immediately afterward he wrote to Messrs. Boulton & Watt, of Birmingham,
England, ordering certain parts of a steam-engine to be made for him,
and sent to America. He did not disclose to them for what purpose the
engine was intended, but his directions were such as would produce the
parts of an engine that might be put together within a compass suited
for a boat. Mr. Livingston had written to his friends in this country,
and through their assistance an act was passed by the Legislature of the
State of New York, on April 5, 1803, by which the rights and exclusive
privileges of navigating all the waters of that State, by vessels
propelled by fire or steam, granted to Livingston by the Act of 1798, as
already mentioned, were extended to Livingston and Fulton, for the term
of twenty years from the date of the new act. By this law the time of
producing proof of the practicability of propelling by steam a boat of
twenty tons capacity, at the rate of four miles an hour, with and
against the ordinary current of the Hudson, was extended two years, and
by a subsequent law, the time was extended to 1807.
Very soon after Fulton's arrival in New York he began building his first
American boat. While she was constructing, he found that her cost would
greatly exceed his calculations. He endeavored to lessen the pressure on
his own finances by offering one-third of the rights for a proportionate
contribution to the expense. It was generally known that he made this
offer, but no one was then willing to afford aid to his enterprise.
In the spring of 1807, Fulton's first American boat was launched from
the shipyard of Charles Brown, on the East River. The engine from
England was put on board, and in August she was completed, and was moved
by her machinery from her birthplace to the Jersey shore. Livingston and
Fulton had invited many of their friends to witness the first trial,
among them Dr. Mitchell and Dr. M'Neven, to whom we are indebted for
some account of what passed on this occasion. Nothing could exceed the
surprise and admiration of all who witnessed the experiment. The minds
of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes. Before the boat
had gone a quarter of a mile, the greatest unbeliever must have been
converted. The man who, while he looked on the expensive machine,
thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money on
such idle schemes, changed his mind as the boat moved from the wharf and
gained speed, and his complacent expression gradually stiffened into one
of wonder.
This boat, which was called the Clermont, soon after made a trip to
Albany. Fulton gives the following account of this voyage in a letter to
his friend, Mr. Barlow:
[Illustration: Departure of the Clermont on her First Voyage.]
"My steamboat voyage to Albany and back, has turned out rather more
favorable than I had calculated. The distance from New York to Albany is
one hundred and fifty miles; I ran it up in thirty-two hours, and down
in thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, both going and
coming, and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power of the
steam-engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward,
and parted with them as if they had been at anchor. The power of
propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The morning I left New
York there were not, perhaps, thirty persons in the city who believed
that the boat would even move one mile an hour, or be of the least
utility; and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was
crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. This is
the way in which ignorant men compliment what they call philosophers and
projectors. Having employed much time, money, and zeal, in accomplishing
this work, it gives me, as it will you, great pleasure to see it fully
answer my expectations. It will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the
merchandise on the Mississippi, Missouri, and other great rivers, which
are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen;
and although the prospect of personal emolument has been some inducement
to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense
advantage that my country will derive from the invention."
Soon after this successful voyage, the Hudson boat was advertised and
established as a regular passage-boat between New York and Albany. She,
however, in the course of the season, met with several accidents, from
the hostility of those engaged in the ordinary navigation of the river,
and from defects in her machinery, the greatest of which was having her
water-wheel shafts of cast-iron, which was insufficient to sustain the
great power applied to them. The wheels also were hung without any
support for the outward end of the shaft, which is now supplied by what
are called the wheel-guards.
At the session of 1808 a law was passed to prolong the time of the
exclusive right to thirty years; it also declared combinations to
destroy the boat, or wilful attempts to injure her, public offences,
punishable by fine and imprisonment. Notwithstanding her misfortunes,
the boat continued to run as a packet, always loaded with passengers,
for the remainder of the summer. In the course of the ensuing winter she
was enlarged, and in the spring of 1808 she again began running as a
packet-boat, and continued it through the season. Several other boats
were soon built for the Hudson River, and also for steamboat companies
formed in different parts of the United States. On February 11, 1809,
Fulton took out a patent for his inventions in navigation by steam, and
on February 9, 1811, he obtained a second patent for some improvements
in his boats and machinery.
About the year 1812 two steam ferry-boats were built under the direction
of Fulton for crossing the Hudson River, and one of the same description
for the East River. These boats were what are called twin-boats, each of
them being two complete hulls united by a deck or bridge. They were
sharp at both ends, and moved equally well with either end foremost, so
that they crossed and recrossed without losing any time by turning
about. He contrived, with great ingenuity, floating docks for the
reception of these boats, and a means by which they were brought to them
without a shock. These boats, were the first of a fleet which has since
carried hundreds of millions of passengers to and from New York.
