John Kerwin Stewart (November 30, 1870 – June 1, 1916) was an entrepreneur and inventor. He founded the Stewart-Warner Corporation. In his lifetime he founded or purchased several companies and held 82 patents. Biography He was born in 1870 in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. He married Julia Pearl Butler in 1896, the couple had three daughters. In what became training for their futures in manufacturing, Stewart and Thomas J. Clark worked at a factory in New Hampshire that produced horse clipping machinery. The lifelong friends later moved to Providence, Rhode Island and worked for the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company. Then, in approximately 1890, the two traveled to Chicago, Illinois where they entered into partnership and manufactured horse clippers, sheep clippers, bicycle handle bars and flexible shafts among other products. He died on June 1, 1916 in New York City. Companies founded Chicago Flexible Shaft Company In 1893 Stewart & Clark founded the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company (incorporated 1897) to manufacture flexible driveshafts and mechanical sheep shears. Stewart and Charles Timson of Wm. Cooper & Nephews partnered in founding the Cooper-Stewart Sheep Shearing Machinery Co in 1896 and sold the sheep shearing products through this new company. In 1903 Wm. Cooper & Nephews purchased 50% ownership of the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company. In 1908 Wm. Cooper & Nephews purchased the remaining 50% of Chicago Flexible Shaft Company for $400,000. Julia Stewarts nephew remained the president of Chicago Flexible Shaft Company after the sale. In 1910, the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company introduced its first home appliance, an electric iron, under the brand name Sunbeam. The Sunbeam Mixmaster was introduced in 1930. By 1946, Sunbeam appliances had become so successful and widely sold that the company name would change formally to Sunbeam Corporation. Sterk Manufacturing Company Around 1896 Stewart and Clark founded the Sterk Manufacturing Company which produced speedometers and automobile horns. The flexible shafts from the Chicago Flexible Shaft Company were used in the production of cables needed for the speedometers. Stewart & Clark Manufacturing Company In 1905 Stewart & Clark Manufacturing Company was founded and acquired all assets of the Sterk Manufacturing Company. The partners erected a small manufacturing plant on Diversey Parkway in Chicago. This plant would eventually grow to a one million square foot (93,000 m²) manufacturing and headquarters facility for Stewart-Warner until the company left Chicago in 1988. Due to his patents, Stewart collected $311,000 in royalties, which