Fitch's ModelFig. 67.—Fitch’s Model, 1785.
Fig. 67.—Fitch’s Model, 1785.
In March, 1786, Fitch was granted a patent by the State of New Jersey, for the exclusive right to the navigation of the waters of the State by steam, for 14 years. A month later, he was in Philadelphia, seeking a similar patent from the State of Pennsylvania. He did not at once succeed, but in a few days he had formed a company, raised $300, and set about finding a place in which to construct his engine. Henry Voight, a Dutch watchmaker, a good mechanic, and a very ingenious man, took an interest in thecompany, and with him Fitch set about his work with great enthusiasm. After making a little model, having a steam-cylinder but one inch in diameter, they built a model boat and engine, the latter having a diameter of cylinder of three inches. They tried the endless chain, and other methods of propulsion, without success, and finally succeeded with a set of oars worked by the engine. In August, 1786, it was determined by the company to authorize the construction of a larger vessel; but the money was not readily obtained. Meantime, Fitch continued his efforts to secure a patent from the State, and was finally, March 28, 1787, successful. He also obtained a similar grant from the State of Delaware, in February of the same year, and from New York, March 19.
Money was now subscribed more freely, and the work on the boat continued uninterruptedly until May, 1787, when a trial was made, which revealed many defects in the machinery. The cylinder-heads were of wood, and leaked badly; the piston leaked; the condenser was imperfect; the valves were not tight. All these defects were remedied, and a condenser invented by Voight—the “pipe-condenser”—was substituted for that defective detail as previously made.
The steamboat was finally placed in working order, and was found capable, on trial, of making three or four miles an hour. But now the boiler proved to be too small to furnish steam steadily in sufficient quantity to sustain the higher speed. After some delay, and much distress on the part of the sanguine inventor, who feared that he might be at last defeated when on the very verge of success, the necessary changes were finally made, and a trial took place at Philadelphia, in presence of the members of the Convention—then in session at Philadelphia framing the Federal Constitution—August 22, 1787. Many of the distinguished spectators gave letters to Fitch certifying his success. Fitch now went to Virginia, where he succeeded in obtaining apatent, November 7, 1787, and then returned to ask a patent of the General Government.
A controversy with Rumsey now followed, in which Fitch asserted his claims to the invention of the steamboat, and denied that Rumsey had done more than to revive the scheme which Bernouilli, Franklin, Henry, Paine, and others, had previously proposed, and that Rumsey’ssteamboatwas not made until 1786.
Fitch and Voight's BoilerFig. 68.—Fitch and Voight’s Boiler, 1787.
Fig. 68.—Fitch and Voight’s Boiler, 1787.
The boiler adopted in Fitch’s boat of 1787 was a “pipe-boiler,” which he had described in a communication to the Philosophical Society, in September, 1785. It consisted (Fig. 68) of a small water-pipe, winding backward and forward in the furnace, and terminating at one end at the point at which the feed-water was introduced, and at the other uniting with the steam-pipe leading to the engine. Voight’s condenser was similarly constructed. Rumsey claimed that this boiler was copied from his designs. Fitch brought evidence to prove that Rumsey had not built such a boiler until after his own.
Fitch's First BoatFig. 69.—Fitch’s First Boat, 1787.
Fig. 69.—Fitch’s First Boat, 1787.
Fitch’s first boat-engine had a steam-cylinder 12 inches in diameter. A second engine was now built (1788) with acylinder 18 inches in diameter, and a new boat. The first vessel was 45 feet long and 12 feet wide; the new boat was 60 feet long and of but 8 feet breadth of beam. The first boat (Fig. 69) had paddles worked at the sides, with the motion given the Indian paddle in propelling a canoe; in the second boat (Fig. 70) they were similarly worked, but were placed at the stern. There were three of these paddles. The boat was finally finished in July, 1788, and made a trip to Burlington, 20 miles from Philadelphia. When just reaching their destination, their boiler gave out, and they made their return-trip to Philadelphia floating with the tide. Subsequently, the boat made a number of excursions on the Delaware River, making three or four miles an hour.
Fitch's Second BoatFig. 70.—John Fitch, 1788.
Fig. 70.—John Fitch, 1788.
