Stirling Engine
The Stirling Engine was invented in 1816 by the Rev. Robert Stirling and has been used throughout history ever since. In this essay I will tell you about the inventor, the development of the machine, and the many uses it has in society today
The inventor
Robert Stirling was born on the 25, of October 1790; he was a Scottish pastor and also the inventor of the Stirling Engine. He was born on the Colag Farm and was the third of eight children. He studied at the University of Edinbrdough and the also the University of Glasgow becoming a minister of Scotland in 1816. Stirling built what he referred to as the Heat Economizer (now known as the regenerator) a device for improving the thermal/fuel efficiency of a variety of industrial processes. He attained a patent for the machine incorporating it in 1816. The theoretical basis of the Stirling Engine, the Stirling cycle, would not fully be understood until the work of Sadi Carnot (1796-1832). Stirling also collaborated with another inventor, Thomas Morton, who provided facilities for Stirlings research. Both men took an interenterest in astronomy, and with the help Morton Stirling invented several optical instruments. Stirling died in Glaston, East Ayrshire on 6th June 1878
Development
In 1816 Robert Stirling sought to create a safer alternative to the steam engines of the time, whose boilers often exploded due to high pressure of the steam and the inadequate materials. . Though it has been disputed, and is widely supposed that it was also invented to save fuel. The Main subject of Stirlings original patent was a heat exchanger he called and “economizer” for its enhancement of fuel economy in a variety of applications. The need for Stirling engines to run at very high temperatures to maximize power and efficiency exposed limitations in the materials of the day, and the few engines that were built in those early suffered unacceptably frequent failures. Uses it has
