Background
He was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, the son of a namesake and his wife Ann (née Tassell) of Soberton, Hampshire.
He was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, the son of a namesake and his wife Ann (née Tassell) of Soberton, Hampshire.
In 1829 he invented steam-powered machinery for making ship"s biscuits that were stamped into hexagonal shapes, thereby ensuring that there was no waste. This process speeded up the production process and substantially reduced its costs. government departments copied the invention, saving the British taxpayer a great deal of money. In 1834 he invented a desalination plant which distilled fresh water at sea and was described by the Times in 1859 as "the greatest benefit ever conferred on the sailor, materially advancing the sanitary and moral condition of the navy".
Installed on HMS Wye it produced 10,000 gallons a day during the Crimean War.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Grant"s other inventions included "a naval fuel (briquettes known as Grant"s Patent Fuel), and a steam kitchen, which was given its first trials in the warship HMS Illustrious. He also constructed a new type of lifebuoy, and a feathering paddle wheel.
In 1850 he was promoted to the comptrollership of the Admiralty"s victualling and transport service. The outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 tested Grant a great deal.
However, his inventions helped to offset the widely condemned shortcomings of the war-time supply arrangements for the forces.
He died of cancer in London on 15 October 1859. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography remarked, "Despite the marked improvements they bestowed on the quality of the beneficiaries" lives, Grant"s inventions were perhaps too homely to receive the mention they deserved in the histories of technology." He died at his house in Regents Park, London. They had two sons: Vice-admiral William Burley Grant and Richard Tassell Grant.
List of Fellows of the Royal Society G,H,I.
Royal Society]
He became a prominent member of the Royal Society, having been elected a Fellow in 1840.