The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-07-24

\ mo5.ed question, but a. IL contains d grea
deal Of interesting, and no doubt authentic
information, upon a subject Oh which dea
I of Tpq u,ar ignorance exists, il will no doubt
oe read With afVantage and pleasure bv
many
The q0esn0n Of who invented the steam
boat could be correctly answered 0nlv bT
enumeratiug several projectors whose efforts
ucceedei each other during a period 0i
tbree-fourths OF a century. The propulsion
of boats Dy paddle-v vhee ; is sand, indeed. to
date hach I'D the time Oh the Romans, but
precisely IN what way they applied the pow
t- IL not known As long ago u7 1852
PrlEce Rupert, the courtly mechanieian 0r
the heyday of the Sluarts propelled his
barge IT. inns way. in 20, one Dr. Allen
printed pamphlet 10 London 10 wh Cd be
proroeed % urge o vessei forward by ie
cf arT or water ,Jected from a pipe wy TIE
stern. lie thought that by using steam pow
cr NE could make three miles an hour in this
way. ~ l13l, jonathan Huis published
his iaYeltl0n, which may be considered the
arcbatTpv 0f the modern steam baat. Tt uad
q padtle-waeel arraigued ~ the slerr, and
worked hy a steam-euEIne hlt instead Uf
the craus, the application of which t0 TIE
steam engine had not thsa been invented
hulls employed a complicated YET 0f devices
Tor giving motion 90 the wheel After this
here was little Cr nothing suggested iu The
Inc OF steam propulsion until 1892 when
the Malais ie Js0Hroy tried a steamer on
the river Loire in France. instead WI q pad
die Wheel, be had the paddles arraisned
upon az endless bell that traversed two
supporting pulleys, but the apparatus .as
not successful. Two years later, James
Rumsey commenced experiments With w a0ar
SO feet long, ia which an engia worked a
vertical pump that drew in wHter nt the bow
and elected u at The stern. TIE reaction y Z
the etiiuent Tater moved the -ssal along al
the rate of four miles an hour. This seems
to have been a revival IN some SORT Cf Al
lens plan and substantially the same svs-
ten has been 'requently reinveDgsd since, a
recent and notl bic example of these jet-prO-
pellers being found in the English vessel tie
Water Witcb. II 1885, John Fitch made
public biz project Of moving vessels against
wind and tide bY fitting them with viz. at0-
~ paddles worked by steam power. There
were twelve paddles, siz On each side 0r the
boat, One-half 81 these Oh either sides work
ing alternately with the other half Of the
number. Tue paddles wert designed % hly8
stroke of 81 feet, but Is does not appear
that the Tlan vas ever subjected to actual
trial Fitch, however, did not rest content
with this plan, else he would never have
been heard NJ afterward, Jut was also the
Inventor q the rJpelior, and also OF
the combination Ia one vessel of TIE screw
and side wheels the principle or proDal-
sion adopted in the Great Eastern. This
f.ft
neetion with paddle wheels, was shown by
experiment N 1896 or 1871 On the Coliect
Pond, sheet Of wster that ia those DAYS
rippled where the grim Egyptian pile. ths
New York City IOmbs,n now stands. I he
vessel Is described as a common long boat,
IL feet long and six wide, and steered at the
bow. The steam boiler was constituted BY
a twelve-gallon iron pot, with a lid made of
piece of plank hruly fastenei down. The
engine bad two wooden cylinders, and the
mechanical appliances for working the
screw and paddle-wnees, although rude,
were arranged With such effect that a speed
of SIX miles Az hour il said tO nave been Ob-
tanned TIE inventor, however, was too
pg.r to continue his experiments and TOO
impatient " argument ard contradiction to
interest the iucredul0us moneyed men Of
the day ID hi= enterprise. Tie boat, with a
part Of its machinery, vas drawn up and
left On lhe shore 1f the pond, and piece by
piece this tyre of the future steam vessel
fell % decay, and the children of the neigh
borhood gathered I'D it, fragments and car
ried them home for kiRdling wood. & few
years later, tch, broken and embittered
old man With feeble health and ruined for
tunes, p0isoned himself with opium, and
wa ouliei in Bardstown, KY. 10 this day
no monument or head-stone marks Bis rest
ing place, but The fultllmenl Of Bis pr0phec-
les j. shown wherever the steam vhistles
sounds over the placid waters Of rivers OF
the turbulent foamiDg OF the sea.
While Fitch and Rumsey were thus expert
mentiag With steam propulsion, others we're
making trials 10 the same direction with
more or less success As an illustration Of
the blunders that even truly reat men viii
sometimes make, it may be noted that about
the year 1856 DIR. Franklin proposed ~
Vropel vessels by the direct action Of steam
up0n the water. which was, of course, found
% be utterly out Of the question. About ths
same time, Oliver Evans advocated the en-
p,oyment Of paddle wheels, and a boat was
ran for a short time between Philadelpbis
aud BOrdentown, but DO details VI il,
means Of propulsion have been handed
/ down. In 11oT, Mr. Patrick Miller, Of Dais-
winton, in Scotland, made double vesse
moved by paddle-wheel nc the stern. and
two years after constructed anOthes, sixty
I feet long, that went at the rate of sever
miles an hour, but proved too weak 30 beal
the action Of the machinery Il j. said thai
these experiments cost Miller upwards IA
$i50,0O0, for which be received no retu-r
whatever. dozen years afterTards. vii
liam SYmington, 80 had made the steam
engines for Miller's boats, Induced Lor,
! Ddndas % build steam vessele fDr towing
craft on the Forth and CLYDE Canal This
the Charlotte Dundas, dragged along trt
sloops Of 70 tuns burden each against
strong head wind al a speed Of 81 miles ~
hour. The owners or the canal, however
refused 10 use this means Of towing becaCs
OF the liability Of injuring the banks By th
nDdulations Of the water the principal rea
son 70 this day why steam has not been ri Il
piled in canal propulsI0n. From this tim
forward steam navigation began to assum
a more promising aspect and more tangibl
shape. In 1904, John Stevens, Of Hoboken
n. j., had boat "A feet long htted with
paddle wheel at the stern, which, for sbUr
distances. made miles an hour. The great
est benefit, however, conferred by Steven
upon the engineering world was 10 the IA
vention Of the tabular boiler-a principle 0
construction that has worked wonders Il
steam generators for all purposes.
II We now come 10 the efforts Of Robert Ful
ton, . man who possessed business talent
and the faculty of mastering the details 0
whatever he undertook, in q no less degTe
than inventive skil. He lelt Philadelphi
in 1856 and went to London, where, AZ earl
as 1873, be communicated With Earl Star
! hope concerning steamboats, this nOblema
being something Of an enthusiast on th
subject and having a plan of his owl