Obituary

William H. Browne died at his residence, 86 South Tenth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y., on Saturday night, January 14, 1911. Mr. Browne was 61 years of age. He was born in Troy, N. Y., on December 3, 1849, and was educated in the Academy of Christian Brothers, Ste. Jean Baptiste De La Salle, of that city. From 1866 to 1887 he was engaged in various branches of mechanical work and general contracting. Later he turned his attention to electricity and became general manager of a syndicate which built the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, Virginia Electric Light and Power Company, and other electrical enterprises in Richmond, Va. He subsequently became associated with the United Electric Light and Power Company as general manager and was in charge when the first alternating-current, high-tension generators were installed for lighting purposes. From New York Mr. Browne went to Montreal, P. Q., where he took charge of the Royal Electric Company, which he built up. He changed the entire lighting system from 1,200 volts to 2,400 volts, and installed the polyphase system of current distribution for lighting and power purposes, considered radical departures at the time. In 1897 the Chambly Manufacturing Company, under Mr. Browne´s direction, began the development of hydraulic power on the Richelieu River at Chambly Rapids, to furnish power for Montreal. The following year he completed the works of the Cataract Power Company at Hamilton, Ont. He later turned, over to the Canadian General Electric Company the manufacturing business of the Royal Electric Company. The consolidation of the Royal Electric Company, the Chambly Manufacturing Company, and the Montreal Gas Company, under the name of Montreal Light, Heat and Power Company, Mr. Browne´s last work in Canada, completed the largest industrial organization in Canada. On January 31, 1902, he resigned his position as head of the new company to become treasurer and general manager of the Stanley Instrument Company, Great Barrington- Mass. When the Stanley Company was merged with the General Electric Company Mr. Browne opened offices in New York as consulting engineer. When taken ill he was engaged in building the largest water power dam in North Carolina, under the name of the Rockingham Power Company. He became an Associate of the Institute on May 20, 1902.