The Scottish inventor Colonel Robert Erskine, born in the year of 1735 was an American officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Robert was a student of the University of Edinburgh. Being an engineer he discovered the “Continual Stream Pump” and “Platometer”, a centrifugal hydraulic engine, and also researched with other hydraulic systems.
Colonel Robert Erskine took active part in civic issues and got great respect from his community. In 1771, he was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society. In the same year he was chosen by the owners of the ironworks near Ringwood, NJ, to replace Peter Haasenclever as ironmaster after the operation got nearly bankrupted by the immense spending of Haasenclever. With his great knowledge and experience Erskine made the operation immediately profitable. However, the American Revolutionary War had cut his efforts short.
Being impressed from the moment of first meet, George Washington appointed Colonel Robert Erskine as the Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army in 1777. After this, Erskine drew more than 275 detailed maps, which covered the northern sector of the war and this proved to be one of the famous Works of Colonel Robert Erskine. This work had also made him one of the great Map Makers of Modern Era. Erskine passed away in the year of 1780.