Another of Fitch’s boats, in April, 1790, made seven miles an hour. Fitch, writing of this boat, says that “on the 16th of April we got our work completed, and tried our boat again; and, although the wind blew very fresh at the east, we reigned lord high admirals of the Delaware,and no boat on the river could hold way with us.” In June of that year it was placed as a passenger-boat on a line from Philadelphia to Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, and Trenton, occasionally leaving that route to take excursions to Wilmington and Chester. During this period, the boat probably ran between 2,000 and 3,000 miles,[67]and with no serious accident. During the winter of 1790-’91, Fitch commenced another steamboat, the “Perseverance,” and gave considerable time to the prosecution of his claim for a patent from the United States. The boat was never completed, although he received his patent, after a long and spirited contest with other claimants, on the 26th of August, 1791, and Fitch lost all hope of success. He went to France in 1793, hoping to obtain the privilege of building steam-vessels there, but was again disappointed, and worked his passage home in the following year.
Fitch 1796Fig. 71.—John Fitch, 1796.
Fig. 71.—John Fitch, 1796.
In the year 1796, Fitch was again in New York City, experimenting with a littlescrewsteamboaton the “Collect” Pond, which then covered that part of the city nowoccupied by the “Tombs,” the city prison. This little boat was a ship’s yawl fitted with a screw, like that adopted later by Woodcroft, and driven by a rudely-made engine.
Fitch, while in the city of Philadelphia at about this time, met Oliver Evans, and discussed with him the probable future of steam-navigation, and proposed to form a company in the West, to promote the introduction of steam on the great rivers of that part of the country. He settled at last in Kentucky, on his land-grant, and there amused himself with a model steamboat, which he placed in a small stream near Bardstown. His death occurred there in July, 1798, and his body still lies in the village cemetery, with only a rough stone to mark the spot.
Both Rumsey and Fitch endeavored to introduce their methods in Great Britain; and Fitch, while urging the importance and the advantages of his plan, confidently stated his belief that the ocean would soon be crossed by steam-vessels, and that the navigation of the Mississippi would also become exclusively a steam-navigation. His reiterated assertion, “The day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from my invention; but no one will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention,” now almost sounds like a prophecy.
During this period, an interest which had never diminished in Great Britain had led to the introduction of experimental steamboats in that country.Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, had commenced experimenting, in 1786-’87, with boats having double or triple hulls, and propelled by paddle-wheels placed between the parts of the compound vessel. James Taylor, a young man who had been engaged as tutor for Mr. Miller’s sons, suggested, in 1787, the substitution of steam for the manual power which had been, up to that time, relied upon in their propulsion. Mr. Miller, in 1787, printed a description of his plan of propelling apparatus, and in it stated that he had “reason to believethat the power of the Steam-Engine may be applied to work the wheels.”
Miller, Taylor and SymmingtonFig. 72.—Miller, Taylor, and Symmington, 1788.
Fig. 72.—Miller, Taylor, and Symmington, 1788.
In the winter of 1787-’88, William Symmington, who had planned a new form of steam-engine, and made a successful working-model, was employed by Mr. Miller to construct an engine for a new boat. This was built; the little engine, having two cylinders of but four inches in diameter, was placed on board, and a trial was made October 14, 1788. The vessel (Fig. 72) was 25 feet long, of 7 feet beam, and made 5 miles an hour.
In the year 1789, a large vessel was built, with an engine having a steam-cylinder 18 inches in diameter, and this vessel was ready for trial in November of that year. On the first trial, the paddle-wheels proved too slight, and broke down; they were replaced by stronger wheels, and, in December, the boat, on trial, made seven miles an hour.
Miller, like many other inventors, seems to have lost his interest in the matter as soon as success seemed assured, and dropped it to take up other incomplete plans. More than a quarter of a century later, the British Government gave Taylor a pension of £50 per annum, and, in 1837, hisfour daughters were each given a similar annuity. Mr. Miller received no reward, although he is said to have expended over £30,000. The engine of Symmington was condemned by Miller as “the most improper of all steam-engines for giving motion to a vessel.” Nothing more was done in Great Britain until early in the succeeding century.
In the United States, several mechanics were now at work besides Fitch. Samuel Morey and Nathan Read were among these. Nicholas Roosevelt was another. It had just been found that American mechanics were able to do the required shop-work. The first experimental steam-engine built in America is stated to have been made in 1773 by Christopher Colles, a lecturer before the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The first steam-cylinder of any considerable size is said[68]to have been made by Sharpe & Curtenius, of New York City.
