 | \\'£ ho.ve to record with regret the death, on the J:l.h
inst., at Edinburgh, of ~Ir. Andrew Betts-Brown, who!'e n'\mc iH so closely associated with a number of impron•· ments in modem marine engineering. Mr. Brown, '' ho was in his 67th year, wa~; the clde>~t son of 1\fr. Robcrt Brown, of Edinburgh. H e was educated in his natiYc city, and scn ·ed hi11 apprenticeship as an engineer in the locornoti,·e works of the North British Railway Company at 8t. M argaret.'s. During hi · apprenticeship be attended the C\·ening classes at the Watt College. H e subsequently went to 1\Io.nche!lter, and Rtudied chemistry and l<indrcd subjcctH, taking rarious degrees. \\'hen he was in M an eh ester he prepared the illustrations of a large volume in engineering, by Hobcrt Scott Burnett, wl1ich he nRSif! ted in bringing out. He went to London ahont 1863, ttnd took an old brewery, which he convc..t·ted inttl engineering worl<s. One of his early inYentions wnR 1u1 overhead tt·o.velling cr-ane, which was fitted up for the construction of Hlacl<friars Bridge, and which did iLs work to the great Ratisfaction of everyone connected with the undertaking. H e then invented plant cou' • ~:. 1: ri steam and hydraulic power for discharging ships, and obtained nn important contract to fit H amburg Docks with this plant. This was about the year 1870. Part of this plant was constructed in London, but, realising that conditions were more fM·our·able in Edinburgh, ground wn~ acquired at Rose bank adjoioi11g the North BriLisb Railway Company's line to C:ranton, and the necessary plant was erected to complete the H amburg contract. Since then the worl<s at Rose bank have been extended nnd added to till they are now one of the largest engineering works in the Enst of Scotland. About 1877 ot· 1878 a start was made by this firm with the fitting of hydraulic machinery for cargo working and other pm·poses on board ship, the first stcatncr to be fitted on any large scale being the Quetta, built by William Denny nnd Brothers Dumbarton. Tn the course of time stcnm was associated with hydraulic power in the development of such machinery, and but for the interposition of the more facile and quicker-acting electric npplia nccs, also associated with steam, now to be found on board ship, the development of the principle initiated by Mr. Brown would have been greater than it has been. L crwing the region of cargo and other de('k machinery nctuated by hydraulic power, 1\Ir. Brown subsequently devoted himself almost wholly to the introduction and perfecting of the combine(! steam and hydraulic starting and reversing gear applied to the marine steam engine, with whic:h his name has been for many years inseparably associated, not only with regard to propulsive machinery of merchant ships, but of almo~;t all large ships of the British and other navies. Subee· quent to his achievement in this direction still greater success was gained by him in connection with the steering of large ships by steam and hydraulic power, nnd especially the introduction of the" telemotor." This has proved itself of incalculable benefit in the case of large ocean liners and na,·al ships. Mt·. Brown was a member of numerous engineering institutions. Of these bodies, the one in which he wM, perhaps, the best known was the Institution of K aval Architects, before the members of which he rend, in April, 1884, a paper on "The Application of H ydra11lic l\Iacbinery to the Loading, Discharging, Steering, and Worl<ing of Steamships." Before the same Society, in Ma rch, 1890, he read another paper, bringing the account of his inventions more up to da te, entitled " The Application of a System of Combined Steam and H ydraulic Machinet·y to the L oading, Discharging, and Steering of Steamships." Mr. Brown was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engi n eer~;, of the Institution of i\farine |
