L A Mair
publications

Hardback 189 pages. Book size A5.
ISBN 0 9526417 0 4
Date published 1995

Published in the UK by L.A Mair

The life of the Rev Robert Stirling has been largely ignored by historians of science. This first ever biography of Robert Stirling examines the possible motives that lead a student of divinity, with a classical education, to invent and patent, in 1816, the Heat Economiser. With his brother, James, Robert Stirling developed his idea into the Stirling Engine, which over a hundred years later is the subject of renewed interest. The culmination of Stirling's experiments was the construction, by James Stirling, of a 45 hp engine to power the works of the Dundee Foundry. Robert Stirling became the long serving Minister of Galston, Ayrshire in Scotland, whilst his sons went on to be respected railway engineers.
The author traces the reasons why Stirling did not achieve greater success from a financial and engineering point of view, when others such as John Ericsson and the Siemens brothers profited from ideas originated by Robert Stirling.

Contents :

Part One: THE STIRLING FAMILY

Chapter 1.The Stirlings of Dunblane
Chapte 2. Robert Stirling, the 2nd charge at Kilmarnock
Chapter 3. Robert Stirling Minister of Galston
Chapter 4. James Stirling Civil Engineer

Part two: THE AIR ENGINE

Chapter 5. The Air Engine 1816
Chapter 6. The Air Engine 1818 to 1824
Chapter 7. The Air Engine 1824 to 1828
Chapter 8. The Air Engine 1828 to 1840
Chapter 9. The Dundee Engines
Chapter 10. The Economiser

Part three: APPENDIX

1. Sermon Preached by Robert Stirling in 1833
2. Robert Stirling's contribution to the 2nd Statistical Account of Scotland
3. Transcript of a meeting of the General Assembly
4. Robert Stirling's Scottish patent of 1816
5. Robert Stirling's English patent of 1816
6. Robert and James Stirling's English patent of 1827
7. James and Robert Stirling's English patent of 1840
8. Robert and James Stirling's Scottish patent of 1840
9. Notes and Bibliography