Samuel Moreywas the son of one of the first settlers of Orford, N. H. He was naturally fond of science and mechanics, and became something of an inventor. He began experimenting with the steamboat in 1790 or earlier, building a small vessel, and fitting it with paddle-wheels driven by a steam-engine of his own design, and constructed by himself.[69]He made a trial-trip one Sunday morning in the summer of 1790, a friend to accompany him, from Oxford, up the Connecticut River, to Fairlee, Vt., a distance of several miles, and returned safely. He then went to New York, and spent the summer of each year until 1793 in experimenting with his boat and modifications of his engine. In 1793 he made a trip to Hartford, returning to New York the next summer. His boat was a “stern-wheeler,” and is stated to have been capable of steaming five miles an hour. He next went to Bordentown, N. J., where he built a larger boat, which is said to have been aside-wheel boat, and to have worked satisfactorily. His funds finally gave out, and he gave up his project after having, in 1797, made a trip to Philadelphia. Fulton, Livingston, and Stevens met Morey at New York, inspected his boat, and made an excursion to Greenwich with him.[70]Livingston is said[71]to have offered to assist Morey if he should succeed in attaining a speed of eight miles an hour.
Morey’s experiments seem to have been conducted very quietly, however, and almost nothing is known of them. The author has not been able to learn any particulars of the engines used by him, and nothing definite is known of the dimensions of either boat or machinery. Morey never, like Fitch and Rumsey, sought publicity for his plans or notoriety for himself.
Nathan Read, who has already beenmentioned, a native of Warren, Mass., where he was born in the year 1759, and a graduate of Harvard College, was a student of medicine, and subsequently a manufacturer of chain-cables and other iron-work for ships. He invented, and in 1798 patented, a nail-making machine. He was at one time (1800-1803) a Member of Congress, and, later, a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and Chief Justice in Hancock County, Me., after his removal to that State in 1807. He died in Belfast, Me., in 1849, at the age of ninety years.
Read's Boiler SectionFig. 73.—Read’s Boiler inSection, 1788.
Fig. 73.—Read’s Boiler inSection, 1788.
Read's Multi-Tubular BoilerFig. 74.—Read’s Multi-TubularBoiler, 1788.
Fig. 74.—Read’s Multi-TubularBoiler, 1788.
In the year 1788 he became interested in the problem of steam-navigation, and learned something of the work of Fitch. He first attempted to design a boiler that should be strong, light, and compact, as well as safe. His first plan was that of the “Portable Furnace-Boiler,” as he called it; it was patented August 26, 1791. As designed, it consisted, as seen inFigs. 73and74, which are reduced from his patent drawings, of a shell of cylindrical form, like the now common vertical tubular boiler.Ais the furnace-door,Ba heater and feed-water reservoir,Da pipe leadingthe feed-water into the boiler,[72]Ethe smoke-pipe, andFthe steam-pipe leading to the engine.Gis the “shell” of the boiler, andHthe fire-box. The crown-sheet,I I, has depending from it, in the furnace, a set of water-tubes,b b, closed at their lower ends, and another set,a a, which connect the water-space above the furnace with the water-bottom,K K.Lis the furnace, andMthe draught-space between the boiler and the ash-pit, in which the grates are set.
This boiler was intended to be used in both steamboats and steam-carriages. The first drawings were made in 1788 or 1789, as were those of a peculiar form of steam-engine which also resembled very closely that afterward constructed in Great Britain by Trevithick.[73]He built aboat in 1789, which he fitted with paddle-wheels and a crank, which was turned by hand, and, by trial, satisfied himself that the system would work satisfactorily.
He then applied for his patent, and spent the greater part of the winter of 1789-’90 in New York, where Congress then met, endeavoring to secure it. In January, 1791, Read withdrew his petitions for patents, proposing to incorporate accounts of new devices, and renewed them a few months later. His patents were finally issued, dated August 26, 1791. John Fitch, James Rumsey, and John Stevens, also, all received patents at the same date, for various methods of applying steam to the propulsion of vessels.
Read appears to have never succeeded in even experimentally making his plans successful. He deserves credit for his early and intelligent perception of the importance of the subject, and for the ingenuity of his devices. As the inventor of the vertical multi-tubular fire-box boiler, he has also entitled himself to great distinction. This boiler is now in very general use, and is a standard form.
In 1792, Elijah Ormsbee, a Rhode Island mechanic, assisted pecuniarily by David Wilkinson, built a small steamboat at Winsor’s Cove, Narragansett Bay, and made a successful trial-trip on the Seekonk River. Ormsbee used an “atmospheric engine” and “duck’s-foot” paddles. His boat attained a speed of from three to four miles an hour.
