 In April 1951, after completing school and making an exploratory visit to the company to meet the chief engineer, he joined Kelvin & Hughes Ltd at the time a Glasgow manufacturer of scientific instruments as an technical apprentice.Two years later into his five year apprenticeship, he started working for Alex Rankin and to specialise in non-destructive testing.In 1956 Brown was promoted to research and development engineer at Kelvin & Hughes Ltd.