Charles Brown (British engineer)


Charles Brown was a British industrialist, inventor and engineer. He founded the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM), and was an engineer and executive of Sulzer and Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon.

Early life and education

Brown was born 30 June 1827 in Uxbridge, England, the oldest of five children, to Dr. Charles Brown Sr., a strictly religious dentist, and Jane Brown. His siblings were Sarah Ann, Emma Jane, John Henry and Archibald.
He was raised in the industrially shaped area of Woolwich. Between 1845 and 1851, Brown apprenticed to Maudslay, Sons and Field, becoming a mechanical engineer. The company was one of the leading steam engine manufacturers at the time. There he was introduced to Swiss Gottlieb Hirzel, a brother-in-law of Johann Jakob Sulzer, of the Sulzer family. Gottlieb was supposed to return to a position at Sulzer Brothers but declined and offered the position to Charles, who ultimately took the opportunity.

Career

In 1851, Brown relocated to Winterthur, Switzerland, to work for Sulzer Brothers as mechanical engineer responsible for machinery construction. At the time Sulzer was a small to medium-sized company with about 100 employees. In 1871, he left Sulzer to set up Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works. While at SLM he invented the Brown valve gear, a radial valve gear for steam engines. He became involved in the development of electric locomotives in the 1880s. In 1885 he became manager of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon and in 1890 he set up Charles Brown and Company at 91 Rione Amedeo, Naples, Italy.

Personal life

In 1862, Brown married Eugénie Pfau, a daughter of Jakob Pfau and Friederike Pfau, who both hailed from well-established families in the city of Winterthur. They had six children;
Brown died 6 October 1905 in Basel, Switzerland. Although being active in Switzerland for the majority of his adult life, Brown retained British nationality, and never naturalized.