[1] Howden served as an apprentice from 1847 with James Gray & Co., a Glasgow engineering firm,[1][7] passing through the various departments and eventually becoming chief draughtsman.

[4] Having finished his apprenticeship he started work first with Bell and Miller, the civil engineers, then with Robert Griffiths, who designed marine screw propellers.

The selling of the patent rights to a company in Birmingham[3] for this secured him financially and James Howden & Co. was established as a manufacturer of marine equipment.

"[9] On 28 February 1859, he applied for a patent for the "improvements in machinery, or apparatus for cutting, shaping, punching, and compressing metals.

[11] In 1862, he decided to construct main boilers and engines to his own design and started manufacturing in his first factory on Scotland Street in Glasgow's Tradeston district.

[12] A breakthrough came in 1863 when he introduced a furnace mechanical draught system which used a steam turbine driven axial flow fan.