Alexander Carnegie Kirk (16 July 1830 – 5 October 1892) was a British

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

responsible for several major innovations in the

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

refrigeration Refrigeration is any of various types of cooling of a space, substance, or system to lower and/or maintain its temperature below the ambient one (while the removed heat is ejected to a place of higher temperature).IIR International Dictionary of ...

, and oil shale industries of the 19th century. Kirk, born in

Barry, Angus Barry (Scottish Gaelic: ''Barraidh'') is a small village in Angus, Scotland, on Barry Burn at the mouth of the River Tay. The recent completion of a bypass for the village on the A930 road from Dundee to Carnoustie is something that was ori ...

, received his formal education at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and a technical education at plants operated by Robert Napier and Sons.

Family

Alexander Carnegie Kirk was the eldest son of Rev. John Kirk (died 1858) and Christian Guthrie, née Carnegie, (died 1865). The

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

John Kirk was his younger brother. A.C. Kirk married Ada Waller at

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

in 1869 and they had six children.

Career

In 1850, Kirk began a five-year apprenticeship with Robert Napier and Sons. In 1861, he became chief draughtsman at

Maudslay, Sons and Field Maudslay, Sons and Field was an engineering company based in Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in ...

in London but this seems to have lasted less than a year. Later in 1861 he became an engineering manager in the shale-oil industry, working for James Young. During this employment he developed an oil shale retort and a refrigeration technology, involving the delivery of

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R� ...

. The latter was to address production problems stemming from summer heat. In 1865 he joined the management of James Aitken and Company, an engine works in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 1870 he was appointed manager of the John C. Elder engineering works. After returning to the Napier firm as a senior partner in 1877, his work was thereafter focused on marine engineering. His

triple-expansion engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) Cylinder (engine), cylinder, then ha ...

s as designed for the steamship ''Propontis'' were unsuccessful, but his subsequent versions of the engine design, particularly those designed for the steamship ''Aberdeen'', are credited as technological breakthroughs.

Professional appointments

He served as the President of The

Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland The Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) is a multi-disciplinary professional body and learned society, founded in Scotland, for professional engineers in all disciplines and for those associated with or taking an interest in their work. I ...

from 1887 to 1889.

Honours

In 2020 he was inducted into the

Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame honours "those engineers from, or closely associated with, Scotland who have achieved, or deserve to achieve, greatness", as selected by an independent panel representing Scottish engineering institutions, aca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Alexander C. 1830 births 1892 deaths Presidents of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland 19th-century Scottish inventors 19th-century Scottish people 19th-century Scottish engineers People from Angus, Scotland Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British marine engineers Oil shale in Scotland Oil shale technology inventors 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame inductees

Family

Career

Professional appointments

Honours

See also

References