In Great Britain, Lord Dundas and William Symmington, the former as the purveyor of funds and the latter as engineer, followed by Henry Bell, were the first to make the introduction of the steam-engine for the propulsion of ships so completely successful that no interruption subsequently took place in the growth of the new system of water-transportation.
Thomas, Lord Dundas, of Kerse, had taken great interest in the experiments of Miller, and had hoped to be able to apply the new motor on the Forth and Clyde Canal, inwhich he held a large interest. After the failure of the earlier experiments, he did not forget the matter; but subsequently, meeting with Symmington, who had been Miller’s constructing engineer, he engaged him to continue the experiments, and furnished all required capital, about £7,000. This was ten years after Miller had abandoned his scheme.
Symmington commenced work in 1801. The first boat built for Lord Dundas, which has been claimed to have been the “first practical steamboat,” was finished ready for trial early in 1802. The vessel was called the “Charlotte Dundas,” in honor of a daughter of Lord Dundas, who became Lady Milton.
The vessel (Fig. 75) was driven by a Watt double-acting engine, turning a crank on the paddle-wheel shaft. The sectional sketch below exhibits the arrangement of the machinery.Ais the steam-cylinder, driving, by means of the connecting-rod,B C, a stern-wheel,E E.Fis the boiler, andGthe tall smoke-pipe. An air-pump and condenser,H, is seen under the steam-cylinder.
The 'Charlotte Dundas'Fig. 75.—The “Charlotte Dundas,” 1801.
Fig. 75.—The “Charlotte Dundas,” 1801.
In March, 1802, the boat was brought to Lock No. 20 on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and two vessels of 70 tons burden each taken in tow. Lord Dundas, William Symmington, and a party of invited guests, were taken on board,and the boat steamed down to Port Glasgow, a distance of about 20 miles, against a strong head-wind, in six hours.
The proprietors of the canal were now urged to adopt the new plan of towing; but, fearing injury to the banks of the canal, they declined to do so. Lord Dundas then laid the matter before the Duke of Bridgewater, who gave Symmington an order for eight boats like the Charlotte Dundas, to be used on his canal. The death of the Duke, however, prevented the contract from being carried into effect, and Symmington again gave up the project in despair. A quarter of a century later, Symmington received from the British Government £100, and, a little later, £50 additional, as an acknowledgment of his services. The Charlotte Dundas was laid up, and we hear nothing more of that vessel.
The 'Comet'Fig. 76.—The “Comet,” 1812.
Fig. 76.—The “Comet,” 1812.
Among those who saw the Charlotte Dundas, and who appreciated the importance of the success achieved by Symmington, wasHenry Bell, who, 10 years afterward, constructed the Comet (Fig. 76), the first passenger-vessel builtin Europe. This vessel was built in 1811, and completed January 18, 1812. The craft was of 30 tons burden, 40 feet in length, and 101∕2feet breadth of beam. There weretwopaddle-wheels on each side, driven by engines rated at three horse-power.
Bell had, it is said, been an enthusiastic believer in the advantages to be secured by this application of steam, from about 1786. In 1800, and again in 1803, he applied to the British Admiralty for aid in securing those advantages by experimentally determining the proper form and proportions of machinery and vessel; but was not able to convince the Admiralty of “the practicability and great utility of applying steam to the propelling of vessels against winds and tides, and every obstruction on rivers and seas where there was depth of water.” He also wrote to the United States Government, urging his views in a similar strain.
Bell’s boat was, when finished, advertised as a passenger-boat, to leave Greenock, where the vessel was built, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for Glasgow, 24 miles distant, returning Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The fare was made “four shillings for the best cabin, and three shillings for the second.” It was some months before the vessel became considered a trustworthy means of conveyance. Bell, on the whole, was at first a heavy loser by his venture, although his boat proved itself a safe, stanch vessel.
Bell constructed several other boats in 1815, and with his success steam-navigation in Great Britain was fairly inaugurated. In 1814 there were five steamers, all Scotch, regularly working in British waters; in 1820 there were 34, one-half of which were in England, 14 in Scotland, and the remainder in Ireland. Twenty years later, at the close of the period to which this chapter is especially devoted, there were about 1,325 steam-vessels in that kingdom, of which 1,000 were English and 250 Scotch.
