SMEATON, Jonx, a celebrated civil engineer, was the son of an attorney, and was born at Austhorpe, near Leeds, on the 28th May 1729. At a very early age he evinced a great passion for mechanical pur suits, and displayed much ingenuity in the formation of his tools, and in various pieces of mechanism which he constructed; but it does not appear that he had devoted his time to scientific pursuits till he had reached the period of full manhood.
In 1742 his father who was anxious thal he should follow his own profession, took him to London, where he auended the courts in Westminster Hall; but find ing that nature had intended him for other purposes, he addressed a memorial to his father, which obtain ed him permission to follow the bent of his own genius.
From this time Mr. Smeaton continued to reside in London, and about 1750 he established himself as a mathematical instrument maker, a profession which brought him in contact with the ingenious men in the metropolis, and from this time he seems to have de voted himself particularly to philosophical pursuits.
In the same year he communicated to the Royal Society an .1ceount of Dr. Knight's Improvement of the Mariner's Compass. In 1752 he communicated to the same body three papers, viz. an account of some improvements on the air pump; a description of an en gine for raising water by fire, being an improvement on Savory's construction to render it capable of working itself, invented by III. de Moura of Portugal; and a de scription of a new tackle of pulleys. In 1751 he had in vented a machine for measuring the way of a ship at sea, and he made two voyages in company with Dr. Knight to try it, and also a compass which he had in vented. This instrument he subsequently described in the Philosophical Transactions for 1754.
In the year 1753 Mr. Smeaton was admitted a mem ber of the Royal Society. In 1754 he laid before them an account- of his New Pyrometer,* and in the same year he undertook a voyage to Holland and the Netherlands, to sec the works of art which these countries contained. The inland navigation of Hol land must have particularly occupied his attention, and it is probable that he henceforth resolved to de vote himself to the profession of an engineer.
In December 1755, when the Eddystone lighthouse was destroyed by fire, the proprietors applied to Lord Macclesfield, the president of the Royal Society, to recommend a proper person to rebuild it. Ills lord
ship recommended Mr. Smeaton, who executed the work to the satisfaction of all parties.
A full account of all Mr. Smeaton's operations has already been given in our article Lionirnous>i.x PlrSmeaton's own account of this great work appeared in a folio volume in 1791, and he is said to have re marked that this work cost him more trouble than the erection of the lighthouse itself.
So early as the years 1752 and 1753 he was occu pied math an Experimental Enquiry respecting the na tural powers of water and wind to turn mills and other machines depending on circular motion. This inquiry was carried on by means of working models of under shot, breast, overshot, and wind mills, and an account of it under the above title, was in 1759 laid before the Royal Society, who honoured it with the Copley me dal. A full account of these experiments has been already given in our article HYDRODYNAMICS and in MEcuANies.
' Notwithstanding the reputation which Mr. Smea ton derived from the Eddystone lighthouse, he does not appear to have been fully employed as an engineer even five years after its completion. In 176• he was appointed cne of the receivers of the Derwentwater estates, and in the discharge of this duty he made many improvements on the mills, and on the estates or Greenwich Hospital. In 1775, when his business as au engineer had greatly increased, he was desi rous of resigning that appointment, but at the urgent entreaty of his friends he consented to continue two years longer.
In 1771 he and his friend Mr. Holmes became pro prietors of the works for supplying Deptford with water; and on this occasion it is likely that he made those experiments on the friction of water in conduit pipes, and on the discharge of water through orifices, which were found among his papers, and which were first printed in our'article HYDRODYNAMICS, through the kindness of Air. John Farey• In the construction of mills our author exhibited sagacity and practical talent, improved by theoretical knowledge. Descriptions and drawings of his over shot and breast wheels are given in our article Hy drodynamics. Ile erected also a steam-engine at Austhorpe, in order to determine the power of New comeu's steam engine, upon which he made consider able improvements.