Sunday Reflections Smeatons Bridge River Tay Perth Perthshire Scotland

Tour Scotland 4K Spring travel video of Sunday morning reflections by Smeaton's Bridge over the River Tay on visit to Perth, Perthshire. Far less traffic crossing the road bridge due to the Coronavirus Pandemic lockdown. John Smeaton, architect of the Eddystone Lighthouse built this at Perth. Smeaton's bridge was completed in 1771and is generally known as Perth Bridge. Smeaton was born in Austhorpe, Leeds, England. After studying at Leeds Grammar School he joined his father's law firm, but left to become a mathematical instrument maker, working with Henry Hindley, developing, among other instruments, a pyrometer to study material expansion. In 1750, his premises were in the Great Turnstile in Holborn. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1753 and in 1759 won the Copley Medal for his research into the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. Employing his skills as a mechanical engineer, he devised a water engine for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1761 and a watermill at Alston, Cumbria in 1767, he is credited by some with inventing the cast iron axle shaft for water wheels. In 1782 he built the Chimney Mill at Spital Tongues in Newcastle upon Tyne, the first 5 sailed smock mill in Britain. He also improved Thomas Newcomen's atmospheric engine, erecting one at Chacewater mine, Wheal Busy, in Cornwall in 1775. Smeaton died on 28 October 1792, after suffering a stroke while walking in the garden of his family home at Austhorpe, and was buried in the parish church at Whitkirk, West Yorkshire. He is highly regarded by other engineers, having contributed to the Lunar Society and founded the Society of Civil Engineers in 1771.

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