But we must return to America, to witness the first and most complete success, commercially, in the introduction of the steamboat.
The Messrs. Stevens, Livingston, Fulton, and Roosevelt were there the most successful pioneers. The latter is said to have built the “Polacca,” a small steamboat launched on the Passaic River in 1798. The vessel was 60 feet long, and had an engine of 20 inches diameter of cylinder and 2 feet stroke, which drove the boat 8 miles an hour, carrying a party of invited guests, which included the Spanish Minister. Livingston and John Stevens had induced Roosevelt to try their plans still earlier,[74]paying the expense of the experiments. The former adopted the plan of Bernouilli and Rumsey, using a centrifugal pump to force a jet of water from the stern; the latter used the screw. Livingston going to France as United States Minister, Barlow carried over the plans of the “Polacca,” and Roosevelt’s friends state that a boat built by them, in conjunction with Fulton, was a “sister-ship” to that vessel. In 1798, Roosevelt patented a double engine, having cranks set at right angles. As late as 1814 he received a patent for a steam-vessel, fitted with paddle-wheels having adjustable floats. His boat of 1798 is stated by some writers to have been made by him on joint account of himself, Livingston, and Stevens. Roosevelt, some years later, was again at work, associating himself with Fulton in the introduction of steam-navigation of the rivers of the West.[75]
In 1798, the Legislature of New York passed a law giving Chancellor Livingston the exclusive right to steam-navigation in the waters of the State for a period of 20 years,providedthat he should succeed, within a twelve-month, in producing a boat that should steam four miles an hour.
Livingston did not succeed in complying with the terms of the act, but, in 1803, he procured the reënactment of the law in favor of himself and Robert Fulton, who was then experimenting in France, after having, in England, watched the progress of steam-navigation there, and then taken a patent in this country.
FultonRobert Fulton.
Robert Fulton.
Robert Fultonwas a native of Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pa., born 1765. He commenced experimenting with paddle-wheels when a mere boy, in 1779, visiting an aunt living on the bank of the Conestoga.[76]During his youth he spent much of his time in the workshops of his neighborhood, and learned the trade of a watchmaker; but he adopted, finally, the profession of an artist, and exhibited great skill in portrait-painting. While his tastes wereat this time taking a decided bent, he is said to have visited frequently the house of William Henry, already mentioned, to see the paintings of Benjamin West, who in his youth had been a kind of protégé of Mr. Henry; and he may probably have seen there the model steamboats which Mr. Henry exhibited, in 1783 or 1784, to the German traveler Schöpff. In later years, Thomas Paine, the author of “Common Sense,” at one time lived with Mr. Henry, and afterward, in 1788, proposed that Congress take up the subject for the benefit of the country.
Fulton went to England when he came of age, and studied painting with Benjamin West. He afterward spent two years in Devonshire, where he met the Duke of Bridgewater, who afterward so promptly took advantage of the success of the “Charlotte Dundas.”
While in England and in France—where he went in 1797, and resided some time—he may have seen something of the attempts which were beginning to be made to introduce steam-navigation in both of those countries.
At about this time—perhaps in 1793—Fulton gave up painting as a profession, and became a civil engineer. In 1797 he went to Paris, and commenced experimenting with submarine torpedoes and torpedo-boats. In 1801 he had succeeded so well with them as to create much anxiety in the minds of the English, then at war with France.
He had, as early as 1793, proposed plans for steam-vessels, both to the United States and the British Governments, and seems never entirely to have lost sight of the subject.[77]While in France he lived with Joel Barlow, who subsequently became known as a poet, and as Embassador to France from the United States, but who was then engaged in business in Paris.
When about leaving the country, Fulton met Robert Livingston (Chancellor Livingston, as he is often called),who was then (1801) Embassador of the United States at the court of France. Together they discussed the project of applying steam to navigation, and determined to attempt the construction of a steamboat on the Seine; and in the early spring of the year 1802, Fulton having attended Mrs. Barlow to Plombières, where she had been sent by her physician, he there made drawings and models, which were sent or described to Livingston. In the following winter Fulton completed a model side-wheel boat.
Fulton's ExperimentsFig. 77.—Fulton’s Experiments.
Fig. 77.—Fulton’s Experiments.
