Charles Brown (1827-1905). Founder of the Swiss Locomotive Works in Winterthur
1827 He was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex on 30 June 1827.
Apprenticed at Maudslay & Field in London, but started his own workshop before the end of his apprenticeship.
In 1851 Brown was invited to start building steam locomotives at Sulzer in Winterthur.
1863 Birth of son Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown, in Winterthur, (died Lugano 2 May 1924), who became a major developer of electricity generating and traction machinery.
1871 Charles Brown left Sulzers to form the firm which became SLM (Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works), which was noted for its rack locomotives.
1878 He replaced the traditional sharply closing valves by a steam distribution with elliptical motion. [1]
1879 Joined I Mech E
1880 Manager, Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Winterthur
He was involved in the development of electric locomotives in the 1880s.
1885 Manager, Maschinenfabrik, Oerlikon, Switzerland
1890 Messrs. Charles Brown and Co., 91 Rione Amedeo, Naples, Italy
1905 He died on 6 October 1905 in Basle.
Obituary 1905 [2]
. . . age of seventy-eight years, there died at Basle at the end of last week Charles Brown, who was widely known in Europe as a highly successful engineer, and who played a very great part in the development of the machine industry of Switzerland. . . Sulzer . . . Swiss Locomotive Works . . . Oerlikon . . . success of his sons, for the firm of Brown, Boveri and Co. . .