_THE MODERN STEAM-ENGINE._
"Voila la plus merveilleuse de toutes les Machines; le Mecanisme
ressemble a celui des animaux. La chaleur est le principe de son
mouvement; il se fait dans ses differens tuyaux une circulation,
comme celle du sang dans les veines, ayant des valvules qui
s'ouvrent et se ferment a propos; elles se nourrit, s'evacue d'elle
meme dans les temps regles, et tire de son travail tout ce qu'il lui
faut pour subsister. Cette Machine a pris sa naissance en
Angleterre, et toutes les Machines a feu qu'on a construites
ailleurs que dans la Grande Bretagne ont ete executees par des
Anglais."--BELIDOR.
THE SECOND PERIOD OF APPLICATION--1800-1850 (CONTINUED). THE
STEAM-ENGINE APPLIED TO SHIP-PROPULSION.
Among the most obviously important and most inconceivably fruitful of
all the applications of steam which marked the period we are now
studying, is that of the steam-engine to the propulsion of vessels.
This direction of application has been that which has, from the
earliest period in the history of the steam-engine, attracted the
attention of the political economist and the historian, as well as the
mechanician, whenever a new improvement, or the revival of an old
device, has awakened a faint conception of the possibilities attendant
upon the introduction of a machine capable of making so great a force
available. The realization of the hopes, the prophecies, and the
aspirations of earlier times, in the modern marine steam-engine, may
be justly regarded as the greatest of all the triumphs of mechanical
engineering. Although, as has already been stated, attempts were made
at a very early period to effect this application of steam-power, they
were not successful, and the steamship is a product of the present
century. No such attempts were commercially successful until after the
time of Newcomen and Watt, and at the commencement of the nineteenth
century. It is, indeed, but a few years since the passage across the
Atlantic was frequently made in sailing-vessels, and the dangers, the
discomforts, and the irregularities of their trips were most serious.
Now, hardly a day passes that does not see several large and powerful
steamers leaving the ports of New York and Liverpool to make the same
voyages, and their passages are made with such regularity and safety,
that travelers can anticipate with confidence the time of their
arrival at the termination of their voyage to a day, and can cross
with safety and with comparative comfort even amid the storms of
winter. Yet all that we to-day see of the extent and the efficiency of
steam-navigation has been the work of the present century, and it may
well excite our wonder and our admiration.
The history of this development of the use of steam-power illustrates
most perfectly that process of growth of this invention which has been
already referred to; and we can here trace it, step by step, from the
earliest and rudest devices up to those most recent and most perfect
designs which represent the most successful existing types of the
heat-engine--whether considered with reference to its design and
construction, or as the highest application of known scientific
principles--that have yet been seen in even the present advanced state
of the mechanic arts.
The paddle-wheel was used as a substitute for oars at a very early
date, and a description of paddle-wheels applied to vessels, curiously
illustrated by a large wood-cut, may be found in the work of Fammelli,
"De l'artificioses machines," published in old French in 1588.
Clark[58] quotes from Ogilby's edition of the "Odyssey" a stanza
which reads like a prophecy, and almost awakens a belief that the
great poet had a knowledge of steam-vessels in those early times--a
thousand years before the Christian era. The prince thus addresses
Ulysses:
[58] "Steam and the Steam-Engine."
"We use nor Helm nor Helms-man. Our tall ships
Have Souls, and plow with Reason up the deeps;
All cities, Countries know, and where they list,
Through billows glide, veiled in obscuring Mist;
Nor fear they Rocks, nor Dangers on the way."
Pope's translation[59] furnishes the following rendering of Homer's
prophecy:
[59] "Odyssey," Book VIII., p. 175.
"So shalt thou instant reach the realm assigned,
In wondrous ships, self-moved, instinct with mind;
...
Though clouds and darkness veil the encumbered sky,
Fearless, through darkness and through clouds they fly.
Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling main,
The seas may roll, the tempests swell in vain;
E'en the stern god that o'er the waves presides,
Safe as they pass and safe repass the tide,
With fury burns; while, careless, they convey
Promiscuous every guest to every bay."
It is stated that the Roman army under Claudius Caudex was taken
across to Sicily in boats propelled by paddle-wheels turned by oxen.
Vulturius gives pictures of such vessels.
This application of the force of steam was very possibly anticipated
600 years ago by Roger Bacon, the learned Franciscan monk, who, in an
age of ignorance and intellectual torpor, wrote:
"I will now mention some wonderful works of art and nature, in which
there is nothing of magic, and which magic could not perform.
Instruments may be made by which the largest ships, with only one man
guiding them, will be carried with greater velocity than if they were
full of sailors," etc., etc.
Darwin's poetical prophecy was published long years before Watt's
engine rendered its partial fulfillment a possibility; and thus, for
many years before even the first promising effort had been made, the
minds of the more intelligent had been prepared to appreciate the
invention when it should finally be brought forward.
The earliest attempt to propel a vessel by steam is claimed by Spanish
authorities, as has been stated, to have been made by Blasco de Garay,
in the harbor of Barcelona, Spain, in 1543. The record, claimed as
having been extracted from the Spanish archives at Simancas, states
the vessel to have been of 200 tons burden, and to have been moved by
paddle-wheels; and it is added that the spectators saw, although not
allowed closely to inspect the apparatus, that one part of it was a
"vessel of boiling water"; and it is also stated that objection was
made to the use of this part of the machine, because of the danger of
explosion.
The account seems somewhat apocryphal, and it certainly led to no
useful results.
In an anonymous English pamphlet, published in 1651, which is supposed
by Stuart to have been written by the Marquis of Worcester, an
indefinite reference to what may probably have been the steam-engine
is made, and it is there stated to be capable of successful
application to propelling boats.
In 1690, Papin proposed to use his piston-engine to drive
paddle-wheels to propel vessels; and in 1707 he applied the
steam-engine, which he had proposed as a pumping-engine, to driving a
model boat on the Fulda at Cassel. In this trial he used the
arrangement of which a sketch has been shown, his pumping-engine
forcing up water to turn a water-wheel, which, in turn, was made to
drive the paddles. An account of his experiments is to be found in
manuscript in the correspondence between Leibnitz and Papin, preserved
in the Royal Library at Hanover. Professor Joy found there the
following letter:[60]
"Dionysius Papin, Councillor and Physician to his Royal Highness the
Elector of Cassel, also Professor of Mathematics at Marburg, is
about to dispatch a vessel of singular construction down the river
Weser to Bremen. As he learns that all ships coming from Cassel, or
any point on the Fulda, are not permitted to enter the Weser, but
are required to unload at Muenden, and as he anticipates some
difficulty, although those vessels have a different object, his own
not being intended for freight, he begs most humbly that a gracious
order be granted that his ship may be allowed to pass unmolested
through the Electoral domain; which petition I most humbly support.
G. W. LEIBNITZ.
"HANOVER, _July 13, 1707_."
This letter was returned to Leibnitz, with the following indorsement:
"The Electoral Councillors have found serious obstacles in the way of
granting the above petition, and, without giving their reasons, have
directed me to inform you of their decision, and that, in consequence,
the request is not granted by his Electoral Highness.
H. REICHE.
"HANOVER, _July 25, 1707_."
[60] _Scientific American_, February 24, 1877.
This failure of Papin's petition was the death-blow to his effort to
establish steam-navigation. A mob of boatmen, who thought they saw in
the embryo steamship the ruin of their business, attacked the vessel
at night, and utterly destroyed it. Papin narrowly escaped with his
life, and fled to England.
In the year 1736, Jonathan Hulls took out an English patent for the
use of a steam-engine for ship-propulsion, proposing to employ his
steamboat in towing. In 1737 he published a well-written pamphlet,
describing this apparatus, which is shown in Fig. 66, a reduced
fac-simile of the plate accompanying his paper.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--Hulls's Steamboat, 1736.]
