126 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
residence of nearly forty yearsin Manchester,—his 
time was necessarily in chief measure devoted to 
strictly commercial pursuits. But his mind was 
far too active and enterprising to find sufficient 
occupation in the daily repetition of the same 
processes; and his early training and practical 
skill as a mechanician stimulated him to aim at 
the improvement of these processes by the con- 
trivance of new and more perfect machinery. 
The first fruits of this revival of his original pur- 
suits was the invention of a loom worked by 
atmospheric pressure. But this ingenious con- 
trivance was not found susceptible of practical 
application on a large scale. He continued also 
to devote much attention to Civil Engineering ; 
and so high was the estimation in which he was _ 
held by the most distinguished Civil Engineers, 
both for skill and integrity, that in 1831 he was 
unanimously appointed sole referee to determine 
the amount of compensation to be made by the 
Eau Brink Commissioners to the Ouze Bank Pro- 
prietors. His award in this very complicated 
question gave great satisfaction to all the parties 
interested. 
Mr. Ewart in 1822 took out a Patent for 
an Iron Coffer Dam, the value of which is thus 
