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Ewald Riepe, circa 1850

The above portrait is owned by Rebecca Pruss, gr-gr-gr niece of Ewald.  Per Rebecca "...Unfortunately the artist's signature (if there was one) has been lost as the bottom part of the painting was cut off at some point.  Probably it was too big to transport.  I have run across a number of portraits of scientists from this period painted by HW Pickersgill in museums in England.  Maybe if you post them on your web site someone will recognize him."

Ewald Riepe was the brother of Peter Frederick Wilhelm, Leonard, and Maria Riepe, all of Davenport, Scott Co., IA, and Lothar Riepe, of Baltimore, MD.  Ewald apparently did not immigrate to America, but to England, and worked as a scientist and inventor.  There, he invented and patented a process for casting steel by pouring crucible steel into specially treated clay molds.  This process became known as the "German Riepe" process, and was used extensively to cast objects of steel.  One of the most well known users of Ewald's casting process was the Naylor Vickers Co., of Sheffield, England.  Using Ewald's process, the firm was able to capture the market share for steel castings in the 1860's.  Naylor Vickers was known for their production of cast steel bells, usually made for churches.