William Aitken (born in Haddington) and John Steele (sometimes recorded as Steel).
Aitken went to France in 1802, and was naturalised French in 1810. He introduced the British type of waterwheel construction into France, building many for mills in France at his factory at Senoche. In he became a partner with John Steele to build stationary and marine steam engines at Ivry. In 1821 they patented a three-cylinder compound steam engine.[1]
An account of Aitken & Steele's three-cylinder compound engine and the explosion which killed Steele on 4 March 1827 appeared in a 1991 article.[2]