Charles Brown (engineer)

Charles Brown (1827–1905) was a British engineer. He was born at Uxbridge on 30 June 1827 and was apprenticed to Maudslay, Sons and Field.

In 1851 he moved to Switzerland to join the Sulzer company. In 1871 he left Sulzer to set up Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM). While at SLM he invented the Brown valve gear, a radial valve gear for steam engines. He became involved in the development of electric locomotives in the 1880s. In 1885 he became manager of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon and in 1890 he set up Charles Brown and Company at 91 Rione Amedeo, Naples, Italy.

He married a Swiss woman and they had a son Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown who founded Brown, Boveri & Cie.

Charles Brown died on 6 October 1905 at Basle.