Brush Electrical Machines is a manufacturer of

electrical generators In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power ( mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, ga ...

typically for

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

and steam turbine driven applications. The main office is based at

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...

in Leicestershire, UK.

History

Charles Francis Brush, born in Euclid Township,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1849, founded the Brush Electric Light Company, which stayed in business in the U.S. until 1889 when it was absorbed into the

Thomson-Houston Company The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company which was one of the precursors of the General Electric company. History The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed in 1882 in the United States when a group of Lynn, Massa ...

making Brush a wealthy man. In 1880, the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation was established in Lambeth, London. Its formation was to exploit the invention of Brush's first

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

dynamo "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundati ...

in 1876. As the business grew, due to the demand for new electrical apparatus, larger premises were sought, and in 1889 the corporation moved 100 miles north into the newly acquired Falcon Engine and Car Works at

under the new name, Brush Electrical Engineering Company Limited. In 1914, the company began manufacturing Ljungstrom steam turbines under licence. Over the next sixty years, the business grew by acquisitions, until in 1957, the Brush companies were incorporated into the Hawker Siddeley Group. Within the group, the company manufactured a vast range of electrical products, including turbo generators, salient pole machines, induction motors, traction motors and generators, traction locomotives, switchgear, transformers and fuses. In November 1991 Hawker Siddeley Electric Power Group was subject to a hostile takeover bid of £1.5 billion from

BTR plc BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1924, grew strongly by acquisition under Sir Owen Green's leadership, and merged with Siebe plc in 1999 to form BTR ...

, the large engineering conglomerate. The bid was successful so the Brush companies then became part of the BTR organisation. In November 1996 the FKI Group of Companies acquired the Hawker Siddeley Electric Power Group from BTR for a price of £182 million. On 1 July 2008, Melrose plc completed the acquisition with FKI, Melrose being a specialist investor in the manufacturing industry, is now registered on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

. During the last 125 years, various Brush companies (Brush Switchgear,

Brush Transformers Brush Transformers is a company based in Loughborough, Leicestershire. They are a manufacturer of power transformers with a history stretching back over 120 years. History Charles Francis Brush gained respect for his pioneering work in electrica ...

Brush Traction Brush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives in Loughborough, England. It is a subsidiary of Wabtec. History Hughes's Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Henry Hughes had been operating at the Falcon Works since t ...

and Brush Control Gear) have existed on the Falcon Works site, but throughout this period Brush Electrical Machines Ltd manufacturing generators and motors has always been the largest company. Over 5,000 staff were employed on the site during the 1960s and 70s.

The following products are manufactured by Brush:
* Air-cooled turbo generators in the range of 20 to 300MVA * Turbomotors from 10 to 100MW * Associated control equipment In 2018, all production moved to the Czech Republic causing the closure of the Loughborough plant.

Aircraft manufacture

In 1915, Brush Electrical was one of a number of companies outside the established aviation contractors selected by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

to receive orders for aircraft to meet the expanding needs of the Royal Naval Air Service. Brush completed 650 aircraft by the end of 1919, including 400

Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

s and 142

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

s. It also built

de Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rel ...

s during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, taking over production from de Havilland in 1943 and building 346 aircraft (47.5% of the total number produced) by the time production ended in 1945.Robertson 1970, pp. 396–398.Jackson 1987, p. 366.

References

*Jackson, A. J. ''De Havilland Aircraft since 1909''. London: Putnam, Third edition, 1987. . *Robertson, Bruce. "Brush-built Aircraft, 1915-1919". ''Air Pictorial'', November 1970, Vol. 32 No. 11. pp. 396–398.

External links

Brush Electrical Machines website
*

Collection of historical documents/photographs on the origins of Brush companies in the U.S. and UK {{Melrose plc Companies based in Loughborough Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Electrical engineering companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Hawker Siddeley

History

Aircraft manufacture

See also

References

External links