electric train and street car now in operation, which combine
 to carry annually many times as many passengers as
there are people in the whole United States, the Westinghouse
 Air Brake has been said to have more “ultimate
consumers’ than any other manufactured product represented
 by a single industry.

THE UNION SWITCH AND SIGNAL COMPANY

On December 28, 1878, articles of association of the
“Union Electric Signal Company” were filed in Hartford,
Conn., the capital stock being $500,000 (10,000 shares at
$50 per share). The basis for the formation of the Company
 were the patents of William Robinson, Oscar Gassett
and I. Fisher, covering various electrical appliances for
signaling and protecting trains in railroad service. The
home office was located at Hartford and the branch office
and factory at Boston. This was the first Company
organized in the United States for the manufacture and
installation of railroad signaling devices.
February 4, 1880, the capital stock was increased to
$1,000,000, and in the following year, George Westinghouse
was elected a director and president of the Company.
Shortly afterward, the board of directors authorized the
sale of 10,000 shares of the Company’s stock to Mr. West-Inghouse,
 and also authorized the purchase from Mr.
Westinghouse of 4102 shares of the stock of the Interlocking
 Switch and Signal Company of Harrisburg, Pa.
At a meeting of the directors in Hartford on April 13, 1881,
the name of the company was changed to “The Union
Switch & Signal Company,” and the capital stock was
increased to $1,500,000 to finance the purchase of the
total assets and property of the Interlocking Switch and
Signal Company. Later in the year the plants at Boston
and Harrisburg were moved to Pittsburgh and consolidated
at Garrison Alley and Duquesne Way.
The Union Switch & Signal Company was chartered
under the laws of Pennsvlvania in 1882.