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Peter Ewart | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1767-05-14)14 May 1767 |
| Died | 15 September 1842(1842-09-15) (aged 75) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer |
Peter Ewart (14 May 1767 – 15 September 1842) was a Britishengineer who was influential in developing the technologies ofturbines and theories ofthermodynamics.
He was son of theChurch of Scotland minister ofTroqueer nearDumfries, and was one of eleven children. His brotherJoseph Ewart became British ambassador to Prussia; John, a doctor, became Chief Inspector of East India Company hospitals in India; and William, father ofWilliam Ewart, was business partner of Sir John Gladstone,[1] father ofWilliam Ewart Gladstone, whose godfather he was and whom he was named after.
Following graduation from theUniversity of Edinburgh,[citation needed] he was apprenticed tomillwrightJohn Rennie.[1] His work withwater wheels[citation needed] led him to work withMatthew Boulton andJames Watt for whom by 1790 he was agent inManchester. At the same time as acting as agent he was also trading on his own account as amillwright, enabling him to provide the complementary shafts, gears and other necessities to harness the power of the Boulton & Watt steam engines.[1]
In 1792, frustrated in administering the immature and, as yet, unreliable machinery,[citation needed] he left Boulton and Watt to work inpartnership withSamuel Oldknow in acottonbleaching andcalicoprinting venture. He anticipated this being a profitable concern but the partnership was dissolved within a year and he returned to engineering.[1] In 1798 he went into partnership withSamuel Greg,[1] installing an innovative water wheel at Greg'sQuarry Bank Mill on theRiver Bollin inCheshire. As a standby, he installed aWatt steam engine[citation needed].
By 1811, Ewart had abandoned the venture with Greg to concentrate on his own manufacturing business but also his scientific work. He became, along withJohn Dalton, a vice-president of theManchester Literary and Philosophical Society and became active in the contemporary controversies aboutheat,work andenergy. Motivated by a paper ofJohn Playfair and encouraged by Dalton, in 1813 he published "On the measure ofmoving force" in which he defended the nascent ideas of theconservation of energy championed byJohn Smeaton. The paper was strongly to influence Dalton's pupilJames Prescott Joule. A vocal advocate of the application of scientific knowledge in engineering, he was one of the founders of theManchester Mechanics' Institute.
Ewart took up the post of Chief Engineer and Chief Inspector of Machinery with theAdmiralty in 1835[1] and died on 15 September 1842 atWoolwich Dockyard when a chain snapped as he was supervising the removal of a boiler.[2]