Andrew Betts Brown

He was born on 4 May 1841 in Edinburgh the eldest son of Robert Brown, a bricklayer living at 86 Canongate,[1] and his wife, Marion Betts.

In 1863 he invented an overhead travelling crane, which was successfully used to construct Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames in central London.

[2] In 1870 he received an unusual contract to install a steam-powered hydraulic system for launching ships within Hamburg Docks.

This was largely constructed in the newly founded Rosebank Iron Works due to its proximity to a railway line.

He then invented the combine hydraulic/steam starting engine, common in all steamships thereafter, and the highly innovative steam-tiller (a forerunner of all power-steering devices).

Around 1872 he invented the telemotor a mechanism allowing removal of most of the complex gears and chains between the control room and the engine on steamships.

Andrew Betts Brown
Diagram of a Hydraulic Crane
Bett Brown’s Hydraulic Crane, at the Albert Dock, Leith
Blackfriars Bridge, London was built with Brown’s newly invented overhead travelling crane
The grave of Andrew Betts Brown, Dean Cemetery