He proposed using the Newcomen engine, fitted with a
counterpoise-weight and a system of ropes and grooved wheels, which,
by a peculiar ratchet-like action, gave a continuous rotary motion.
His vessel was to have been used as a tow-boat. He says, in his
description: "In some convenient part of the Tow-boat there is placed
a Vessel about two-3rds full of water, with the Top closed; and this
Vessel being kept Boiling, rarifies the Water into a Steam, this Steam
being convey'd thro' a large pipe into a cylindrical Vessel, and there
condensed, makes a Vacuum, which causes the weight of the atmosphere
to press down on this Vessel, and so presses down a Piston that is
fitted into this Cylindrical Vessel, in the same manner as in Mr.
Newcomen's Engine, with which he raises Water by Fire.
"_P_, the Pipe coming from the Furnace to the Cylinder. _Q_, the
Cylinder wherein the steam is condensed. _R_, the Valve that stops the
Steam from coming into the Cylinder, whilst the Steam within the same
is condensed. _S_, the Pipe to convey the condensing Water into the
Cylinder. _T_, a cock to let in the condensing Water when the Cylinder
is full of Steam and the Valve, _P_, is shut. _U_, a Rope fixed to the
Piston that slides up and down in the Cylinder.
"_Note._ This Rope, _U_, is the same Rope that goes round the wheel,
_D_, in the machine."
In the large division of his plate, _A_ is the chimney; _B_ is the
tow-boat; _C C_ is the frame carrying the engine; _Da_, _D_, and _Db_
are three wheels carrying the ropes _M_, _Fb_, and _Fa_, _M_ being the
rope _U_ of his smaller figure, 30. _Ha_ and _Hb_ are two wheels on
the paddle-shafts, _I I_, arranged with pawls so that the
paddle-wheel, _I I_, always turns the same way, though the wheels _Ha_
and _Hb_ are given a reciprocating motion; _Fb_ is a rope connecting
the wheels in the vessel, _Db_, with the wheels at the stern. Hulls
says:
"When the Weight, _G_, is so raised, while the wheels _Da_, _D_, and
_Db_ are moving backward, the Rope _Fa_ gives way, and the Power of
the Weight, _G_, brings the Wheel _Ha_ forward, and the Fans with it,
so that the Fans always keep going forward, notwithstanding the Wheels
_Da_, _D_, and _Db_ move backward and forward as the Piston moves up
and down in the Cylinder. _L L_ are Teeth for a Catch to drop in from
the Axis, and are so contrived that they catch in an alternate manner,
to cause the Fan to move always forward, for the Wheel _Ha_, by the
power of the weight, _G_, is performing his Office while the other
wheel, _Hb_, goes back in order to fetch another stroke.
"_Note._ The weight, _G_, must contain but half the weight of the
Pillar of Air pressing on the Piston, because the weight, _G_, is
raised at the same time as the Wheel _Hb_ performs its Office, so that
it is in effect two Machines acting alternately, by the weight of one
Pillar of Air, of such a Diameter as the Diameter of the Cylinder is."
The inventor suggests the use of timber guards to protect the wheels
from injury, and, in shallow water, the attachment to the
paddle-shafts of cranks "to strike a Shaft to the Bottom of the River,
which will drive the Vessel forward with the greater Force." He
concludes: "Thus I have endeavoured to give a clear and satisfactory
Account of my New-invented Machine, for carrying Vessels out of and
into any Port, Harbour, or River, against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm;
and I doubt not but whoever shall give himself the Trouble to peruse
this Essay, will be so candid as to excuse or overlook any
Imperfections in the diction or manner of writing, considering the
Hand it comes from, if what I have imagined may only appear as plain
to others as it has done to me, viz., That the Scheme I now offer is
Practicable, and if encouraged will be Useful."
There is no positive evidence that Hulls ever put his scheme to the
test of experiment, although tradition does say that he made a model,
which he tried with such ill success as to prevent his prosecution of
the experiment further; and doggerel rhymes are still extant which
were sung by his neighbors in derision of his folly, as they
considered it.