January 24, 1803, he delivered this model to MM. Molar, Bordel, and Montgolfier, with a descriptive memoir, in which he stated that he had, by experiment, proven that side-wheels were better than the “chaplet” (paddle-floats set on an endless chain).[78]These gentlemen were then building for Fulton and Livingston their first boat, on L’Isle des Cygnes, in the Seine. In planning this boat, Fultonhad devised many different methods of applying steam to its propulsion, and had made some experiments to determine the resistance of fluids. He therefore had been able to calculate, more accurately than had any earlier inventor, the relative size and proportions of boat and machinery.
Fulton's Table of ResistancesFig. 78.—Fulton’s Table of Resistances.
Fig. 78.—Fulton’s Table of Resistances.
The author has examined a large collection of Fulton’s drawings, among which are sketches, very neatly executed, of many of these plans, including the chaplet, side-wheel, and stern-wheel boats, driven by various forms of steam-engine, some working direct, and some geared to the paddle-wheel shaft.Figs. 77and78are engraved from two of these sheets. The first represents the method adopted by Fulton to determine the resistance of masses of wood of various forms and proportions, when towed through water. The other is “A Table of the resistance of bodies moved through water, taken from experiments made in England by a society for improving Naval architecture, between the years 1793 and 1798” (Fig. 78). This latter is from a certified copy of “The Original Drawing on file in the Office of the Clerk of the New York District, making a part of the Demonstration of the patent granted to Robert Fulton, Esqr., on the 11th day of February, 1809. Datedthis 3rd March, 1814,” and is signed by Theron Rudd, Clerk of the New York District. Resistances are given in pounds per square foot.
Guided by these experiments and calculations, therefore, Fulton directed the construction of his vessel. It was completed in the spring of 1803. But, unfortunately, the hull of the little vessel was too weak for its heavy machinery, and it broke in two and sank to the bottom of the Seine. Undiscouraged, Fulton at once set about repairing damages. He was compelled to direct the rebuilding of the hull. The machinery was little injured. In June, 1803, the reconstruction was completed, and the vessel was set afloat in July. The hull was 66 feet long, of 8 feet beam, and of light draught.
August 9, 1803, this boat was cast loose, and steamed up the Seine, in presence of an immense concourse of spectators. A committee of the National Academy, consisting of Bougainville, Bossuet, Carnot, and Périer, were present to witness the experiment. The boat moved but slowly, making only between 3 and 4 miles an hour against the current, the speed through the water being about 41∕2miles; but this was, all things considered, a great success.
Barlow's Water-Tube BoilerFig. 79.—Barlow’s Water-Tube Boiler, 1793.
Fig. 79.—Barlow’s Water-Tube Boiler, 1793.
The experiment was successful, but it attracted little attention, notwithstanding the fact that its success had been witnessed by the committee of the Academy and by many well-known savants and mechanics, and by officers on Napoleon’s staff. The boat remained a long time on the Seine, near the palace. The water-tube boiler of this vessel (Fig. 79) is still preserved at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers at Paris, where it is known as Barlow’s boiler. Barlow patented it in France as early as 1793, as a steamboat-boiler, and states that the object of his construction was to obtain the greatest possible extent of heating-surface.
Fulton endeavored to secure the pecuniary aid and the countenance of the First Consul, but in vain.
Livingston wrote home, describing the trial of this steamboatand its results, and procured the passage of an act by the Legislature of the State of New York, extending a monopoly granted him in 1798 for the term of 20 years from April 5, 1803, the date of the new law, and extending the time allowed for proving the practicability of driving a boat four miles an hour by steam to two years from the same date. A later act further extended the time to April, 1807.
In May, 1804, Fulton went to England, giving up all hope of success in France with either his steamboats or his torpedoes. Fulton had already written to Boulton & Watt, ordering an engine to be built from plans which he furnished them; but he had not informed them of the purpose to which it was to be applied. This engine was to have a steam-cylinder 2 feet in diameter and of 4 feet stroke. The engine of the Charlotte Dundas was of very nearly the same size; and this fact, and the visit of Fulton to Symmington in 1801, as described by the latter, have been made the basis of a claim that Fulton was a copyist of the plans of others. The general accordance of the dimensions of his boat on the Seine with those of the “Polacca” of Roosevelt is also made the basis of similar claims by the friendsof the latter. It would appear, however, that Symmington’s statement is incorrect, as Fulton was in France, experimenting with torpedoes, at the time (July, 1801[79]) when he is accused of having obtained from the English engineer the dimensions and a statement of the performance of his vessel. Yet a fireman employed by Symmington has made an affidavit to the same statement. It is evident, however, from what has preceded, that those inventors and builders who were at that time working with the object of introducing the steamboat were usually well acquainted with what had been done by others, and with what was being done by their contemporaries; and it is undoubtedly the fact that each profited, so far as he was able, by the experience of others.
While in England, however, Fulton was certainly not so entirely absorbed in the torpedo experiments with which he was occupied in the years 1804-’6 as to forget his plans for a steamboat; and he saw the engine ordered by him in 1804 completed in the latter year, and preceded it to New York, sailing from Falmouth in October, 1806, and reaching the United States December 13, 1806.
The engine was soon received, and Fulton immediately contracted for a hull in which to set it up. Meantime, Livingston had also returned to the United States, and the two enthusiasts worked together on a larger steamer than any which had yet been constructed.
The ClermontFig. 80.—The Clermont, 1807.
Fig. 80.—The Clermont, 1807.
In the spring of 1807, the “Clermont” (Fig. 80), as the new boat was christened, was launched from the ship-yard of Charles Brown, on the East River, New York. In August the machinery was on board and in successful operation. The hull of this boat was 133 feet long, 18 wide, and 9 deep. The boat soon made a trip to Albany, running the distance of 150 miles in 32 hours running time, and returning in 30 hours. The sails were not used on either occasion.
This was the first voyage of considerable length ever made by a steam-vessel; and Fulton, though not to be classed with James Watt as an inventor, is entitled to the great honor of having been the first to make steam-navigation an every-day commercial success, and of having thus made the first application of the steam-engine to ship-propulsion, which was not followed by the retirement of the experimenter from the field of his labors before success was permanently insured.
Engine of the ClermontFig. 81.—Engine of the Clermont, 1808.
Fig. 81.—Engine of the Clermont, 1808.
The engine of the Clermont (Fig. 81) was of rather peculiarform, the piston,E, being coupled to the crank-shaft,O, by a bell-crank,I H P, and a connecting-rod,P Q, the paddle-wheel shaft,M N, being separate from the crank-shaft, and connected with the latter by gearing,O O. The cylinders were 24 inches in diameter by 4 feet stroke. The paddle-wheels had buckets 4 feet long, with a dip of 2 feet. Old drawings, made by Fulton’s own hand, and showing the engine as it was in 1808, and the engine of a later steamer, the Chancellor Livingston, are in the lecture-room of the author at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
The voyage of the Clermont to Albany was attended by some ludicrous incidents, which found their counterparts wherever, subsequently, steamers were for the first time introduced. Mr. Colden, the biographer of Fulton, says that she was described, by persons who had seen her passing by night, “as a monster moving on the waters, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke.”
This first steamboat used dry pine wood for fuel, and the flames rose to a considerable distance above the smoke-pipe. When the fires were disturbed, mingled smoke and sparks would rise high in the air. “This uncommon light,” says Colden, “first attracted the attention of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were averse to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly coming toward them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and paddles was heard, the crews (if what was said in the newspapers of the time be true), in some instances, shrank beneath their decks from the terrific sight, and left their vessels to go on shore; while others prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited.”
In the Clermont, Fulton used several of the now characteristic features of the American river steamboat, and subsequently introduced others. His most important andcreditable work, aside from that of the introduction of the steamboat into every-day use, was the experimental determination of the magnitude and the laws of ship-resistance, and the systematic proportioning of vessel and machinery to the work to be done by them.
The success of the Clermont on the trial-trip was such that Fulton soon after advertised the vessel as a regular passenger-boat between New York and Albany.[80]
During the next winter the Clermont was repaired and enlarged, and in the summer of 1808 was again on the route to Albany; and, meantime, two new steamboats—the Raritan and the Car of Neptune—had been built by Fulton. In the year 1811 he built the Paragon. Both of thetwo vessels last named were of nearly double the size of the Clermont. A steam ferry-boat was built to ply between New York and Jersey City in 1812, and the next year two others, to connect the metropolis with Brooklyn. These were “twin-boats,” the two parallel hulls being connected by a “bridge” or deck common to both. The Jersey ferry was crossed in fifteen minutes, the distance being a mile and a half. To-day, the time occupied at the same ferry is about ten minutes. Fulton’s ferry-boat carried, at one load, 8 carriages, and about 30 horses, and still had room for 300 or 400 foot-passengers. Fulton also designed steam-vessels for use on the Western rivers, and, in 1815, some of his boats were started as “packets” on the line between New York and Providence, R. I.
Meantime, the War of 1812 was in progress, and Fulton designed a steam vessel-of-war, which was then considered a wonderfully formidable craft. His plans were submitted to a commission of experienced naval officers, among whom were Commodores Decatur and Perry, Captain John Paul Jones, Captain Evans, and others whose names are still familiar, and were favorably commended. Fulton proposed to build a steam-vessel capable of carrying a heavy battery, and of steaming four miles an hour. The ship was to be fitted with furnaces for red-hot shot. Some of her guns were to be discharged below the water-line. The estimated cost was $320,000.
Launch of the Fulton 1stFig. 82.—Launch of the “Fulton the First,” 1804.
Fig. 82.—Launch of the “Fulton the First,” 1804.
The construction of the vessel was authorized by Congress in March, 1814; the keel was laid June 20, 1814, and the vessel waslaunchedOctober 29th of the same year.
The “Fulton the First,” as she was called, was considered an enormous vessel at that time. The hull was double, 156 feet long, 56 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, measuring 2,475 tons. In the following May the ship was ready for her engine, and in July was so far completed as to steam, on a trial-trip, to the ocean at Sandy Hook and back—53 miles—in 8 hours and 20 minutes. In September of the sameyear, with armament and stores on board, the same route was traversed again, the vessel making 51∕2miles an hour. The vessel, as thus completed, had a double hull, each about 20 feet longer than the Clermont, and separated by a space 15 feet across. Her engine, having a steam-cylinder 48 inches in diameter and of 5 feet stroke of piston, was furnished with steam by a copper boiler 22 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet high, and turned a wheel between the two hulls which was 16 feet in diameter, and carried “floats” or “buckets” 14 feet long, and with a dip of 4 feet. The engine was in one of the two hulls, and the boiler in the other. The sides, at the gun-deck, were 4 feet 10 inches thick, and her spar-deck was surrounded by heavy musket-proof bulwarks. The armament consisted of 30 32-pounders, which were intended to discharge red-hot shot. There was one heavy mast for each hull, fitted with large latteen sails. Each end of each hull was fitted with a rudder. Large pumps were carried, which were intended to throw heavy streams of water upon the decks of the enemy, with a view to disabling the foe by wetting his ordnance and ammunition. A submarine gun was to have been carried at each bow, to discharge shot weighing 100 pounds, at a depth of 10 feet below the water-line.
This was the first application of the steam-engine to naval purposes, and, for the time, it was an exceedingly creditable one. Fulton, however, did not live to see the ship completed. He was engaged in a contest with Livingston, who was then endeavoring to obtain permission from the State of New Jersey to operate a line of steamboats in the waters of the Hudson River and New York Bay, and, while returning from attending a session of the Legislature at Trenton, in January, 1815, was exposed to the weather on the bay at a time when he was ill prepared to withstand it. He was taken ill, and died February 24th of that year. His death was mourned as a national calamity.
From the above brief sketch of this distinguished man and his work, it is seen that, although Robert Fulton is not entitled to distinction as an inventor, he was one of the ablest, most persistent, and most successful of those who have done so much for the world by the introduction of the inventions of others. He was an intelligent engineer and an enterprising business-man, whose skill, acuteness, and energy have given the world the fruits of the inventive genius of all who preceded him, and have thus justly earned for him a fame that can never be lost.
Fulton had some active and enterprising rivals.
Oliver Evans had, in 1801 or 1802, sent one of his engines, of about 150 horse-power, to New Orleans, for the purpose of using it to propel a vessel owned by Messrs. McKeever and Valcourt, which was there awaiting it. The engine was actually set up in the boat, but at a low stage of the river, and no trial could be made until the river should again rise, some months later. Having no funds to carry them through so long a period, Evans’s agents were induced to remove the engine again, and to set it up in a saw-mill, where it created great astonishment by its extraordinary performance in sawing lumber.
Livingston and Roosevelt were also engaged in experiments quite as early as Fulton, and perhaps earlier.
The prize gained by Fulton was, however, most closely contested by ColonelJohn Stevens, of Hoboken, who has beenalready mentionedin connection with the early history of railroads, and who had been since 1791 engaged in similar experiments. In 1789 he had petitioned the Legislature of the State of New York for a grant similar to that accorded to Livingston, and he then stated that his plans were complete, and on paper.