Peter Ewart

Peter Ewart (May 14, 1767 - September 15, 1842) was a British engineer who was influential in developing the technologies of turbines and theories of thermodynamics.

Related Topics:
May 14 - 1767 - September 15 - 1842 - British - Engineer - Turbine - Thermodynamics

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Born to a country clergyman near Dumfries, he was one of eleven siblings. His brother Joseph Ewart became a diplomat and William, a business partner of Sir John Gladstones (sic), father of William Ewart Gladstone.

Related Topics:
Clergyman - Dumfries - Joseph Ewart - Diplomat - William Ewart Gladstone

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After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was apprenticed to millwright John Rennie. His work with water wheels led him to an association with Matthew Boulton and James Watt for whom he became agent in North West England.

Related Topics:
University of Edinburgh - Millwright - John Rennie - Water wheel - Matthew Boulton - James Watt - North West England

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In 1792, frustrated in administering the immature and, as yet, unreliable machinery, he left Boulton and Watt to establish himself in cotton spinning with Samuel Oldknow. The business failed and Ewart found a new partner in Samuel Greg, installing an innovative water wheel at Greg's Quarry Bank Mill on the River Bollin in Cheshire. As a standby, he installed a Watt steam engine.

Related Topics:
1792 - Cotton - Spinning - Samuel Oldknow - Samuel Greg - Quarry Bank Mill - River Bollin - Cheshire - Watt steam engine

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By 1811, Ewart had abandoned the venture with Greg to concentrate on his own manufacturing business but also his scientific work. He became, along with John Dalton, a vice-president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and became active in the contemporary controversies about heat, work and energy. Motivated by a paper of John Playfair and encouraged by Dalton, in 1813 he published On the measure of moving force in which he defended the nascent ideas of the conservation of energy championed by John Smeaton. The paper was strongly to influence Dalton's pupil James Prescott Joule. A vocal advocate of the application of scientific knowledge in engineering, he was one of the founders of the Manchester Mechanics' Institute.

Related Topics:
1811 - John Dalton - Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society - Heat - Work - Energy - John Playfair - 1813 - Conservation of energy - John Smeaton - James Prescott Joule - Manchester Mechanics' Institute

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Ewart took up an appointment with the Admiralty in 1835 and died as the result of an accident at the Woolwich Dockyard while inspecting machinery.

Related Topics:
Admiralty - 1835 - Woolwich Dockyard

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