A prize was awarded by the French Academy of Sciences, in 1752, for
the best essay on the manner of impelling vessels without wind. It was
given to Bernouilli, who, in his paper, proposed a set of vanes like
those of a windmill--a screw, in fact--one to be placed on each side
of the vessel, and two more behind. For a vessel of 100 tons, he
proposed a shaft 14 feet long and 2 inches in diameter, carrying
"eight wheels, for acting on the water, to each of which it" (the
shaft) "is perpendicular, and forms an axis for them all; the wheels
should be at equal distances from each other. Each wheel consists of 8
arms of iron, each 3 feet long, so that the whole diameter of the
wheel is 6 feet. Each of these arms, at the distance of 20 inches from
the centre, carries a sheet-iron plane (or paddle) 16 inches square,
which is inclined so as to form an angle of 60 degrees, both with the
arbor and keel of the vessel, to which the arbor is placed parallel.
To sustain this arbor and the wheels, two strong bars of iron, between
2 and 3 inches thick, proceed from the side of the vessel at right
angles to it, about 2-1/2 feet below the surface of the water." He
proposed similar screw-propellers at the stern, and suggested that
they could be driven by animal or by steam-power.
But a more remarkable essay is quoted by Figuier[61]--the paper of
l'Abbe Gauthier, published in the "Memoires de la Societe Royale des
Sciences et Lettres de Nancy." Bernouilli had expressed the belief
that the best steam-engine then known--that of Newcomen--was not
superior to some other motors. Gauthier proposed to use that engine in
the propulsion of paddle-wheels placed at the side of the vessel. His
plan was not brought into use, but his paper embodied a glowing
description of the advantages to be secured by its adoption. He states
that a galley urged by 26 oars on a side made but 4,320 toises (8,420
meters), or about 5 miles, an hour, and required a crew of 260 men. A
steam-engine, doing the same work, would be ready for action at all
times, could be applied, when not driving the vessel, to raising the
anchor, working the pumps, and to ventilating the ship, while the fire
would also serve to cook with. The engine would occupy less space and
weight than the men, would require less aliment, and that of a less
expensive kind, etc. He would make the boiler safe against explosions
by bands of iron; would make the fire-box of iron, with a water-filled
ash-pit and base-plate. His injection-water was to come from the sea,
and return by a delivery-pipe placed above the water-line. The chains,
usually leading from the end of the beam to the pump-rods, were to be
carried around wheels on the paddle-shaft, which were to be provided
with pawls entering a ratchet, and thus the paddles, having been given
several revolutions by the descent of the piston and the unwinding of
the chain, were to revolve freely while the return-stroke was made,
the chain being hauled down and rewound by the wheel on the shaft, the
latter being moved by a weight. The engine was proposed to be of 6
feet stroke, and to make 15 strokes per minute, with a force of 11,000
pounds.
[61] "Les Merveilles de la Science."
A little later (1760), a Swiss clergyman, J. A. Genevois, published
in London a paper relating to the improvement of navigation,[62] in
which his plan was proposed of compressing springs by steam or other
power, and applying their effort while recovering their form to
ship-propulsion.
[62] "Some New Enquiries tending to the Improvement of Navigation."
London, 1760.
It was at this time that the first attempts were made in the United
States to solve this problem, which had begun to be recognized as one
of the greatest which had presented itself to the mechanic and the
engineer.
WILLIAM HENRY was a prominent citizen of the then little village of
Lancaster, Pa., and was noted as an ingenious and successful
mechanic.[63] He was still living at the beginning of the present
century. Mr. Henry was the first to make the "rag" carpet, and was the
inventor of the screw-auger. He was of a Scotch and North-of-Ireland
family, his father, John Henry, and his two older brothers, Robert and
James, having come to the United States about 1720. Robert settled,
finally, in Virginia, and it is said that Patrick Henry, the patriot
and orator, was of his family. The others remained in Chester County,
Pa., where William was born, in 1729. He learned the trade of a
gunsmith, and, driven from his home during the Indian war (1755 to
1760), settled in Lancaster.
