Biography of Foree Bain

Foree Bain.

No inventor is better known in electrical circles in Chicago than Foree Bain, president of the Bain Electric Manufacturing company. The records of the Patent Office indicate how assiduously and how successfully he has applied himself to the study of electrical problems. Above all, Mr. Bain is practical; no one who has met him has failed to be impressed with that fact. As an inventor he has worked to secure results which could be utilized to accomplish an immediate purpose. Mr. Bain has occupied a unique position in Chicago. An independent electrical engineer, he has operated individually an extensive shop devoted exclusively to electrical work, to which inventors with electrical ideas applied for assistance. The number of vague plans which Mr. Bain has developed is legion.

Personally Mr. Bain is popular with the electrical fraternity; it would be hard to point to a member of the craft whose good nature was more uniform, whose courtesy was more thoughtful, or whose kindly regard for his fellow man was more pronounced.

Mr. Bain was born in La Grange, Oldham county, Kentucky, in 1853. He is a direct descendant of the Scotch electrician of telegraph fame, Alexander Bain, whose logic and moral science are standard works. Mr. Bain has come honestly by his reputation as an electrical engineer. When 15 years of age he was in charge of a telegraph station. In 1878 he was appointed manager of the electrical work in an extensive electrical manufactory in Cincinnati. For several years he remained in that position, developing an electric lighting system.

Foree Bain.

In 1881 Mr. Bain came to Chicago to exploit his electric lighting system. He formed a company with Captain E. A. Goodrich of the Goodrich Transportation company, and the corporation organized a large manufacturing establishment. The death of Mr. Goodrich necessitated the close of the factory.

Mr. Bain then organized an establishment of his own, and has since done an extensive business. He was a pioneer in the application of electric motors to mining work, and in this field has made a number of valuable inventions. He has designed a number of motors and generators especially adapted for this class of work. Mr. Bain has devoted himself to no single department of electrical engineering. In his shop have been developed devices and appliances designed for all branches of electrical work.

When the street car company operating the lines in Minneapolis and St. Paul decided to operate its cars by electric motors, Mr. Bain was secured as consulting engineer. He has devoted a great deal of time to working out problems connected with the construction work. Many departures from methods ordinarily followed were suggested by Mr. Bain, and were adopted by the company. These innovations have since been found to contribute in no small degree to the successful operation of the road. In all conditions of working the lines in the twin cities have proved satisfactory. The officials of the company say the extraordinary care which was exercised during the construction period affords an adequate reason for the fact that they have had little or no trouble in the operation of the system. That the work was done in such a substantial and thorough manner was due to the fact that a great part of it was done under Mr. Bain's supervision, and that it embodies a great many of his ideas.