Sidney George Brown FRS (6 July 1873 – 7 August 1948) was a British

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and inventor. He is best remembered for his pioneering work on the design of gyro compasses, radio equipment and loudspeakers.

Early life

Brown was born in Chicago, the son of English parents. In 1879 his family returned to the UK and Brown began his education at a private school in

Parkstone Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

, followed by Harrogate College. From 1894 to 1896 he studied at University College, London, and from 1892 to 1897 was a paying pupil at Crompton & Co. at Chelmsford. After leaving Crompton & Co, Brown returned to the

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

area and in 1899 filed the first of his many patents. Sanders, Ian L. Sidney George Brown, F.R.S. - Engineer, Inventor and founder of S.G. Brown, Limited. (*2017) Castle Ridge Press. ISBN 978-0-692-79571-2

Career

In 1906 Brown formed the Telegraph Condenser Company (TCC), a manufacturer of capacitors, and in 1911 formed a second company S.G. Brown Ltd. to manufacture telephone equipment, radio parts, headphones and loudspeakers. During World War I, S.G. Brown Ltd. set about developing British made gyro compasses. Prior to the war, most gyro compasses had been imported from Germany. Brown's design featured an innovation called liquid ballistic damping, to control the oscillation in the compass caused by a change of course. S.G. Brown Ltd. would go on to become a major producer of gyro compasses for ships and aircraft. In 1933 the Telegraph Condenser Company became a public limited company. TCC was a leading British maker of capacitors, that was later absorbed into the

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

company in the 1960s. Brown retired in 1943 and sold his share of the Telegraph Condenser Company to a consortium, and S.G. Brown Ltd. to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

. Brown died on 7 August 1948 at Sidmouth, Devon.

References

External links

SG Brown headphones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Sidney George 1873 births 1948 deaths British electrical engineers Fellows of the Royal Society British inventors People from Parkstone St. Augustine High School (New Orleans) alumni Alumni of University College London