Lindsey Graham

And it wasn't long before the publicity around Tesla's breakthrough drew the attention of one of the most prominent businessmen in the country, George Westinghouse.

Based in Pittsburgh, Westinghouse had made a fortune inventing technologies for the railroad industry, most notably a compressed air braking system that for the first time allowed a train engineer to stop every car simultaneously.

But by the mid-1880s, his ambitions had expanded well beyond the railroads.

And unlike most business tycoons, he had a hands-on approach.

He ran his own laboratory and workshop and got his hands dirty with technical problems.

He had also been quietly building an electrical manufacturing empire to rival Edison's.

So when Westinghouse learned the details of Tesla's new innovation, he immediately understood its revolutionary potential.

Westinghouse had been tinkering with alternating current for several years, and he had secured several lucrative contracts to supply the power from municipal lighting, including one to power Buffalo's downtown business district.

But like many, he was frustrated by the technology's limitations.

He saw Tesla's new design as the key to unleashing the full potential of AC.

So keen to partner with Tesla, Westinghouse sent his top engineers to visit his Liberty Street lab in New York.

After they verified that Tesla's machine worked the way he claimed, Westinghouse offered Tesla a large cash payment and guaranteed future royalties in exchange for his patents.

Realizing that Westinghouse could offer the financial backing he had long craved, Tesla accepted, not only for the money, but because he recognized in Westinghouse exactly the kind of ally he would need for the battle ahead.

According to Tesla, there was no fiercer adversary than Westinghouse when locked in a fight.

So in July 1888, just two months after unveiling his electrical system at Columbia College, Tesla boarded one of Westinghouse's private rail cars and made the 10-hour journey to Pittsburgh.

There, he met with Westinghouse and his powerful team of engineers, and together they began planning how to bring Tesla's revolutionary AC system to the world, confident that it was a technology that would shake the foundations of Thomas Edison's electrical empire.

From Audible Originals, this is Episode 2 of our three-part series Edison vs. Tesla for American History Tellers.

In the next episode, Westinghouse and Tesla threaten Thomas Edison's grip on the electrical market, leading Edison to launch a ruthless campaign to destroy the reputation of alternating current.

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