[63] _Lancaster Daily Express_, December 10, 1872. This account is
collated from various manuscripts and letters in the possession of
the author.
In the year 1760 he went to England on business, where his attention
was attracted to the invention--then new, and the subject of
discussion in every circle--of James Watt. He saw the possibility of
its application to navigation and to driving carriages, and, on his
return home, commenced the construction of a steam-engine, and
finished it in 1763.
Placing it in a boat fitted with paddle-wheels, he made a trial of the
new machine on the Conestoga River, near Lancaster, where the craft,
by some accident, sank,[64] and was lost. He was not discouraged by
this failure, but made a second model, adding some improvements. Among
the records of the Pennsylvania Philosophical Society is, or was, a
design, presented by Henry in 1782, of one of his steamboats. The
German traveler Schoepff visited the United States in 1783, and at Mr.
Henry's house, at Lancaster, was shown "a machine by Mr. Henry,
intended for the propelling of boats, etc.; 'but,' said Mr. Henry, 'I
am doubtful whether such a machine would find favor with the public,
as every one considers it impracticable against wind and tide;' but
that such a Boat _will_ come into use and navigate on the waters of
the Ohio and Mississippi, he had not the least doubt of, but the time
had not yet arrived of its being appreciated and applied."
[64] Bowen's "Sketches," p. 56.
John Fitch, whose experiments will presently be referred to, was an
acquaintance and frequent visitor to the house of Mr. Henry, and may
probably have there received the earliest suggestions of the
importance of this application of steam. About 1777, when Henry was
engaged in making mathematical and philosophical instruments, and the
screw-auger, which at that time could only be obtained of him, Robert
Fulton, then twelve years old, visited him, to study the paintings of
Benjamin West, who had long been a friend and protege of Henry. He,
too, not improbably received there the first suggestion which
afterward led him to desert the art to which he at first devoted
himself, and which made of the young portrait-painter a successful
inventor and engineer. West's acquaintance with Henry had no such
result. The young painter was led by his patron and friend to attempt
historical pictures,[65] and probably owes his fame greatly to the
kindly and discerning mechanic. Says Galt, in his "Memoirs of Sir
Benjamin West" (London, 1816): "Towards his old friend, William Henry,
of Lancaster City, he always cherished the most grateful affection;
he was the first who urged him to attempt historical composition."
[65] Some of West's portraits, including those of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry, were lately in the possession of Mr. John Jordan, of
Philadelphia.
When, after the invention of Watt, the steam-engine had taken such
shape that it could really work the propelling apparatus of a paddle
or screw vessel, a new impetus was given to the work of its
adaptation. In France, the Marquis de Jouffroy was one of the earliest
to perceive that the improvements of Watt, rendering the engine more
compact, more powerful, and, at the same time, more regular and
positive in its action, had made it, at last, readily applicable to
the propulsion of vessels. The brothers Perier had imported a Watt
engine from Soho, and this was attentively studied by the marquis,[66]
and its application to the paddle-wheels of a steam-vessel seemed to
him a simple problem. Comte d'Auxiron and Chevalier Charles Mounin, of
Follenai, friends and companions of Jouffroy, were similarly
interested, and the three are said to have often discussed the scheme
together, and to have united in devising methods of applying the new
motor.
[66] Figuier.
In the year 1770, D'Auxiron determined to attempt the realization of
the plans which he had conceived. He resigned his position in the
army, prepared his plans and drawings, and presented them to M.
Bertin, the Prime Minister, in the year 1771 or 1772. The Minister was
favorably impressed, and the King (May 22, 1772) granted D'Auxiron a
monopoly of the use of steam in river-navigation for 15 years,
provided he should prove his plans practicable, and they should be so
adjudged by the Academy.