From the time the first boat was put in motion till the death of Fulton,
the art of navigating by steam advanced rapidly to that perfection of
which he believed it capable; the boats performed each successive trip
with increased speed, and every year improvements were made. The last
boat built by Fulton was invariably the best, the most convenient, and
the swiftest.
At the beginning of 1814 a number of the citizens of New York, alarmed
at the exposed situation of their harbor, had assembled with a view to
consider whether some measures might not be taken to aid the Government
in its protection. This assembly had some knowledge of Fulton's plans
for submarine attack, and knew that he contemplated other means of
defence. It deputed a number of gentlemen to act for it, and these were
called the Coast and Harbor Committee. Fulton exhibited to this
committee the model and plans for a vessel of war, to be propelled by
steam, capable of carrying a strong battery, with furnaces for red-hot
shot, and which, he represented, would move at the rate of four miles an
hour. The confidence of the committee in this design was confirmed by
the opinions of many of our most distinguished naval commanders, which
he had obtained in writing, and exhibited to the committee. They pointed
out many advantages which a steam vessel of war would possess over those
with sails only.
The National Legislature passed a law in March, 1814, authorizing the
President of the United States to cause to be built, equipped, and
employed one or more floating batteries for the defence of the waters
of the United States. A sub-committee of five gentlemen was appointed to
superintend the building of the proposed vessel, and Fulton, whose
spirit animated the whole enterprise, was appointed the engineer. In
June, 1814, the keel of this novel and mighty engine was laid, and in
October she was launched from the New York yard of Adam and Noah Brown.
The scene exhibited on this occasion was magnificent. It happened on one
of our bright autumnal days. Multitudes of spectators crowded the
surrounding shores. The river and bay were filled with vessels of war,
dressed in all their colors in compliment to the occasion. By May, 1815,
her engine was put on board, and she was so far completed as to afford
an opportunity of trying her machinery. On the 4th of July, in the same
year, the steam-frigate made a passage to the ocean and back, a distance
of fifty-three miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes, by the mere
force of steam. In September she made another passage to the sea, and
having at this time the weight of her whole armament on board, she went
at the rate of five and a half miles an hour, upon an average, with and
against the tide. The superintending committee gave in their report a
full description of the Fulton the First, the honored name this vessel
bore.
The last work in which the active and ingenious mind of Fulton was
engaged was a project for the modification of his submarine boat. He
presented a model of this vessel to the Government, by which it was
approved; and under Federal authority he began building one; but before
the hull was entirely finished his country had to lament his death, and
the mechanics he employed were incapable of proceeding without him.
[Illustration: The "Demologos," or "Fulton the First."
The first steam vessel-of-war in the world.]
During the whole time that Fulton had thus been devoting his talents to
the service of his country, he had been harassed by lawsuits and
controversies with those who were violating his patent rights, or
intruding upon his exclusive grants. The State of New Jersey had passed
a law which operated against Fulton, without being of much advantage to
those interested in its passage, inasmuch as the laws of New York
prevented any but Fulton's boats to approach the city of New York. Its
only operation was to stop a boat owned in New York, which had been for
several years running to New Brunswick, under a license from Messrs.
Livingston and Fulton. A bold attempt was therefore made to induce the
Legislature of the State of New York to repeal the laws which they had
passed for the protection of their exclusive grant to Livingston and
Fulton. The committee reported that such repeal might be passed
consistently with good faith, honor, and justice! This report being made
to the House, it was prevailed upon to be less precipitate than the
committee had been. It gave time, which the committee would not do, for
Fulton to be sent for from New York. The Assembly and Senate in joint
session examined witnesses, and heard him and the petitioner by counsel.
The result was that the Legislature refused to repeal the prior law, or
to pass any act on the subject. The Legislature of the State of New
Jersey also repealed their law, which left Fulton in the full enjoyment
of his rights. This enjoyment was of very short duration; for on
returning from Trenton, after this last trial, he was exposed on the
Hudson, which was very full of ice, for several hours. He had not a
constitution to encounter such exposure, and upon his return found
himself much indisposed. He had at that time great anxiety about the
steam-frigate, and, after confining himself to the house for a few days,
went to give his superintendence to the workmen employed about her.
Forgetting his ill-health in the interest he took in what was doing on
the frigate, he remained too long exposed on a bad day to the weather.
He soon felt the effects of this imprudence. His indisposition returned
upon him with such violence as to confine him to his bed. His illness
increased, and on February 24, 1815, it ended his life.
