The Reverend Doctor Robert Stirling was a Scottish clergyman, and inventor of the Stirling engine.
Background
Stirling was born at Cloag Farm near Methven, Perthshire, the third of eight children of Patrick and Agnes Stirling and a grandson of Michael Stirling, inventor of a threshing machine. He inherited his father"s interest in engineering, but studied divinity at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Education
University of Edinburgh. University of Glasgow.
Career
Later that year he became a minister on appointment as second charge of the Laigh Kirk of Kilmarnock. On 12 February 1824 Stirling was appointed as the minister of nearby Galston Parish Church from 1824, where he continued his ministry until 1878. In 1840 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by University of Street Andrews.
Hot air engine
He invented what he called the Heat Economiser (now generally known as the regenerator), a device for improving the thermal/fuel efficiency of a variety of industrial processes, obtaining a patent for the economiser and an engine incorporating it in 1816.
In 1818 he built the first practical version of his engine, used to pump water from a quarry. The theoretical basis of Stirling"s engine, the Stirling cycle, would not be fully understood until the work of Sadi Carnot (1796–1832).
Optical instruments
While in Kilmarnock, he collaborated with another inventor, Thomas Morton, who provided workshop facilities for Stirling"s research. Both men were interested in astronomy, and having learnt from Morton how to grind lenses, Stirling invented several optical instruments.
Patents
Bessemer process
In a letter of 1876, Robert Stirling acknowledged the importance of Henry Bessemer"s new invention – the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel – expressing a hope that the new steel would improve the performance of air engines.
On 10 July 1819, Stirling married Jean Rankine at Kilmarnock. They had seven children:
Patrick Stirling, born 29 June 1820, became a locomotive engineer
William Stirling born 14 November 1822, became a civil engineer and railway engineer in South America
Robert Stirling, born 16 December 1824, became a railway engineer in Peru. David Stirling, born 12 October 1828, became the Minister of Craigie, Ayrshire
James Stirling, born 2 October 1835, became a locomotive engineer
Agnes Stirling, born 22 July 1838, became an artist
Review
Robert Stirling died in Galston, East Ayrshire on 6 June 1878.
He is buried in Galston Cemetery where a new gravestone was erected in December 2014 by public subscription replacing the original stone which was in a ruined state. lieutenant was rededicated on Sunday 3 May 2015.
On 3 October 2014 Stirling was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.