A company had been formed, the day previous, consisting of D'Auxiron,
Jouffroy, Comte de Dijon, the Marquis d'Yonne, and Follenai, which
advanced the requisite funds. The first vessel was commenced in
December, 1772. When nearly completed, in September, 1774, the boat
sprung a leak, and, one night, foundered at the wharf. After some
angry discussion, during which D'Auxiron was rudely, and probably
unjustly, accused of bad faith, the company declined to advance the
money needed to recover and complete the vessel. They were, however,
compelled by the court to furnish it; but, meantime, D'Auxiron died of
apoplexy, the matter dropped, and the company dissolved. The cost of
the experiment had been something more than 15,000 francs.
The heirs of D'Auxiron turned the papers of the deceased inventor over
to Jouffroy, and the King transferred to him the monopoly held by the
former. Follenai retained all his interest in the project, and the two
friends soon enlisted a powerful adherent and patron, the Marquis
Ducrest, a well-known soldier, courtier, and member of the Academy,
who took an active part in the prosecution of the scheme. M. Jacques
Perier, the then distinguished mechanic, was consulted, and prepared
plans, which were adopted in place of those of Jouffroy. The boat was
built by Perier, and a trial took place in 1774, on the Seine. The
result was unsatisfactory. The little craft could hardly stem the
sluggish current of the river, and the failure caused the immediate
abandonment of the scheme by Perier.
Still undiscouraged, Jouffroy retired to his country home, at
Baume-les-Dames, on the river Doubs. There he carried on his
experiments, getting his work done as best he could, with the rude
tools and insufficient apparatus of a village blacksmith. A Watt
engine and a chain carrying "duck-foot" paddles were his propelling
apparatus. The boat, which was about 14 feet long and 6 wide, was
started in June, 1776. The duck's-foot system of paddles proved
unsatisfactory, and Jouffroy gave it up, and renewed his experiments
with a new arrangement. He placed on the paddle-wheel shaft a
ratchet-wheel, and on the piston-rod of his engine, which was placed
horizontally in the boat, a double rack, into the upper and the lower
parts of which the ratchet-wheel geared. Thus the wheels turned in
the same direction, whichever way the piston was moving. The new
engine was built at Lyons in 1780, by Messrs. Freres-Jean. The new
boat was about 140 feet long and 14 feet wide; the wheels were 14 feet
in diameter, their floats 6 feet long, and the "dip," or depth to
which they reached, was about 2 feet. The boat drew 3 feet of water,
and had a total weight of about 150 tons.
At a public trial of the vessel at Lyons, July 15, 1783, the little
steamer was so successful as to justify the publication of the fact by
a report and a proclamation. The fact that the experiment was not made
at Paris was made an excuse on the part of the Academy for withholding
its indorsement, and on the part of the Government for declining to
confirm to Jouffroy the guaranteed monopoly. Impoverished and
discouraged, Jouffroy gave up all hope of prosecuting his plans
successfully, and reentered the army. Thus France lost an honor which
was already within her grasp, as she had already lost that of the
introduction of the steam-engine, in the time of Papin.
About 1785, John Fitch and James Rumsey were engaged in experiments
having in view the application of steam to navigation.
Rumsey's experiments began in 1774, and in 1786 he succeeded in
driving a boat at the rate of four miles an hour against the current
of the Potomac at Shepherdstown, W. Va., in presence of General
Washington. His method of propulsion has often been reinvented since,
and its adoption urged with that enthusiasm and persistence which is a
peculiar characteristic of inventors.
Rumsey employed his engine to drive a great pump which forced a stream
of water aft, thus propelling the boat forward, as proposed earlier by
Bernouilli. This same method has been recently tried again by the
British Admiralty, in a gunboat of moderate size, using a centrifugal
pump to set in motion the propelling stream, and with some other
modifications which are decided improvements upon Rumsey's rude
arrangements, but which have not done much more than his toward the
introduction of "Hydraulic or Jet Propulsion," as it is now called.