It was not known that Fulton's illness was dangerous till a very short
time before his death. Means were immediately taken to testify,
publicly, the universal regret at his loss, and respect for his memory.
The corporation of the city of New York, the different literary
institutions and other societies, assembled and passed resolutions
expressing their estimation of his worth, and regret at his loss. They
also resolved to attend his funeral, and that the members should wear
badges of mourning for a certain time. As soon as the Legislature, which
was then in session at Albany, heard of the death of Fulton, they
expressed their participation in the general sentiment by resolving that
the members of both Houses should wear mourning for some weeks.
In 1806 Fulton married Harriet Livingston, a daughter of Walter
Livingston, a relative of his associate, Chancellor Livingston. He left
four children; one son, Robert Barlow Fulton, and three daughters.
Fulton was in person considerably above medium height; his face showed
great intelligence. Natural refinement and long intercourse with the
most polished society of Europe and America had given him grace and
elegance of manner.
[Illustration: The Clermont.]
III.
ELI WHITNEY.
In 1784 an American vessel arrived at Liverpool having on board, as part
of her cargo, eight bags of cotton, which were seized by the
Custom-House under the conviction that they could not be the growth of
America. The whole amount of cotton arriving at Liverpool from America
during the two following years was less than one hundred and twenty
bags. When Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton-gin, applied for his
first patent in 1793, the total export of cotton from the United States
was less than ten thousand bales. Fifty years later, the growth of this
industry, owing almost wholly to Whitney's gin, had increased to
millions of bales, and by 1860, the export amounted to four million
bales.
[Illustration: Eli Whitney.]
According to the estimate of Judge Johnson, given in the most famous
decision affecting the cotton-gin, the debts of the South were paid off
by its aid, its capital was increased, and its lands trebled in value.
This famous device, the gift of a young Northerner to the South, was
rewarded by thirty years of ingratitude, relieved only by a few gleams
of sunshine in the way of justice, serving to make the injustice all the
more conspicuous. Whitney added hundreds of millions to the wealth of
the United States. His personal reward was countless lawsuits and
endless vexation of body and spirit. No more conspicuous example can be
cited of steady patience and sweet-tempered perseverance.
Eli Whitney was born in Westborough, Worcester County, Mass., December
8, 1765. His parents belonged to that respectable class of society who,
by honest farming and kindred industries, managed to provide well for
the rising family--the class from whom have arisen most of those who in
New England have attained to eminence and usefulness. The indications of
his mechanical genius were noted at an early age. Of his passion for
mechanics, his sister gives the following account:
"Our father had a workshop and sometimes made wheels of different kinds,
and chairs. He had a variety of tools and a lathe for turning
chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity of learning the use of
tools when very young. He lost no time, but as soon as he could handle
tools he was always making something in the shop, and seemed to prefer
that to work on the farm. After the death of our mother, when our father
had been absent from home two or three days, on his return he inquired
of the housekeeper what the boys had been doing. She told him what the
elders had done. 'But what has Eli been doing?' said he. She replied he
has been making a fiddle. 'Ah!' added he, despondently, 'I fear Eli will
have to take his portion in fiddles.'"
He was at this time about twelve years old. The sister adds that his
fiddle was finished throughout like a common violin and made pretty good
music. It was examined by many persons, and all pronounced it to be a
model piece of work for such a boy. From this time he was always
employed to repair violins, and did many nice jobs that were executed to
the entire satisfaction and even to the astonishment of his customers.
His father's watch being the greatest piece of mechanism that had yet
presented itself to his observation, he was extremely desirous of
examining its interior construction, but was not permitted to do so. One
Sunday morning, observing that his father was going to church and would
leave at home the wonderful little machine, he feigned illness as an
apology for not going. As soon as the family were out of sight, he flew
to the room where the watch hung and took it down. He was so delighted
with its motion that he took it to pieces before he thought of the
consequences of his rash deed; for his father was a stern parent, and
punishment would have been the reward of his idle curiosity, had the
mischief been detected. He, however, put the works so neatly together
that his father never discovered his audacity until he himself told him
many years afterward.
When Eli was thirteen years old his father married a second time. His
stepmother, among her articles of furniture, had a handsome set of
table-knives that she valued very highly.
One day Eli said: "I could make as good ones if I had tools, and I
could make the tools if I had common tools to begin with;" his mother
laughed at him. But it so happened soon afterward that one of the knives
was broken, and he made one exactly like it in every respect, except the
stamp of the blade. When he was fifteen or sixteen years of age, he
suggested to his father an enterprise which clearly showed his capacity
for important work. The time being the Revolutionary War, nails were in
great demand and at high prices. They were made chiefly by hand. Whitney
proposed to his father to get him a few tools and allow him to set up
the manufacture of nails. His father consented, and the work was begun.
