Brush Electric History America EU UK
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This web site is devoted to the original Brush Electric Company of Cleveland OHIO, USA and its sister company the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Company of London, ENGLAND. Both were formed in 1879 to exploit the patents and electrical dynamo and lighting system designs of Charles Francis Brush, a notable American inventor and entrepreneur.
Both the American and British companies endured trials and tribulations during their early years - and on this site you can read reports from newspapers and magazines of the day. Charles Brush seems to have been a remarkable high school and college student, constantly tinkering with different materials, magnets, experimental conducting and insulation materials and the manufacturing methods which caused great industrial enterprises to start up and enter the Electric age in the late 1800's. National magazines in both Europe and USA wrote about the early years, and the competitive and litigation battles which occurred. According to numerous contemporary evaluations of the day the Brush dynamos (generators) and arc lamps were best in class. The Brush design and manufacturing standards were superior and the volumes of product produced and put into service exceeded any of the competitors. Many US and European towns and cities chose to purchase and install Brush electric lighting systems.
In 1890 the American Brush company which owned the patents and manufacturing rights within the USA merged with Thomson Houston with whom there had been extensive manufacturing co-operation for some years prior. Shortly therafter in 1896 Thomson Houston (including Brush within the USA) merged with the smaller New York based Edison Electric to form General Electric Company. An 1896 chart of the many USA based companies that were consolidated is provided for review in the Americas section. Within just a few years there was much consolidation as dominant industrialists and their bankers merged the smaller companies into their larger conglomerates.
The Thomson Houston company also had manufacturing plants in Europe notably in Rugby, England. The Anglo-American Brush Electric Lighting Company of London which had purchased the Brush patents and all manufacturing rights to markets outside USA remained independent and had established satellite manufacturing licensees in European countries (including Romania and France).
The Lambeth plant in London UK soon became insufficient for the volume of business gained and in 1889 the Brush Co. purchased a horse carriage and steam locomotive works in Loughborough in the English East Midlands region. Manufacture continued for a time in both the London and Loughborough factories. Subsequently, the Brush company moved all manufacture to the expanding Loughborough plant, where electric generators and control equipment were manufactured up to 2018. The Brush generation equipment is still manufactured today but all in the Plzen Czech plant, owned by the Baker Hughes corporation.
In the following pages you will find links to original documents and more recent reports prepared by students who have researched the company archives, the industrial pioneers of the day and the electrical machinery they designed, manufactured and installed throughout the world.
During the early 1900's Charles Brush moved into new engineering and materials fields joining with Dr Carl Linde to form Linde Air Products, which in turn became part of the Union Carbide Corporation. With his son Charles Francis Brush II as a partner the Brush Materials Company (which later became Brush-Wellman) was established for the mining and commercialization of the rare metal Beryllium. The founder of the Brush companies remained a distinguished member of various scientific panels and industry bodies until his death in 1929.
Also included are more recent documents related to the modern Brush company whose Loughborough site celebrated their 125th Anniversary in 2014. I hope you find these stories and articles both interesting and that they stimulate your mind to continue to seek and understand these innovations and their effect on today's society.
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