Person
McCarty, Francis Alexander (1875 - 1938)
- Born
- 20 October 1875
Blossburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America - Died
- 27 September 1938
Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Electrical engineer
Summary
Francis McCarty AMIEAust was an electrical engineer and pioneer in the construction of electrical lighting and tramway undertakings across Australia between 1900 and the late 1920s.
In 1900 he was recruited from America by Noyes Brothers, the Australian agents for Westinghouse Engineering Co., to supervise Noyes Bros electrical engineering projects. From 1908 he was engaged in significant engineering contracting work in Melbourne, Tasmania, Geelong and Adelaide. From 1913, in partnership with Henry Arthur Underwood AMIEAust, he focused on consulting work related to electric tramways and electrical engineering work in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.
Details
Associated Engineering Works:
* 1901 Electric lighting, Adelaide, South Australia;
* 1903 Electric power, equipment and lighting, Ipswich Railway workshops, Queensland;
* 1904-05 Electric tramways and lighting, Fremantle, Western Australia;
* 1908 Electric tramway, Prahran-Malvern Tramway Trust;
* 1910 Schematic design, Great Lakes hydro-power scheme, Complex Ores Co., Tasmania;
* 1911 Electric tramway, Geelong, Victoria;
* 1912 Electric tramway extension, Prahran-Malvern Tramway Trust;
* 1912-14 Electric Tramway extensions, Adelaide, South Australia;
* 1914-18 Electric tramway, Hawthorn Tramway Trust;
* 1919 Electric tramway, Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramway Trust.
Chronology
- c. 1893
- Career position - Served his time with Westinghouse Engineering Co. America
- 1894
- Career position - Engineer, electrification of Monroe-Toledo electric railway [Part of Detroit, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio]
- 1895
- Career position - Engineer, hydro-electricity power scheme for Boisie basin mines, Idaho
- c. 1898 - c. 1900
- Career position - Engineer, Petty Harbour Hydro-Electric Generating Station, St. John's Street Railway Company Newfoundland, Canada [Generating electricity for tramways and lighting for City of St.John's]
- 1900
- Life event - Migrated to Australia, from Pittsburgh, USA
- 1900 - 1905
- Career position - Supervising electrical engineer, Noyes Brothers
- 1901
- Career position - Supervising electrical engineer, Noyes Brothers [Electric Lighting Plant, Adelaide, working with Francis Edwin Bradford, and J.M.Jolly]
- 1901 - 1903
- Career position - Supervising engineer, Noyes Brothers [Electrical power, equipment and lighting, Ipswich Railway workshops, working with Francis Edwin Bradford.]
- 1902
- Talk - Talk on how the Ipswich Railway workshops plant worked, to Ipswich Technical School
- 1904
- Lecture - Presented paper "Electrically driven machine tools", to Electrical Association of New South Wales
- 1904 - 1905
- Career position - Engineer in charge of construction / Chief engineer, Noyes Brothers [Fremantle Tramways and Electric Lighting]
- 1905
- Life event - Married Annie Smith, in Cottesloe, Western Australia
- 1905 - 1906
- Career event - Visit to England and America
- 1908
- Career event - First use of Thermit welded rail joints in Victoria. Prahran-Malvern Electric Tramway
- 1908
- Career event - Member, Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers
- 1908 - 1909
- Career position - Contractor, McCarty and W. Sim & Co, for Prahran-Malvern Electric Tramway [Design by Noyes Bros: design engineer, Joseph Henry Draper Brearley. Trust general manager and supervising engineer, H S Dix CE]
- 1910
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Valuation of Perth Tramways system, Perth City Council
- 1910
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Schematic design, Great Lakes hydro-power scheme, Complex Ores Co., Tasmania
- 1911
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Geelong Tramway Trust
- 1911
- Career position - Contractor, to complete Dandenong road tramway extension, Prahran and Malvern Tramway Trust, Melbourne
- 1911
- Life event - Naturalisation, Melbourne [NAA: A1, 1915/15779]
- 1911 - 1912
- Career position - Contractor, Hill Street electric tramway extension, Adelaide
- 1911 - 1912
- Military service - Second Lieutenant, Australian Engineers' Corp, South Australia
- 1912
- Career position - Contractor, Goodwood electric tramway, Adelaide
- 1913 - 1918
- Career event - Formed consulting engineering partnership "McCarty and Underwood" with Henry Arthur Underwood AMIEAust
- 1914
- Career event - Vice-President, Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers
- 1914
- Career event - Talk "Electric tramway construction", Victorian Section, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1914
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Beaumaris Tramway Company [To assess the safety of the decaying conditions of the tramway]
- 1914 - 1918
- Career position - Consulting engineer and manager, Hawthorn Tramway Trust, Melbourne
- 1916
- Career event - President, Victorian Section, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1916
- Career event - Councillor, Federal Council, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1917
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Footscray Tramway Trust
- 1917
- Patent - Designed and patented (with Underwood) built-up tramway rails rolled in Australia [to overcome supply shortages during the First World War]
- 1917
- Career event - Talk "A special tramway rail", Electrical Association of Autralia, Victorian Section
- 1917
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Proposed Box Hill Tramway
- 1919
- Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1919
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramways Trust
- 1921
- Career position - Consulting engineer, St.Mary's District water supply scheme, New South Wales
- 1921
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Proposed Toowoomba Electric Tramways Scheme, Queensland
- 1924
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Penrith water supply, New South Wales
- 1929
- Career position - Consulting engineer, Emergency bridge work repairs, following floods, Launceston, Tasmania
- 1938
- Life event - Cremated, Fawkner Memorial Park, Victoria
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- McCarty, F.A., Report for the city of Toowoomba : proposed electric tramway and general power requirements (1920), 14 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- McCarty, F.A., 'Electric tramway construction', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, Victorian Section, I (1914-15), 107-125. Details
- McCarty, F.A., 'Presidential address. Electrical Association of Australia. Victorian Section', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, Victorian Section, II (1915-16), 1-11. Details
- McCarty, F.A., 'A special tramway rail', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, Victorian Section, III (1916-17), 30-35. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 24 August 2022, Last modified: 15 December 2022