Brown family papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 1483

Scope and content

Scrapbooks containing letters and data sheets on the operation of mowers, including the Brown mower; obituaries, clippings, and photographs, mostly relating to the Brown family and the Brown-Lipe Gear Company; and family letters, 1903-04, of Alexander T. Brown, Mary S. Brown, and Charles S. Brown.

Scope and content

Also, "The History of the Cornell University Biological Field Station," by JoAnne G. Getchonis and Edward L. Mills, 2007.

Dates

1903-1932.

Creator

Brown family. (Family)

Biographical / Historical

Alexander T. Brown (1854-) invented the "Premier Typewriter" and designed machinery needed to manufacture typewriters, as well as a "clincher tire" and a two-speed gear for bicycles. He was co-founder of the H. H. Franklin Automobile Comany and helped found the Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company, which specialized in the manufacture of transmission gears. He also designed an automatic switchboard for the telephone. His son Charles Seamans Brown graduated from Cornell University, where he studied mechanical engineering and was a member of Psi Upsilon. In 1928, he purchased property on Shackelton Point, overlooking Oneida Lake near Bridgeport, NY, and built an estate there. In 1952, he bequeathed the property to Cornell University. Through the efforts of Dr. Gustav Swanson, an ornithologist and head of Cornell's Department of Conservation, Shackleton Point was developed as a biological field station.