Charles Francis Brush.
The development and general use of the “arc” electric light is to a very great extent the outcome of the researches of Charles F. Brush. While the “arc” was by no means unknown to electricians prior to Mr. Brush’s development of it, it was he who was responsible for its becoming a commercial possibility. Mr. Brush was born in Euclid, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, March 17, 1849. His father was Colonel Isaac Elbert Brush, his mother being Delia Wissner (Phillips) Brush. Both parents came from old lines of American families. After periods spent in public schools in Ohio, Mr. Brush attended the Cleveland high school and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1869. From the first he displayed a fondness for electricity and chemistry, and subsequent to his graduating became an analytical chemist and consulting chemical expert in Cleveland. All this time, however, he was studying electricity, foreseeing the time when it would be one of the chief factors of modern civilization. In 1877 he devoted himself entirely to electrical affairs and a year later presented to the public the light with which his name is identified. In 1880 the Brush Electric Company was formed and the “arc” light grew in favor. A year later it was introduced into England and on the continent. Nevertheless Mr. Brush had the usual experience of inventors, but was successful in litigation and has the satisfaction of knowing that his claims of priority of invention have been recognized by the leading scientific societies in the world. He is interested in a number of electrical enterprises, is a member of many clubs and scientific and charitable institutions. In 1875 he married Mary E. Morris, of Cleveland, by whom he has three children.