SMEATON, Joirs, an eminent civil engineer, was b. at Austhorpe, near Leeds, in 1724, and early showed a bent toward mechanical pursuits. At the age of 15, he had constructed a machine for rose•engine turning. About 1750, he removed to London, to commence business as a mathematical instrument maker; but we find him in the follow ing year resuming his desultory experinients in mechanical invention; an " odometer " for ships, a compass, and improvements in water and wind-mill machinery, being the chief products of his inventive genius. His improvements on mill-work were found on trial to he of great value, increasing the effective force by one-third, and gained Sineaton the Copley medal of the royal society in 1753. In 1753, be a member of the royal society; and in the following year, to extend his practical acquaintance with en gineering, lie visited the Netherlands, and inspected the embankments, canals, and other remarkable works of that country. In 1755, an event occurred which was to af ford him the opportunity of attaining the very summit of his profession—the second wooden light-house on Eddystone rock was destroyed by fire in December. The speedy re-erection of another beacon was of the utmost importance, and the execution of the work was intrusted to Smeaton. The new light-house was built of stone; the cutting of the rock for the foundations commenced in Aug. 1756, the building was executed be tween June 1757, and Oct. 1759, and the lantern lighted on Oct. 16 of the latter year. This great work, the greatest of its kind hitherto undertaken, remained 120 years a stable monument of Smeaton's engineering skill. Yet he seems to have had little em ployment for some time subsequently, as lie applied for and obtained in 1764 the post of receiver of the Derwentwater estate," the funds of which were applied for the behoof of Greenwich hospital; and this situation he held till 1777, by which time lie was in full professional employment. The chief of his other works were the con
struction of the greater portion of Ramsgate harbor (1744); the laying out of the line of the Forth and Clyde canal, and the superintendence of the excavation of most of it; the rendering of the Calder (Yorkshire) navigable; the erection of Spurn light-house, and of several important bridges in Scotland; together with an immense amount of mill-ma chinery. He also greatly improved Newcomen's steam engine, but the mighty is ments of Watt in the same field threw his labors completely into the shade. He s said to have prevented the fall of the old London bridge for many years by sinking a great quan tity of stones around one of the piers, which had become undermined by the strength of the Thames current. In 1783, his health began to decline, and he retired from active business, dying at Austhorpe of paralysis, Oct. 28, 1792. He was one of the chief promoters of the " Society of Civil Engineers," which was started in 1771, and after Smeaton's death pub lished (1797), in three 4to volumes, his numerous professional reports, which were re garded by his successors " as a mine of wealth for the sound principles which they un fold', and the able practice they exemplify." For a large portion of his life Smeaton was in constant attendance on parliament, which, in difficult or important engineering schemes invariably demanded, and almost always followed his advice—a proof not only of his eminence in his profession, but of his caution, judgment and integrity. See the biography prefixed to his "Reports."