{{Short description|British mechanical engineer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Edward Alfred Cowper | image = Edward Alfred Cowper (1819-1893).jpg | birth_date = 10 December 1819 | birth_place = [[London]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|1893|5|9|1819|10|12|df=y}} | death_place = [[Rastricke]], [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]] | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = | known_for = Detonating railway fog signal<br>[[Birmingham New Street railway station|Birmingham New Street station]]<br>Cowper stove | education = | employer = Fox, Henderson and Co, [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]]. | occupation = [[Mechanical engineer]], inventor. | awards = [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] {{small|(1889)}} | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = }} '''Edward Alfred Cowper''' (10 December 1819 [[London]] – 9 May 1893 Rastricke, [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]]) was a British [[mechanical engineer]].
==Biography== He was born on 10 December 1819 in [[London]] to professor [[Edward Shickle Cowper]] (1790–1852), head of the department of engineering at [[King's College London]]; and Ann Applegath. The elder Cowper, together with his brother-in-law [[Augustus Applegath]], had helped to develop the vertical printing press in the 1820s.<ref name="Cowper the Elder">{{cite DNB|last=Tedder|first=Henry Richard|wstitle=Cowper, Edward|volume=12}}</ref>
In 1833, he was apprenticed to [[John Braithwaite (engineer)|John Braithwaite]], a railway engineer in London.
In around 1841, he invented the [[Detonator (railway)|detonating railway fog signal]], first tried on the [[London and Croydon Railway|Croydon railway]] and widely used to this day as an emergency safety measure. The same year, he joined [[Fox, Henderson and Co]], structural and railway engineers in [[Smethwick]], where he devised a method of casting railway chairs. He oversaw the company's contract drawings for the 1851 Exhibition Building, [[The Crystal Palace]].<ref name=Vicweb>{{cite web|title=A Selection of Great Victorian Railway Stations|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/railways/durant.html|publisher=victorianweb.org|accessdate=10 February 2013}}</ref><ref name=GG/>
Cowper also designed the wrought-iron and glass roof of [[Birmingham New Street railway station|Birmingham New Street station]], which was then the largest single-span roof in the world at 211 feet (64.31m) wide. It was originally intended to have three spans, supported by columns, however it was soon realised that the supporting columns would severely restrict the workings of the railway. Cowper's single-span design, was therefore adopted, even though it was some 62 feet (19 metres) wider than the widest roof span at that time.<ref>{{cite web|title=warwickshirerailways.com - lnwrbns_str1295.htm|url=http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_str1295.htm|publisher=warwickshirerailways.com|accessdate=10 February 2013}}</ref><ref name=GG>{{cite web|title=Edward Alfred Cowper|url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/index.php?title=Edward_Alfred_Cowper&printable=yes|publisher=Graces Guide.co.uk|accessdate=17 November 2013}}</ref> [[George Gilbert Scott]] praised Cowper's roof at New Street, stating "An iron roof in its most normal condition is too spider-like a structure to be handsome, but with a very little attention this defect is obviated. The most wonderful specimen, probably, is that at the great Birmingham Station . . . "<ref name=Vicweb/>
At the end of 1851, Cowper resigned his post at Fox and Henderson and commenced to practise on his own account in London as a consulting engineer. In 1857, he invented the regenerative hot blast stove known as the [[Cowper stove]], which greatly improved the economy of the hot blast process in the making of steel.<ref name=GG/> In 1868, he invented a wire-spoke wheel with rubber tyre, which is the same as the modern [[bicycle wheel]]. He however never patented his design.<ref>[http://www.cyclemuseum.org.uk/ncl/pics/Article%20-%20The%20Development%20of%20the%20Suspension%20Wheel%20%28V-CC%20Library%29.pdf "The Development of the Suspension Wheel"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923212123/http://www.cyclemuseum.org.uk/ncl/pics/Article%20-%20The%20Development%20of%20the%20Suspension%20Wheel%20%28V-CC%20Library%29.pdf |date=23 September 2015 }}, ''Cycle Museum'', Nick Clayton, 1991</ref><ref name=GG/>
In 1879, Cowper invented the writing-telegraph; a device which allowed hand-written messages to be transmitted by [[Electrical telegraph|telegraph]]. The exact position of the pencil of the operator at the sending-station was communicated to the writing-pen at the receiving-station through two wires, one giving the vertical and the other the horizontal position of the pencil.<ref name=GG/>
Cowper also took part in founding the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]]. He was a founding member of the Institution in 1847 and in the following year was elected a member of the council. In 1880-81 he served the office of President.<ref name=GG/>
Cowper was awarded the [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] of [[The Franklin Institute]] in 1889.
He married Juliana Hanson in 1847 in Kensington, London and they had six children, the youngest being the actor and singer Vernon Cowper (1871-1922). He died at home of [[pneumonia]] at the age of 73.<ref name=GG/> <gallery> File:Victorian New Street.jpg|Cowper's roof at [[Birmingham New Street railway station|New Street Station]]. File:L-Roheisenherstellung.png|Five Cowper's stove regenerative heat exchangers </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/index.php?title=Edward_Alfred_Cowper&printable=yes The Best of British Engineering 1750–1960 - Edward Alfred Cowper]
{{s-start}} {{s-npo|pro}} {{s-bef|before=[[John Robinson (engineer)|John Robinson]] }} {{s-ttl|title=[[President (corporate title)|President]] of the [[Institution of Mechanical Engineers]] |years=1880-1881 }} {{s-aft|after=[[Percy G. B. Westmacott]] }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowper, Edward Alfred}} [[Category:1819 births]] [[Category:1893 deaths]] [[Category:Engineers from London]]