By extraordinary diligence he found time to make tools for his own use
and to put in knife-blades, repair farm machinery, and perform other
little jobs beyond the skill of the country workman. At this occupation
the enterprising boy worked, alone with great success and with large
profit to his father for two winters, going on with the ordinary work of
the farm during the summer. He devised a plan for enlarging the
business, and managed to obtain help from a fellow-laborer whom he
picked up when on a short journey of forty miles, in the course of which
he tells us that he called at every workshop on the way and gleaned all
the information as to tools and methods that he could.
At the close of the war the business of making nails was no longer
profitable; but the fashion prevailing among the ladies of fastening on
their bonnets with long pins having appeared, he contrived to make
these pins with such skill that he nearly monopolized the business,
though he devoted to it only such leisure as he could redeem from the
occupations of the farm. He also made excellent walking-canes. At the
age of nineteen Whitney conceived the idea of getting a liberal
education; and partly by the results of his mechanical industries, and
partly by teaching the village school, he was enabled so far to surmount
the difficulties in his way as to prepare himself for the Freshman Class
in Yale College, which he entered in 1789. At college his mechanical
propensity frequently showed itself. He successfully undertook, on one
occasion, the repairing of some of the philosophical apparatus. Soon
after taking his degree, in the autumn of 1792, he engaged with a
Georgia family as private teacher, and through his engagement he made
the acquaintance of a certain General Greene, of Savannah, who took a
deep interest in him, and with whom he began the study of law. While
living with the Greenes he noticed an embroidery-frame used by Mrs.
Greene, and about which she complained, observing that it tore the
delicate threads of her work. Young Whitney, eager to oblige his
hostess, went to work and speedily produced a frame on an entirely new
plan. The family were much delighted with it, and considered it a
wonderful piece of ingenuity.
[Illustration: Whitney Watching the Cotton-Gin.]
Not long afterward the Greenes were visited by a party of gentlemen,
chiefly officers who had served under the general in the Revolutionary
War. The conversation turned on the state of agriculture. It was
remarked that unfortunately there was no means of cleaning the staple of
the green cotton-seed, which might otherwise be profitably raised on
land unsuitable for rice. But until someone devised a machine which
would clean the cotton, it was vain to think of raising it for market.
Separating one pound of the clean staple from the seed was a day's work
for a woman. The time usually devoted to the picking of cotton was the
evening, after the labor of the field was over. Then the slaves--men,
women, and children--were collected in circles, with one in the middle
whose duty it was to rouse the dosing and quicken the indolent. While
the company were engaged in this conversation, Mrs. Greene said:
"Gentlemen, apply to my young friend here, Mr. Whitney; he can make
anything." And she showed them the frame and several other articles he
had made. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius,
and replied that he had never seen cotton-seed.
Nevertheless, he immediately began upon the task of inventing and
constructing the machine on which his fame depends. A Mr. Phineas
Miller, a neighbor, to whom he communicated his design, warmly
encouraged him, and gave him a room in his house wherein to carry on his
operations. Here he began work with the disadvantage of being obliged to
manufacture his own tools and draw his own wire--an article not to be
found in Savannah. Mr. Miller and Mrs. Greene were the only persons who
knew anything of his occupation. Near the close of the winter, 1793, the
machine was so far completed as to leave no doubt of its success. The
person who contributed most to the success of the undertaking, after the
inventor, was his friend, Miller, a native of Connecticut and, a
graduate of Yale. Like Whitney, he had come to Georgia as a private
teacher, and after the death of General Greene he married the widow. He
was a lawyer by profession, with a turn for mechanics. He had some money
and proposed to Whitney to become his partner, he to be at the whole
expense of manufacturing the invention until it should be patented. If
the machine should succeed, they agreed that the profits and advantages
should be divided between them. A legal paper covering this agreement
and establishing the firm of Miller & Whitney, bears the date of May 27,
1793.
An invention so important to the agricultural interests of the country
could not long remain a secret. The knowledge of it swept through the
State, and so great was the excitement on the subject that crowds of
persons came from all parts to see the machine; it was not deemed safe
to gratify curiosity until the patent-right should be secured. But so
determined were some of these people that neither law nor justice could
restrain them; they broke into the building by night and carried off the
machine. In this way the public became possessed of the invention, and
before Whitney could complete his model and secure his patent, a number
of machines, patterned after his, were in successful operation.