AIR CAR HALL OF FAME

newspaper articles and one patent

Inventor Biographical

US Patent 3765180 1973 Compressed Air Engine

truck driver, ordained Baptist minister

Russell Ray Brown was born in Mt. Pleasant, Texas which is within a hotbed of air car activity you might call the Northeast Texas branch of the Rural Legend.

The rural legend theory states that air car inventors heard about each other, were inspired by hearing about each other's work, and started projects of their own because they'd heard that someone else had done it and it worked. The result is that air car inventors pop up in the newspapers, patent records, and public records in geographical clusters. If you draw a circle on a map that includes Waco, Dallas, and Paris, Texas on the west, with Ft. Smith and Arkadelphia, Arkansas on the east, the circle will include most of the stomping grounds of several air car inventors including Bob Neal, Obid Smith, Louis Grayson, and more recently Russell Brown.

Russell Brown was one of several air car inventors whose dream of an energy-independent future made headlines in the 1970s due to the energy crisis that began when the middle east oil producing nations raised the price of oil and US capitalists started declaring shortages of gasoline, then sugar, meat, and anything else they could think of. The result was that the price of everything went way up and people barely complained, so the prices never went back down again and a new glut of millionaires was created.

Russell was the 14th child born by his mother. Ten of his siblings were living when he was born. His parents were James Allen Brown and Sarah Josephine Cameron of Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas. During the 1970s, when he was working on his invention, Russell lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Russell was a Baptist minister who had helped build three churches, then became a truck driver in order to pay medical costs for his wife who needed several major surgeries. During this time he also worked on his air engine invention for 20 years until the energy crisis of the 1970s prompted him to patent his idea and seek publicity. He hoped to revolutionize the energy industry with his compressed air automobile engine.

Russell's first wife was Robbie Louise Williams. Their children were Jimmie Wayne, Ronald Russell, Mary Lynn, and Gary William "Doc" Brown. Robbie later married Dan Pippen.

In 1985 Russell married Kathyran McMinn, the widow of Edward Lee Booth. She is buried with her first husband. Russell told a reporter that she had left him due to his obsession with air cars.

In 1960, Russell was named national Truck Driver of the Year for his perfect driving record and for saving a six-year-old boy from drowning. He was also named Hobbs Knight of the Road by a Texas organization. We have a photo of Russell and his wife being honored by future President Lyndon Johnson when Johnson was a Texas senator.

The drowning incident occurred when Russell was driving his gasoline tanker and heard some children screaming for help and running from house to house looking for assistance. He pulled his truck over and ran to a large open pit partly filled with muddy water. A child had fallen into the water and not resurfaced. Russell jumped into the 7-feet-deep water but couldn't find the child. He jumped into the water a second time, and this time was able to pull the boy out and save his life using artificial respiration.

During the 1970s energy crisis, Russell was goaded into building the compressed air engine he'd thought about for 20 years when his fellow truck drivers laughed at the idea. He obtained a US Patent and an article about his engine appeared in many newspapers across the country.

Russell died August 16, 1999 in his birthplace Titus County, Texas.

Good citizen with awards for good truck driving record including heroic acts. Baptist minister who helped build churches. Divorced twice by women who felt they'd not gotten enough attention.

None known.

More information on the inventor and the invention, if available: