Section of Steam-BoilerFig. 83.—Section of Steam-Boiler, 1804.
Fig. 83.—Section of Steam-Boiler, 1804.
In 1804, while Fulton was in Europe, Stevens had completed a steamboat, 68 feet long and of 14 feet beam, which combined novelties and merits of design in a manner that exhibited the best possible evidence of remarkable inventive talent, as well as of the most perfect appreciation of the nature of the problem which he had proposed to himself to solve. Its boiler (Fig. 83) was of what is now known as the water-tubular variety. It was quite similar to some now known as sectional boilers, and contained 100 tubes 2 inches in diameter and 18 inches long, each fastened at one end to a central water-leg and steam-drum, and plugged at the other end. The flames from the furnace passed around and among the tubes, the water being inside them. The engine (Fig. 84) was adirect-acting high-pressurecondensing engine, having a 10-inch cylinder, 2 feet stroke of piston, and drove ascrewhaving four blades, and of a form which, even to-day, appears quite good. The whole is a most remarkable piece of early engineering.
Stevens's Engine, Boiler, Screw-PropellerFig. 84.—Engine, Boiler, and Screw-Propellers used by Stevens, 1804.
Fig. 84.—Engine, Boiler, and Screw-Propellers used by Stevens, 1804.
A model of this little steamer, built in 1804, is preserved in the lecture-room of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology; and the machinery itself, consisting of the high-pressure “sectional” or “safety” tubular boiler, as it would be called to-day, the high-pressure condensing engine, with rotating valves, and twin screw-propellers, as just described, is given a place of honor in the model-room, or museum, where it contrasts singularly with the mechanism contributed to the collection by manufacturers and inventors of our own time. The hub and blade of a single screw, also used with the same machinery, is likewise to be seen there.
Stevens's Screw SteamerFig. 85.—Stevens’s Screw Steamer, 1804.
Fig. 85.—Stevens’s Screw Steamer, 1804.
Stevens seems to have been the first to fully recognize the importance of the principle involved in the construction of the sectional steam-boiler. His eldest son, John Cox Stevens, was in Great Britain in the year 1805, and, while there, patented another modification of this type of boiler. In his specification, he details both the method of construction and the principles which determine its form. He says that he describes this invention as it was made known to him by his father, and adds:
“From a series of experiments made in France, in 1790, by M. Belamour, under the auspices of the Royal Academy of Sciences, it has been found that, within a certain range the elasticity of steam is nearly doubled by every addition of temperature equal to 30° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer. These experiments were carried no higher than 280°, at which temperature the elasticity of steam was found equal to about four times the pressure of the atmosphere. By experiments which have lately been made by myself, the elasticity of steam at the temperature of boiling oil, which has been estimated at about 600°, was found to equal 40 times the pressure of the atmosphere.
“To the discovery of this principle or law, which obtains when water assumes a state of vapor, I certainly can lay no claim; but to the application of it, upon certain principles, to the improvement of the steam-engine, I do claim exclusive right.
“It is obvious that, to derive advantage from an application of this principle, it is absolutely necessary that the vessel or vessels for generating steam should have strength sufficient to withstand the great pressure from an increase of elasticity in the steam; but this pressure is increased or diminished in proportion to the capacity of the containing vessel. The principle, then, of this invention consists in forming a boiler by means of a system, or combination of a number of small vessels, instead of using, as in the usual mode, one large one; the relative strength ofthe materials of which these vessels are composed increasing in proportion to the diminution of capacity. It will readily occur that there are an infinite variety of possible modes of effecting such combinations; but, from the nature of the case, there are certain limits beyond which it becomes impracticable to carry on improvement. In the boiler I am about to describe, I apprehend that the improvement is carried to the utmost extent of which the principle is capable. Suppose a plate of brass of one foot square, in which a number of holes are perforated; into each of which holes is fixed one end of a copper tube, of about an inch in diameter and two feet long; and the other ends of these tubes inserted in like manner into a similar piece of brass; the tubes, to insure their tightness, to be cast in the plates; these plates are to be inclosed at each end of the pipes by a strong cap of cast-iron or brass, so as to leave a space of an inch or two between the plates or ends of the pipes and the cast-iron cap at each end; the caps at each end are to be fastened by screw-bolts passing through them into the plates; the necessary supply of water is to be injected by means of a forcing-pump into the cap at one end, and through a tube inserted into the cap at the other end the steam is to be conveyed to the cylinder of the steam-engine; the whole is then to be encircled in brickwork or masonry in the usual manner, placed either horizontally or perpendicularly, at option.
“I conceive that the boiler above described embraces the most eligible mode of applying the principle before mentioned, and that it is unnecessary to give descriptions of the variations in form and construction that may be adopted, especially as these forms may be diversified in many different modes.”
Boilers of the character of those described in the specification given above were used on the locomotive built by John Stevens in 1824-’25, and one of them remains in the collections of the Stevens Institute of Technology.
The use of such a boiler 70 years ago is even more remarkable than the adoption of the screw-propeller, in such excellent proportions, 30 years before the labors of Smith and of Ericsson brought the screw into general use; and we have, in this strikingly original combination, as good evidence of the existence of unusual engineering talent in this great engineer as we found of his political and statesmanlike ability in his efforts to forward the introduction of railways.
Colonel John Stevens designed a peculiar form of iron-clad in the year 1812, which has been since reproduced by no less distinguished and successful an engineer than the late John Elder, of Glasgow, Scotland. It consisted of a saucer-shaped hull, carrying a heavy battery, and plated with iron of ample thickness to resist the shot fired from the heaviest ordnance then known. This vessel was secured to a swivel, and was anchored in the channel to be defended. A set of screw-propellers, driven by steam-engines, and situated beneath the vessel, where they were safe against injury by shot, were so arranged as to permit the vessel to be rapidly revolved about its centre. As each gun was brought into line of fire, it was discharged, and was then reloaded before coming around again. This was probably the earliest embodiment of the now well-established “Monitor” principle. It was probably the first iron-clad ever designed. It has recently been again brought out and introduced into the Russian navy, and is there called the “Popoffka.”
The first of Stevens’s boats performed so well, that he immediately built another one, using the same engine as before, but employing a larger boiler, and propelling the vessel bytwin screws, the latter being another instance of his use of a device brought forward long afterward as new, and frequently adopted. This boat was sufficiently successful to prove the practicability of making steam-navigation a commercial success; and Stevens, assisted by his sons, builta boat which he named the “Phœnix,” and made the first trial in 1807, but just too late to anticipate Fulton. This boat was driven by paddle-wheels.
Stevens's Twin-Screw SteamerFig. 86.—Stevens’s Twin-Screw Steamer, 1805.
Fig. 86.—Stevens’s Twin-Screw Steamer, 1805.
The Phœnix, being shut out of the waters of the State of New York by the monopoly held by Fulton and Livingston, was used for a time between New York and New Brunswick, and then, anticipating a better pecuniary return, it was concluded to send her to Philadelphia, to ply on the Delaware.
At that time no canal offered the opportunity to make an inland passage; and in June, 1808, Robert L. Stevens, a son of John, started with her to make the passage by sea. Although meeting a gale of wind, he arrived at Philadelphia safely, having been the first to trust himself on the open sea in a vessel relying entirely upon steam-power.
From this time forward the Stevenses, father and sons, continued to construct steam-vessels; and, after the breaking down of the Fulton monopoly by the courts, they built the most successful steamboats that ran on the Hudson River.
After Fulton and Stevens had thus led the way, steam-navigation was introduced very rapidly on both sides of the ocean; and on the Mississippi the number of boats set afloat was soon large enough to fulfill Evans’s prediction that thenavigation of that river would ultimately be effected by steam-vessels.
R. L. StevensRobert L. Stevens.
Robert L. Stevens.
The changes and improvements which, during the 20 years succeeding the time of Fulton and of John Stevens, gradually led to the adoption of the now recognized type of “American river-boat” and its steam-engine, were principally made by that son of the senior Stevens, who has already been mentioned—Robert L. Stevens—and who became known later as the designer and builder of the first well-planned iron-clad ever constructed, the Stevens Battery. Much of his best work was done during his father’s lifetime.
He made many extended and most valuable, as well as interesting, experiments on ship-propulsion, expending much time and large sums of money upon them; and many years before they became generally understood, he had arrivedat a knowledge not only of the laws governing the variation of resistance at excessive speeds, but he had determined, and had introduced into his practice, those forms of least resistance and those graceful water-lines which have only recently distinguished the practice of other successful naval architects.
Referring to his invaluable services, President King, who seems to have been the first to thoroughly appreciate the immense amount of original invention and the surprising excellence of the engineering of this family, in a lecture delivered in New York in 1851, gave, for the first time, a connected and probably accurate description of their work, upon which nearly all later accounts have been based.
Young Stevens began working in his father’s machine-shop in 1804 or 1805, when a mere boy, and thus acquired at a very early age that familiarity with practical details of work and of business which is essential to perfect success. It was he who introduced the now common “hollow water-line” in the Phœnix, and thus anticipated the claims of the builders of the once famous “Baltimore clippers,” and of the inventors of the “wave-line” form of vessels. In the same vessel he adopted a feathering paddle-wheel and the guard-beam now universally seen in our river steamboats.
Feathering Paddle-WheelFig. 87.—The Feathering Paddle-Wheel.
Fig. 87.—The Feathering Paddle-Wheel.
As usually constructed, this arrangement of float is as shown inFig. 87. The rods,F F, connect the eccentrically-set collar,G, carried onH, a pin mounted on the paddle-beam outside the wheel, or an eccentric secured to the vessel, with the short arms,D D, by which the paddles are turned upon the pins,E E.Ais the centre of the paddle-wheel, andC Care arms. Circular hoops, or bands, connect all of the arms, each of which carries a float. They are all thus tied together, forming a very firm and powerful combination to resist external forces.
The steamboat Philadelphia was built in the year 1813, and the young naval architect took advantage of the opportunity to introduce several new devices, including screw-boltsin place of tree-nails, and diagonal knees of wood and of iron. Two years later he altered the engines of this boat, and arranged them to work steam expansively. A little later he commenced using anthracite coal, which had been discovered in 1791 by Philip Ginter, and introduced at Wilkesbarre, Pa., in the smith-shops, some years before the Revolution. It had been used in a peculiar grate devised by Judge Fell, of that town, in 1808. Oliver Evans also had used it in stoves even earlier than the latter date, and at about the same time it had been used in the blast-furnace[81]at Kingston. Stevens was the first of whom we have record who was thoroughly successful in using, as a steam-coal, the new and almost unmanageable fuel. He fitted up theboiler of the steamboat Passaic for it in 1818, and adopted anthracite as a steaming-coal. He used it in a cupola-furnace in the same year, and its use then rapidly became general in the Eastern States.
Stevens continued his work of improving the beam-engine for many years. He designed the now universally-used “skeleton-beam,” which is one of the characteristic features of the American engine, and placed the first example of this light and elegant, yet strong, construction on the steamer Hoboken in the year 1822. He built the Trenton, which was then considered an extraordinarily powerful, fast, and handsome vessel, two years afterward, and placed the two boilers on the guards—a custom which is still general on the river steamboats of the Eastern States. In this vessel he also adopted the plan of making the paddle-wheel floats in two parts, placing one above the other, and securing the upper half on the forward and the lower half on the after side of the arm, thus obtaining a smoother action of the wheel, and less loss by oblique pressures.
The North America and The AlbanyFig. 88.—The North America and Albany, 1827-’30.
Fig. 88.—The North America and Albany, 1827-’30.
In 1827 he built the North America (Fig. 88), one of his largest and most successful steamers, a vessel fitted with a pair of engines each 441∕2inches in diameter of cylinder and 8 feet stroke of piston, making 24 revolutions per minute, driving the boat 15 to 16 miles an hour. Anticipating difficulty in keeping the long, light, shallow vessel in shape when irregularly laden, and when steaming at the high speed expected to be obtained when her powerful engine was exerting its maximum effort, he adopted the expedient of stiffening the hull by means of a truss of simple form. This proved thoroughly satisfactory, and the “hog-frame,” as it has since been inelegantly but universally called, is still one of the peculiar features of every American river-steamer of any considerable size. It was in the North America, also, that he first introduced the artificial blast for forcing the fires, which is still another detail of now usual practice.
Stevens next turned his attention to the engine again, and adopted spring bearings under the paddle-shaft of theNew Philadelphia in 1828, and fitted the steam-cylinder with the “double-poppet” valve, which is now universally used on beam-engines. This consists of two disk-valves, connected by the valve-spindle. The disks are of unequal sizes, the smaller passing through the seat of the larger. When seated, the pressure of the steam is, in the steam-valve, taken on the upper side of the larger and the lower side of the smaller disk, thus producing a partial balancing of the valve, and rendering it easy to work the heaviest engine by the hand-gear. The two valve-seats are formed in the top and the bottom, respectively, of the steam-passage leading to the cylinder; and when the valve is raised, the steam enters at the top and the bottom at the same time, and the two currents, uniting, flow together into the steam-cylinder. The same form of valve is used as an exhaust-valve.
Stevens's Return Tubular BoilerFig. 89.—Stevens’s Return Tubular Boiler, 1832.
Fig. 89.—Stevens’s Return Tubular Boiler, 1832.
At about the same time he built the now standard form of return tubular boilers for moderate pressures. In thefigure,Sis the steam andWthe water space, andFthe furnace. The direction of the currents of smoke and gas are shown by the arrows.
Some years later (1840), Stevens commenced using steam-packed pistons on the Trenton, in which steam wasadmitted by self-adjusting valves behind the metallic packing-rings, setting them out more effectively than did the steel springs then (and still) usually employed.
His pistons, thus fitted, worked well for many years. A set of the small brass check-valves used in a piston of this kind, built by Stevens, and preserved in the cabinets of the Stevens Institute of Technology, are good evidence of the ingenuity and excellent workmanship which distinguished the machinery constructed under the direction of this great engineer.
Stevens's Valve-MotionFig. 90.—Stevens’s Valve-Motion.
Fig. 90.—Stevens’s Valve-Motion.
The now familiar “Stevens cut-off,” a peculiar device for securing the expansion of steam in the steam-cylinder, was the invention (1841) of Robert L. Stevens and a nephew, who inherited the same constructive talent which distinguished the first of these great men—Mr. Francis B. Stevens. In this form of valve-gear, the steam and exhaust valves are independently worked by separate eccentrics, the latter being set in the usual manner, opening and closing the exhaust-passages just before the crank passes its centre. The steam-eccentric is so placed that the steam-valve is opened as usual, but closed when but about one-half the stroke has been made. This result is accomplished by giving the eccentric a greater throw than is required by the motion of the valve, and permitting it to move through a portion of its path without moving the valve. Thus, inFig. 90, ifA Bbe the direction of motion of the eccentric-rod, the valve would ordinarily open the steam-port when the eccentric assumes the positionO C, closing when the eccentric has passed around toO D. With the Stevens valve-gear, the valve is opened when the eccentric reachesO E, and closes when it arrives atO F. The steam-valve of the opposite end of the cylinder is open while the eccentric is moving fromO MtoO K. BetweenKandE, andbetweenFandM, both valves are seated.H Bis proportional to the lift of the valve, andO Hto the motion of the valve-gear when out of contact with the valve-lifters. While the crank is moving through an arc,E F, steam is entering the cylinder; fromFtoMthe steam is expanding. AtMthe stroke is completed, and the other steam-valve opens. The ratioE M∕E Lis the ratio of expansion.
This form of cut-off motion is still a very usual one, and can be seen in nearly all steamers in the United States not using the device of Sickles. It was at about this time, also, that Stevens, having succeeded his father in the business of introducing the steam-engine in land-transportation, as well as on the water, adopted the use of steam expansively on the locomotives of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, which was controlled and built by capital furnished principally by the Messrs. Stevens. He at the same time constructed eight-wheeled engines for heavy work, and adopted anthracite coal as fuel. In the latter change he was thoroughly successful, and the same improvement was made with engines built for fast traffic in 1848.
The most remarkable of all the applications of steam-power proposed by Robert L. Stevens was that known as the Stevens Steam Iron-Clad Battery. As has already been stated, Colonel John Stevens had proposed, as early as 1812, to build a circular or saucer-shaped iron-clad, like those built 60 years later for the Russian Navy. Nothing was done, however, although the son revived the idea in a modified form 20 years afterward. In the years 1813-’14, the war with England being then in progress, he invented, after numerous and hazardous experiments, anelongated shell, to be fired from ordinary smooth-bored cannon. Having perfected this invention, he sold the secret to the United States, after making experiments to prove their destructiveness so decisive as to leave no doubt of the efficacy of such projectiles.
As early as 1837 he had perfected a plan of an iron-clad war-vessel, and in August, 1841, his brothers, James C. and Edwin A. Stevens, representing Robert L., addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Navy, proposing to build an iron-clad vessel of high speed, with all its machinery below the water-line, and having submerged screw-propellers. The armament was to consist of the most powerful rifled guns, loading at the breech, and provided with elongated shot and shell. In the year 1842, having contracted to build for the United States Government a large war-steamer on this plan, which should be shot and shell proof, Robert L. Stevens built a steamboat at Bordentown, for the sole purpose of experimenting on the forms and curves of propeller-blades, as compared with side-wheels, and continued his experiments for many months. After some delay, during which Mr. Stevens and his brothers were engaged with their experiments and in perfecting their plans, the keel of an iron-clad was laid down in a dry-dock which had been constructed for the purpose at great cost. This vessel was to have been 250 feet long, of 40 feet beam, and 28 feet deep. The machinery was designed to furnish 700 indicated horse-power. The plating was proposed to be 41∕2inches thick—the same thickness of armor as was adopted 10 years later by the French for their comparatively rude constructions.
In 1854, such marked progress had been made in the construction of ordnance that Mr. Stevens was no longer willing to proceed with the original plans, fearing that, were the ship completed, it might prove not invulnerable, and might throw some discredit upon its designer, as well as upon the navy of which it was to form a part. The work, which had, in those years of peace, progressed very slowly and intermittently, was therefore stopped entirely, the vessel given up, and in 1854 the keel of a ship of vastly greater size and power was laid down. The new design was 415 feet long, of 45 feet beam, and of something over 5,000 tons displacement. The thickness of armor proposedwas 63∕4inches—21∕4inches thicker than that of the first French and British iron-clads—and the machinery was designed by Mr. Stevens to be of 8,624 indicated horse-power, driving twin-screws, and propelling the vessel 20 miles or more an hour. As with the preceding design, the progress of construction was intermittent and very slow. Government advanced funds, and then refused to continue the work; successive administrations alternately encouraged and discouraged the engineer; and he finally, cutting loose entirely from all official connections, went on with the work at his own expense.
The remarkable genius of the elder Stevens was well reflected in the character of his son, and is in no way better exemplified than by the accuracy with which, in this great ship, those forms and proportions, both of hull and machinery, were adopted which are now, twenty-five years later, recognized as most correct under similar conditions. The lines of the vessel are beautifully fair and fine, and are what J. Scott Russell has called “wave-lines,” or trochoidal lines, such as Rankine has shown to be the best possible for easy propulsion. The proportion of length to midship dimensions is such as to secure the speed proposed with a minimum resistance, and to accord closely with the proportions arrived at and adopted by common consent in present transoceanic navigation by the best—not to say radical—builders.
The death of Robert L. Stevens occurred in April, 1856, when this larger vessel had advanced so far toward completion that the hull and machinery were practically finished, and it only remained to add the armor-plating, and to decide upon the form of fighting-house and upon the number and size of guns. The construction of the vessel, which had proceeded slowly and intermittently during the years of peace, as successive administrations had considered it necessary to continue the payment of appropriations, or had stopped temporarily in the absence of any apparent immediatenecessity for continuance of the work, was again interrupted by his death.
The name of Robert L. Stevens will be long remembered as that of one of the greatest of American mechanics, the most intelligent of naval architects, and as the first, and one of the greatest, of those to whom we are indebted for the commencement of the mightiest of revolutions in the methods and implements of modern naval warfare. American mechanical genius and engineering skill have rarely been too promptly recognized, and no excuse will be required for an attempt (which it is hoped may yet be made) to place such splendid work as that of the Messrs. Stevens in a light which shall reveal both its variety and extent and its immense importance.
While Fulton was introducing the steamboat upon the waters of New York Bay and the Hudson River, and while the Stevenses, father and sons, were rapidly bringing out a fleet of steamers on the Delaware River and Bay, other mechanics were preparing to contest the field with them as opportunity offered, and as legislative acts authorizing monopoly expired by limitation or were repealed.
About 1821, Robert L. Thurston, John Babcock, and Captain Stephen T. Northam, of Newport, R. I., commenced building steamboats, beginning with a small craft intended for use at Slade’s Ferry, on an arm of Narragansett Bay, near Fall River. They afterward built vessels to ply on Long Island Sound. One of their earliest boats was the Babcock, built at Newport in 1826. The engine was built by Thurston and Babcock, at Portsmouth, R. I. They were assisted in their work by Richard Sanford, and with funds by Northam. The engine was of 10 or 12 inches diameter of cylinder, and 3 or 4 feet stroke of piston. The boiler was a form of “pipe-boiler,” subsequently (1824) patented by Babcock. The water used was injected into the hot boiler as fast as required to furnish steam, no water being retained in the steam-generator. This boatwas succeeded, in 1827-’28, by a larger vessel, the Rushlight, for which the engine was built by James P. Allaire, at New York, while the boat was built at Newport. The boilers of both vessels had tubes of cast-iron. The smaller of these boats was of 80 tons burden; it steamed from Newport to Providence, 30 miles, in 31∕2hours, and to New York, a distance of 175 miles, in 25 hours, using 13∕4cord of wood.[82]Thurston and Babcock subsequently removed to Providence, where the latter soon died. Thurston continued to build steam-engines at this place until nearly a half-century later, dying in 1874.[83]The establishment founded by him, after various changes, became the Providence Steam-Engine Works.
James P. Allaire, of New York, the West Point Iron Foundery, at West Point, on the Hudson River, and Daniel Copeland and his son, Charles W. Copeland, on the Connecticut River, were also early builders of engines for steam-vessels. Daniel Copeland was probably the first (1850) to adopt a slide-valve working with a lap to secure the expansion of steam. His steamboats were then usually stern-wheel vessels, and were built to ply on several routes on the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound. The son, Charles W. Copeland, went to West Point, and while there designed some heavy marine steam-machinery, and subsequently designed several steam vessels-of-war for the United States Navy. He was the earliest designer of iron steamers in the United States, building the Siamese in 1838. This steamer was intended for use on Lake Pontchartrain and the canal to New Orleans. It had two hulls, was 110 feet long, and drew but 22 inches of water, loaded. The two horizontal non-condensing engines turned a single paddle-wheel placed between the two hulls, driving the boat 10 miles an hour. The hull was constructed of platesof iron 10 feet long, formed on blocks after having been heated in a furnace constructed especially for the purpose. The frames were of T-iron, which was probably here used for the first time. The same engineer, associated with Samuel Hart, a well-known naval constructor, built, in 1841, for the United States Navy, the iron steamer Michigan, a war-vessel intended for service on the great northern lakes. This vessel is still in service, and in good order. The hull is 1621∕2feet in length, 27 feet in breadth, and 121∕2feet in depth, measuring 500 tons. The frames were made of T-iron, stiffened by reverse bars of L-iron. The keel-plate was5∕8inch thick, the bottom plates3∕8, and the sides3∕16inch. The deck-beams were of iron, and the vessel, as a whole, was a good specimen of iron-ship building.
During the period from 1830 to 1840, a considerable number of the now standard details of steam-engine and steamboat construction were devised or introduced by Copeland. He was probably the first to use (on the Fulton, 1840) an independent engine to drive the blowing-fans where an artificial draught was required. He made a practice of fitting his steamers with a “bilge-injection,” by means of which the vessel could be freed of water, through the condenser and air-pump, when leaking seriously; the condensing-water is, in such a case, taken from inside the vessel, instead of from the sea. This is probably an American device. It was in use in the United States previously to 1835, as was the use of anthracite coal on steamers, which was continued by Copeland in manufacturing and in air-furnaces, as well as on steamboats. He also modified the form of Stevens’s double-poppet valve, giving it such shape that it was comparatively easy to grind it tight and to keep it in order.
In 1825, James P. Allaire, of New York, built compound engines for the Henry Eckford, and subsequently constructed similar engines for several other steamers, one of which, the Sun, made the trip from New York to Albany in 12 hours 18 minutes. He used steam at 100 poundspressure. Erastus W. Smith afterward introduced this form of engine on the Great Lakes, and still later they were introduced into British steamers. The machinery of the steamer Buckeye State was constructed at the Allaire Works, New York, in 1850, from the designs of John Baird and Erastus W. Smith, the latter being the designing and constructing engineer. The steamer was placed on the route between Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit, in 1851, and gave most satisfactory results, consuming less than two-thirds the fuel required by a similar vessel of the same line fitted with the single-cylinder engine. The steam-cylinders of this engine were placed one within the other, the low-pressure exterior cylinder being annular. They were 37 and 80 inches in diameter respectively, and the stroke was 11 feet. Both pistons were connected to one cross-head, and the general arrangement of the engine was similar to that of the common form of beam-engine. The steam-pressure was from 70 to 75 pounds—about the maximum pressure adopted a quarter of a century later on transatlantic lines. This steamer was of high speed, as well as economical of fuel.
In the year 1830, there were 86 steamers on the Hudson River and in Long Island Sound.
During the early part of the nineteenth century, the introduction of the steamboat upon the waters of the great rivers of the interior of the United States was one of the most notable details of its history. Inaugurated by the unsuccessful experiment of Evans, the building of steamboats on those waters, once commenced, never ceased; and a generation after Fitch’s burial on the shore of the Ohio, his last wish—that he might lie “where the song of the boatman would enliven the stillness of his resting-place, and the music of the steam-engine soothe his spirit”—was fulfilled day by day unceasingly.
Nicholas J. Roosevelt was, as has been already stated, the first to take a steamboat down the great rivers. Hisboat was built at Pittsburgh in 1811, under an arrangement with Fulton and Livingston, from Fulton’s plans. It was called the “New Orleans,” was of about 200 tons burden, and was propelled by a stern-wheel, assisted, when the winds were favorable, by sails carried on two masts. The hull was 138 feet long, 30 feet beam, and the cost of the whole, including engines, was about $40,000. The builder, with his family, an engineer, a pilot, and six “deck-hands,” left Pittsburgh in October, 1811, reaching Louisville in 70 hours (steaming about 10 miles an hour), and New Orleans in 14 days, steaming from Natchez.
The next steamers built on Western waters were probably the Comet and the Vesuvius, both of which were in service some time. The Comet was finally laid aside, and the engine used to drive a mill, and the Vesuvius was destroyed by the explosion of her boilers. As early as 1813 there were two shops at Pittsburgh building steam-engines. Steamboat-building now became an important and lucrative business in the West; and it is stated that as early as 1840 there were a thousand steamers on the Mississippi and its tributaries.
In the Washington, built at Wheeling, Va., in 1816, under the direction of Captain Henry M. Shreve, the boilers, which had previously been placed in the hold, were carried on the main-deck, and a “hurricane-deck” was built over them. Shreve substituted two horizontal direct-acting engines for the single upright engine used by Fulton, drove them by high-pressure steam without condensation, and attached them, one on each side the boat, to cranks placed at right angles. He adopted a cam cut-off expanding the steam considerably, and the flue-boiler of Evans. At that time the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville occupied three weeks, and Shreve was made the subject of many witticisms when he predicted that the time would ultimately be shortened to ten days. It is now made in four days. The Washington was seized at New Orleans,in 1817, by order of Livingston, who claimed that his rights included the monopoly of the navigation of the Mississippi and its tributaries. The courts decided adversely on this claim, and the release of the Washington was the act which removed every obstacle to the introduction of steam-navigation throughout the United States.
The first steamer on the Great Lakes was the Ontario, built in 1816, at Sackett’s Harbor. Fifteen years later, Western steamboats had taken the peculiar form which has since usually distinguished them.
The use of the steam-engine for ocean-navigation kept pace with its introduction on inland waters. Begun by Robert L. Stevens in the United States, in the year 1808, and by his contemporaries, Bell and Dodd, in Great Britain, it steadily and rapidly advanced in effectiveness and importance, and has now nearly driven the sailing fleet from the ocean. Transatlantic steam-navigation began with the voyage of the American steamer Savannah from Savannah, Ga., to St. Petersburg, Russia,viaGreat Britain and the North-European ports, in the year 1819. Fulton, not long before his death, planned a vessel, which it was proposed to place in service in the Baltic Sea; but circumstances compelled a change of plan finally, and the steamer was placed on a line between Newport, R. I., and the city of New York; and the Savannah, several years later, made the voyage then proposed for Fulton’s ship. The Savannah measured 350 tons, and was constructed by Crocker & Fickett, at Corlears Hook, N. Y. She was purchased by Mr. Scarborough, of Savannah, who placed Captain Moses Rogers, previously in command of the Clermont and of Stevens’s boat, the Phœnix, in charge. The ship was fitted with steam-machinery and paddle-wheels, and sailed for Savannah April 27, 1819, making the voyage successfully in seven days. From Savannah, the vessel sailed for Liverpool May 26th, and arrived at that port June 20th. During this trip the engines were used 18 days, and the remainder of the voyage wasmade under sail. From Liverpool the Savannah sailed, July 23d, for the Baltic, touching at Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and other ports. At St. Petersburg, Lord Lyndock, who had been a passenger, was landed; and, on taking leave of the commander of the steamer, the distinguished guest presented him with a silver tea-kettle, suitably inscribed with a legend referring to the importance of the event which afforded him the opportunity. The Savannah left St. Petersburg in November, passing New York December 9th, and reaching Savannah in 50 days from the date of departure, stopping four days at Copenhagen, Denmark, and an equal length of time at Arundel, Norway. Several severe gales were met in the Atlantic, but no serious injury was done to the ship.
The Savannah was a full-rigged ship. The wheels were turned by an inclined direct-acting low-pressure engine, having a steam-cylinder 40 inches in diameter and 6 feet stroke of piston. The paddle-wheels were of wrought-iron, and were so attached that they could be detached and hoisted on board when it was desired. After the return of the ship to the United States, the machinery was removed and was sold to the Allaire Works, of New York. The steam-cylinder was exhibited by the purchasers at the “World’s Fair” at New York thirty years later. The vessel was employed, as a sailing-vessel, on a line between New York and Savannah, and was finally lost in the year 1822. Under sail, with a moderate breeze, this ship is said to have sailed about three knots, and to have steamed five knots. Pine-wood was used as the fuel, which fact accounts for the necessity of making the transatlantic voyage partly under sail.
Renwick states that another vessel, ship-rigged and fitted with a steam-engine, was built at New York in 1819, to ply between New York and Charleston, and to New Orleans and Havana, and that it proved perfectly successful as a steamer, having good speed, and proving an excellentsea-boat. The enterprise was, however, pecuniarily a failure, and the vessel was sold to the Brazilian Government after the removal of the engine. In 1825 the steamer Enterprise made a voyage to India, sailing and steaming as the weather and the supply of fuel permitted. The voyage occupied 47 days.
Notwithstanding these successful passages across the ocean, and the complete success of the steamboat in rivers and harbors, it was asserted, as late as 1838, by many who were regarded as authority, that the passage of the ocean by steamers was quite impracticable, unless possibly they could steam from the coasts of Europe to Newfoundland or to the Azores, and, replenishing their coal-bunkers, resume their voyages to the larger American ports. The voyage was, however, actually accomplished by two steamers in the year just mentioned. These were the Sirius, a ship of 700 tons and of 250 horse-power, and the Great Western, of 1,340 tons and 450 horse-power. The latter was built for this service, and was a large ship for that time, measuring 236 feet in length. Her wheels were 28 feet in diameter, and 10 feet in breadth of face. The Sirius sailed from Cork April 4, 1838, and the Great Western from Bristol April 8th, both arriving at New York on the same day—April 23d—the Sirius in the morning, and the Great Western in the afternoon.
The Great Western carried out of Bristol 660 tons of coal. Seven passengers chose to take advantage of the opportunity, and made the voyage in one-half the time usually occupied by the sailing-packets of that day. Throughout the voyage the wind and sea were nearly ahead, and the two vessels pursued the same course, under very similar conditions. Arriving at New York, they were received with the greatest possible enthusiasm. They were saluted by the forts and the men-of-war in the harbor; the merchant-vessels dipped their flags, and the citizens assembled on the Battery, and, coming to meet them in boats of allkinds and sizes, cheered heartily. The newspapers of the time were filled with the story of the voyage and with descriptions of the steamers themselves and of their machinery.
A few days later the two steamers started on their return to Great Britain, the Sirius reaching Falmouth safely in 18 days, and the Great Western making the voyage to Bristol in 15 days, the latter meeting with head-winds and working, during a part of the time, against a heavy gale and in a high sea, at the rate of but two knots an hour. The Sirius was thought too small for this long and boisterous route, and was withdrawn and replaced on the line between London and Cork, where the ship had previously been employed. The Great Western continued several years in the transatlantic trade.
Thus these two voyages inaugurated a transoceanic steam-service, which has steadily grown in extent and in importance. The use of steam-power for this work of extended ocean-transportation has never since been interrupted. During the succeeding six years the Great Western made 70 passages across the Atlantic, occupying on the voyages to the westward an average of 151∕2days, and eastward 131∕2. The quickest passage to New York was made in May, 1843, in 12 days and 18 hours, and the fastest steaming was logged 12 months earlier, when the voyage from New York was made in 12 days and 7 hours.
Meantime, several other steamers were built and placed in the transatlantic trade. Among these were the Royal William, the British Queen, the President, the Liverpool, and the Great Britain. The latter, the finest of the fleet, was launched in 1843. This steamer was 300 feet long, 50 feet beam, and of 1,000 horse-power. The hull was of iron, and the whole ship was an example of the very best work of that time. After several voyages, this vessel went ashore on the coast of Ireland, and there remained several weeks, but was finally got off, without having suffered serious injury—a remarkable illustration of the stanchnessof an iron hull when well built and of good material. The vessel was repaired, and many years afterward was still afloat, and engaged in the transportation of passengers and merchandise to Australia.
The “Cunard Line” of transatlantic steamers was established in the year 1840. The first of the line—the Britannia—sailed from Liverpool for New York, July 4th of that year, and was followed, on regular sailing-days, by the other three of the four ships with which the company commenced business. These four vessels had an aggregate tonnage of 4,600 tons, and their speed was less than eight knots. To-day, the tonnage of a single vessel of the fleet exceeds that of the four; the total tonnage has risen to many times that above given. There are 50 steamers in the line, aggregating nearly 50,000 horse-power. The speed of the steamships of the present time is double that of the vessels of that date, and passages are not infrequently made in eight days.
The form of steam-engine in most general use at this time, on transatlantic steamers, was that known as the “side-lever engine.” It was first given the standard form by Messrs. Maudsley & Co., of London, about 1835, and was built by them for steamers supplied to the British Government for general mail service.