Charles F. Brush
The Cleveland inventor who lit up city streets with his brilliant arc lighting system, pioneering the practical use of electricity.
1849–1929 (age 80)·American engineer·Birthday: March 17
Biography
Charles Brush was a quintessential American inventor-entrepreneur whose work fundamentally shaped the early electrical age. While Thomas Edison championed the incandescent bulb for interior spaces, Brush conquered the outdoors. In the late 1870s, he engineered a complete, reliable system for arc lighting—dazzingly bright lamps powered by his own improved dynamo and regulated by an automatic feedback mechanism. His public demonstration in 1879, where he lit up a full square mile of downtown Cleveland, was a sensation that announced the future. He founded the Brush Electric Company, and his systems were swiftly adopted to illuminate avenues from New York to San Francisco and across the Atlantic. A fiercely competitive and brilliant engineer, Brush also invented one of the first commercially viable wind turbines to power his home, and later became a generous philanthropist. His legacy is the profound shift he engineered in urban life, turning night into a time for commerce and safety.
#1 When Charles Was Born
The biggest hits of 1849
Charles's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1849Born
1854Started school
1862Became a teenager
President: Abraham Lincoln
1865Could drive
President: Andrew Johnson
1867Could vote
President: Andrew Johnson
1870Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1879Turned 30
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1889Turned 40
Eiffel Tower opens in Paris
President: Benjamin Harrison
1899Turned 50
President: William McKinley
1909Turned 60
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1919Turned 70
Treaty of Versailles signed; Prohibition ratified
President: Woodrow Wilson
1929Turned 80
Wall Street crashes, triggering the Great Depression
Gas: $0.21/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Singin' in the Rain" — Cliff EdwardsBest Picture: The Broadway Melody
Key Achievements
- Designed and installed the first commercially successful electric arc lighting system in the United States in Cleveland, 1879.
- Founded the Brush Electric Company, which became a major player in the early electrical industry.
- Invented an improved open-coil dynamo that was central to the efficiency of his lighting systems.
- Built an automatic wind-powered generator at his home in 1888, one of the first of its kind.
Did You Know?
His 1879 Cleveland public lighting demonstration used just two of his dynamos to power 12 lamps.
He was an early advocate for renewable energy, using a 60-foot windmill to charge batteries in his mansion.
Brush was a founding member and president of the American Physical Society.
He held a deep interest in astronomy and built his own observatory.
“I have always considered that my real capital was my knowledge of fundamental principles and my ability to apply them.”