In 1787 he obtained a patent from the State of Virginia for
steam-navigation. He wrote a treatise "On the Application of Steam,"
which was printed at Philadelphia, where a Rumsey society was
organized for the encouragement of attempts at steam-navigation.
Rumsey died of apoplexy, while explaining some of his schemes before a
London society a short time later, December 23, 1793, at the age of
fifty years. A boat, then in process of construction from his plans,
was afterward tried on the Thames, in 1793, and steamed at the rate of
four miles an hour. The State of Kentucky, in 1839, presented his son
with a gold medal, commemorative of his father's services "in giving
to the world the benefit of the steamboat."
JOHN FITCH was an unfortunate and eccentric, but very ingenious,
Connecticut mechanic. After roaming about until forty years of age, he
finally settled on the banks of the Delaware, where he built his first
steamboat.
In April, 1785, as Fitch himself states, at Neshamony, Bucks County,
Pa., he suddenly conceived the idea that a carriage might be driven by
steam. After considering the subject a few days, his attention was led
to the plan of using steam to propel vessels, and from that time to
the day of his death he was a persistent advocate of the introduction
of the steamboat. At this time, Fitch says, "I did not know that there
was a steam-engine on the earth;" and he was somewhat disappointed
when his friend, the Rev. Mr. Irwin, of Neshamony, showed him a sketch
of one in "Martin's Philosophy."
Fitch's first model was at once built, and was soon after tried on a
small stream near Davisville. The machinery was made of brass, and the
boat was impelled by paddle-wheels. A rough model of his steamboat was
shown to Dr. John Ewing, Provost of the University of Pennsylvania,
who, August 20, 1785, addressed a commendatory letter to an ex-Member
of Congress, William C. Houston, asking him to assist Fitch in
securing the aid of the General Government. The latter referred the
inventor, by a letter of recommendation, to a delegate from New
Jersey, Mr. Lambert Cadwalader. With this, and other letters, Fitch
proceeded to New York, where Congress then met, and made his
application in proper form. He was unsuccessful, and equally so in
attempting to secure aid from the Spanish minister, who desired that
the profits should be secured, by a monopoly of the invention, to the
King of Spain. Fitch declined further negotiation, determined that, if
successful at all, the benefit should accrue to his own countrymen.
In September, 1785, Fitch presented to the American Philosophical
Society, at Philadelphia, a model in which he had substituted an
endless chain and floats for the paddle-wheels, with drawings and a
descriptive account of his scheme. This model is shown in the
accompanying figure.
[Illustration: 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 the company, 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 a patent, 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's
_steamboat_ was not made until 1786.
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Fitch and Voight's Boiler, 1787.]
[Illustration: 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 a cylinder 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[67] "Life of John Fitch," Westcott.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--John Fitch, 1796.]
In the year 1796, Fitch was again in New York City, experimenting with
a little _screw_ steamboat on the "Collect" Pond, which then covered
that part of the city now occupied 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 believe
that the power of the Steam-Engine may be applied to work the wheels."
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--Miller, Taylor, and Symmington, 1788.]
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 L50 per annum, and, in
1837, his four daughters were each given a similar annuity. Mr.
Miller received no reward, although he is said to have expended over
L30,000. 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.
[68] _Rivington's Gazette_, February 16, 1775.
SAMUEL MOREY was 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 a side-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.
[69] _Providence Journal_, May 7, 1874. Coll., N. H. Antiquar. Soc.,
No. 1; "Who invented the Steamboat?" William A. Mowry, 1874.
[70] Rev. Cyrus Mann, in the _Boston Recorder_, 1858.
[71] Westcott.
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 been mentioned, 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.
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 in Figs. 73 and 74, which are reduced
from his patent drawings, of a shell of cylindrical form, like the now
common vertical tubular boiler. _A_ is the furnace-door, _B_ a heater
and feed-water reservoir, _D_ a pipe leading the feed-water into the
boiler,[72] _E_ the smoke-pipe, and _F_ the steam-pipe leading to the
engine. _G_ is the "shell" of the boiler, and _H_ the 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_. _L_ is the furnace, and _M_ the draught-space
between the boiler and the ash-pit, in which the grates are set.
