Charles F. Brush

Charles Francis Brush was born on March 17, 1849, in Euclid, Ohio, to a farming family. He showed an early aptitude for science and mechanics, building a simple electric motor as a teenager. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied chemistry and engineering, graduating in 1869. After college, he worked as a chemist in Cleveland, but his interest in electricity soon led him to experiment with dynamos and arc lamps.

In 1876, Brush developed a dynamo that was more efficient than existing designs, and he used it to power arc lamps. In 1879, he installed the first public arc light system in Cleveland, Ohio, which attracted national attention. He founded the Brush Electric Company in 1880 to manufacture his lighting equipment. By the mid-1880s, Brush systems were lighting streets and buildings in many American cities, and his company became one of the largest electrical manufacturers in the United States.

Beyond lighting, Brush made significant contributions to electrical engineering. He improved the design of storage batteries, and in the 1880s he developed a method for manufacturing lead-acid batteries that was widely adopted. He also conducted pioneering research on the electrical properties of gases and on the use of wind power. In 1888, he built a wind turbine to generate electricity for his home, one of the first such installations in the world.

Brush was a prolific inventor who held over 50 patents, but some of his most interesting work is less well known. He was an early advocate for the use of direct current (DC) over alternating current (AC), a stance that put him at odds with George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla. He also experimented with the use of electricity in medicine, and he funded research into the nature of the aurora borealis. Brush was a philanthropist, donating to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and other institutions. He died in 1929, leaving a legacy that extends beyond his famous arc lamp.

Arc lamp

A lamp that produces light by an electric arc between two electrodes.

Dynamo

A machine that converts mechanical energy into direct current electricity.

Direct current (DC)

Electric current that flows in one direction.