Thomas Fowler

Thomas Fowler may refer to:

Thomas Fowler (inventor)

Thomas Fowler (born 1777 in Great Torrington, Devon, England – died March 31, 1843) was an English inventor whose most notable invention was the thermosiphon which formed the basis of early hot water central heating systems.

Much of the knowledge of Fowler comes from his son, the Reverend Hugh Fowler, who produced a biography of his father.

Inventions

Thermosiphon

Fowler patented the thermosiphon in 1828 (British patent number 5711). It was the first convective heating system. A system based on his design was installed at Bicton, part of the Rolle Estate and received great acclaim in the Gardener's Magazine of 1829. Unfortunately due to innate flaws in the patent system of the time (under which a new version of a design with minimal changes was not covered by the original patent), the thermosiphon was pirated by numerous other manufacturers and Fowler did not have sufficient funds to conduct legal proceedings.

Thomas Fowler (courtier)

Thomas Fowler (died 1590) was an English lawyer, diplomat, courtier, spy, servant of the Countess of Lennox, broker of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, steward of the Earl of Leicester, advisor to James VI of Scotland and the Scottish ambassador in London, Archibald Douglas.

John Knox and the English diplomat Thomas Randolph wrote that Thomas Fowler was an Englishman. It is not known if Thomas was any relation of the Scottish poet and royal secretary William Fowler, with whom historians have confused his son William Fowler. The Fowler surname is found in the parish registers of Settrington, Margaret Douglas' Yorkshire manor, and Thomas may have been a member of an English family, or perhaps a Scottish family settled in England, attached to the Lennox household. In 1562 Fowler, clerk of the Countess' kitchen, was noted with Laurence Nisbet, Francis Yaxley, and Hugh Allan, the schoolmaster, as a potential witness against the Countess. This Fowler had killed a stranger servant (meaning not English) in 1561.