[72] This is substantially an arrangement that has recently become
common. It has been repatented by later inventors.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--Read's Boiler in Section, 1788.]
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--Read's Multi-Tubular Boiler, 1788.]
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 a boat 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.
[73] "Nathan Read and the Steam-Engine."
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, in which 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 L7,000. 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.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--The "Charlotte Dundas," 1801.]
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. _A_ is the steam-cylinder,
driving, by means of the connecting-rod, _B C_, a stern-wheel, _E E_.
_F_ is the boiler, and _G_ the tall smoke-pipe. An air-pump and
condenser, _H_, is seen under the steam-cylinder.
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 L100,
and, a little later, L50 additional, as an acknowledgment of his
services. The Charlotte Dundas was laid up, and we hear nothing more
of that vessel.
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--The "Comet," 1812.]
Among those who saw the Charlotte Dundas, and who appreciated the
importance of the success achieved by Symmington, was HENRY BELL, who,
10 years afterward, constructed the Comet (Fig. 76), the first
passenger-vessel built in Europe. This vessel was built in 1811, and
completed January 18, 1812. The craft was of 30 tons burden, 40 feet
in length, and 10-1/2 feet breadth of beam. There were _two_
paddle-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]
[74] "Encyclopaedia Americana."
[75] "A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat," J. H. B.
Latrobe, 1871.
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, _provided_ that 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 reenactment 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.
[Illustration: Robert Fulton.]
ROBERT FULTON was 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 were at 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 protege 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 Schoepff. 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.
[76] _Vide_ "Life of Fulton," Reigart.
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.
[77] _Vide_ "Life of Fulton," Colden.
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
Plombieres, 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.
[Illustration: 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, Fulton had
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.
[78] A French inventor, a watchmaker of Trevoux, named Desblancs,
had already deposited at the Conservatoire a model fitted with
"chaplets."
[Illustration: 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. 77 and 78 are 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. Dated this 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
Perier, 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 4-1/2 miles; but this was, all
things considered, a great success.
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 Metiers 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 steamboat and 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.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.--Barlow's Water-Tube Boiler, 1793.]
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 friends of 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.
[79] Woodcroft, p. 64.
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.
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 80.--The Clermont, 1807.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 81.--Engine of the Clermont, 1808.]
The engine of the Clermont (Fig. 81) was of rather peculiar form, 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 and creditable 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]
[80] A newspaper-slip in the scrap-book of the author has the
following:
"The traveler of today, as he goes on board the great steamboats St.
John or Drew, can scarcely imagine the difference between such
floating palaces and the wee-bit punts on which our fathers were
wafted 60 years ago. We may, however, get some idea of the sort of
thing then in use by a perusal of the steamboat announcements of
that time, two of which are as follows:
["_Copy of an Advertisement taken from the Albany Gazette, dated
September, 1807._]
"The North River Steamboat will leave Pauler's Hook Ferry [now
Jersey City] on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning,
and arrive at Albany on Saturday, at 9 in the afternoon. Provisions,
good berths, and accommodations are provided.
"The charge to each passenger is as follows:
"To Newburg dols. 3, time 14 hours.
" Poughkeepsie " 4, " 17 "
" Esopus " 5, " 20 "
" Hudson " 5-1/2, " 30 "
" Albany " 7, " 36 "
"For places, apply to William Vandervoort, No. 48 Courtlandt Street,
on the corner of Greenwich Street.
"_September 2, 1807._
["_Extract from the New York Evening Post, dated October 2, 1807._]
"Mr. Fulton's new-invented _Steamboat_, which is fitted up in a neat
style for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to Albany
as a Packet, left here this morning with 90 passengers, against a
strong head-wind. Notwithstanding which, it was judged she moved
through the waters at the rate of six miles an hour."