McCarty, Francis Alexander (1875 - 1938)

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