John Seaward
Encyclopedia
John Seaward was a British
civil engineer
and mechanical engineer. His brother was Samuel Seaward, FRS (see below).
, London
, in January 1786, and initially worked with his father as a surveyor
and architect
.
, to supervise the work. During this period he became acquainted with Jeremy Bentham
and James Walker
and his uncle, Ralph Walker.
Following this he managed some lead mines in Wales
, acquired a knowledge of chemistry
, and became friendly with Arthur Woolf
, Richard Trevithick
, and other mechanical engineers of the period. Upon his return to London he oversaw the construction of Gordon's, Dowson's, and other docks on the River Thames, and became an agent for the Gospel Oak Ironworks in Staffordshire
.
Seaward was at the same time connected with the Imperial Continental Gas Association
and introduced gas lighting
to several towns in France
, Belgium
, and Holland.
In 1823 Seaward drew plans for a new London Bridge of three arches, each of 230 feet (70.1 m) span. In 1824 he established the Canal Ironworks at Millwall
, London, for the construction of machinery, especially marine engines; in 1825 they constructed the engine for the vessel the Royal George, which was intended for the Dover
- Calais
service. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers
as a member in 1826, and was a frequent attendant at the meetings.
His younger brother, Samuel Seaward (1800–1842), joined him in about 1826; the brothers produced machinery for every part of the world, and made the name of Seaward widely known. In 1829 they assisted in the formation of the Diamond Steam Packet Company, and built the engines for the boats which ran between Gravesend
and London. Of these, the Ruby and the Sapphire were types for speed and for accommodation.
In 1836 the brothers brought out the direct-acting steam engines for HMS Gorgon
and HMS Cyclops, which were known as Seaward's engines. They superseded the heavy side-beam engines of the period which had been in general use. The saving obtained in the consumption of fuel by the double-slide valve, both for the steam and exhaust, plus other improvements, caused the government to entrust the Seawards with the building of twenty-four steamboats and some smaller vessels.
At the same time they adapted their engines to the vessels of the East India Company, the Steam Navigation Companies, and the ships of foreign governments. They were also early advocates of the use of auxiliary steam power for the voyage to India
, and experimented with it on the East Indiaman Vernon in 1839 and 1840 with great success
They also designed large swing bridge
s, dredging machines, cranes, and other dock apparatus, plus machinery for lead, saw, and sugar mills. Among the improvements and inventions for which John Seaward was personally responsible were tubular boilers, which were used by the Royal Navy, disconnecting cranks for paddle-wheel engines, the telescopic funnel, self-acting nozzles for feed and for regulating the saturation of the water in marine boilers, double passages in cylinders both for steam and education, cheese-couplings used to connect and disconnect screw propellers
s to and from engines, and other minor improvements.
The death of Samuel Seaward, on May 11, 1842 threw upon John Seaward the entire management of the Canal Ironworks. In the construction of the 800 hp engines of the RMS Amazon
, he is considered to have produced one of his most perfect works. The vessel unfortunately was destroyed by fire on her first passage to the West Indies on January 4, 1852.
John Seaward died at 20 Brecknock Crescent, London, on 26 March 1858.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and mechanical engineer. His brother was Samuel Seaward, FRS (see below).
Early life
Seaward was born the son of a builder in LambethLambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, in January 1786, and initially worked with his father as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
Career
He was later employed by Grillier & Company, the contractors for the erection of Regent's Bridge across the River ThamesRiver Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, to supervise the work. During this period he became acquainted with Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
and James Walker
James Walker (engineer)
James Walker, FRS, was an influential Scottish civil engineer of the first half of the 19th century.Walker was born in Falkirk and was apprenticed to his uncle Ralph Walker in approximately 1800, with whom he gained experience working on the design and construction of the West India and East India...
and his uncle, Ralph Walker.
Following this he managed some lead mines in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, acquired a knowledge of chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, and became friendly with Arthur Woolf
Arthur Woolf
Arthur Woolf was a Cornish engineer, most famous for inventing a high-pressure compound steam engine. As such he made an outstanding contribution to the development and perfection of the Cornish engine.Woolf left Cornwall in 1785 to work for Joseph Bramah's engineering works in London...
, Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick
Richard Trevithick was a British inventor and mining engineer from Cornwall. His most significant success was the high pressure steam engine and he also built the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive...
, and other mechanical engineers of the period. Upon his return to London he oversaw the construction of Gordon's, Dowson's, and other docks on the River Thames, and became an agent for the Gospel Oak Ironworks in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
.
Seaward was at the same time connected with the Imperial Continental Gas Association
Imperial Continental Gas Association
Imperial Continental Gas Association plc was a leading British gas utility operating in various cities in Continental Europe . It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
and introduced gas lighting
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
to several towns in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and Holland.
In 1823 Seaward drew plans for a new London Bridge of three arches, each of 230 feet (70.1 m) span. In 1824 he established the Canal Ironworks at Millwall
Millwall
Millwall is an area in London, on the western side of the Isle of Dogs, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the south of the developments at West India Docks, including Canary Wharf.-History:...
, London, for the construction of machinery, especially marine engines; in 1825 they constructed the engine for the vessel the Royal George, which was intended for the Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
- Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
service. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Civil Engineers
Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
as a member in 1826, and was a frequent attendant at the meetings.
His younger brother, Samuel Seaward (1800–1842), joined him in about 1826; the brothers produced machinery for every part of the world, and made the name of Seaward widely known. In 1829 they assisted in the formation of the Diamond Steam Packet Company, and built the engines for the boats which ran between Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
and London. Of these, the Ruby and the Sapphire were types for speed and for accommodation.
In 1836 the brothers brought out the direct-acting steam engines for HMS Gorgon
HMS Gorgon (1837)
HMS Gorgon was a wooden steam paddle frigate of 6 guns, launched in 1837. In 1840 she took part in the bombardment of Acre, and in 1843 was part of the Royal Navy squadron stationed in the River Plate during the Uruguayan Civil War. She was converted to a troopship and in 1858 assisted HMS...
and HMS Cyclops, which were known as Seaward's engines. They superseded the heavy side-beam engines of the period which had been in general use. The saving obtained in the consumption of fuel by the double-slide valve, both for the steam and exhaust, plus other improvements, caused the government to entrust the Seawards with the building of twenty-four steamboats and some smaller vessels.
At the same time they adapted their engines to the vessels of the East India Company, the Steam Navigation Companies, and the ships of foreign governments. They were also early advocates of the use of auxiliary steam power for the voyage to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and experimented with it on the East Indiaman Vernon in 1839 and 1840 with great success
They also designed large swing bridge
Swing bridge
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...
s, dredging machines, cranes, and other dock apparatus, plus machinery for lead, saw, and sugar mills. Among the improvements and inventions for which John Seaward was personally responsible were tubular boilers, which were used by the Royal Navy, disconnecting cranks for paddle-wheel engines, the telescopic funnel, self-acting nozzles for feed and for regulating the saturation of the water in marine boilers, double passages in cylinders both for steam and education, cheese-couplings used to connect and disconnect screw propellers
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s to and from engines, and other minor improvements.
The death of Samuel Seaward, on May 11, 1842 threw upon John Seaward the entire management of the Canal Ironworks. In the construction of the 800 hp engines of the RMS Amazon
RMS Amazon
RMS Amazon was a wooden paddle wheel mail steamer of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company.-History:Amazon was laid down on 1 September 1850 at R & H Green's Blackwall Yard, London and launched on 28 June 1851.-Loss:...
, he is considered to have produced one of his most perfect works. The vessel unfortunately was destroyed by fire on her first passage to the West Indies on January 4, 1852.
John Seaward died at 20 Brecknock Crescent, London, on 26 March 1858.
Publications
- Observations on the Rebuilding of London Bridge, with an examination of the Arch of Equilibrium proposed by Dr. Hutton, and an investigation of a new method for forming an arch of that description (1824)
- Observations on the Advantages and Possibility of successfully employing Steam Power in navigating Ships between this country and the East Indies (1829)
- Various articles for Thomas Tredgold's The Steam Engine (1850), including "Steam Navigation", "Vessels of Iron and Wood", the "Steam Engine", and "Screw Propulsion".