded.
- 1914 - acquired Copeman Electric Stove Company and entered the home appliance market, (sold in 1974 to White Consolidated Industries)
- 1916 - Share of British Westinghouse purchased by a British holding company, became Metropolitan-Vickers
- 1920s - entered the broadcasting industry, with stations like KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 1930s - entered the nuclear age with an industrial atom smasher.
- 1940s - entered aviation with airborne radar (defense electronics sold 1996) and ground based airport lighting.
- 1945 - renamed the Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
- 1950s - entered consumer finance with Westinghouse Credit Corporation
- 1960s - acquires ThermoKing, begins automated mass transit (sold 1988)
- 1980s - acquires cable television operator TelePrompter (sold 1985) and robot maker Unimation
- 1995 - buys CBS
- 1996 - buys Infinity Broadcasting
- 1997 - sells non-broadcast operations, renamed CBS
- 1999 - BNFL a UK nuclear company acquires CBS nuclear power business and takes the name Westinghouse Electric Company
Other companies, including a lighting company (formerly Angelo Brothers) and an appliance company White-Westinghouse (a unit of Electrolux), license or use the Westinghouse name.
