Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-02-21

J, soon returned to Kentucky and mad
. some attempts to organize a compan,
ont without avail. A model made a
Bardstown, KY, just before his deatl
at that place, is still in existence
bearing wheels at its sides.
A pamphlet of John Fitch's, which
he published in London in 1898, en-.
titled IAN explanation for keeping 8
ships traverse at sean shows, If any
thing more was needed, the inventive
powers of his mind.
He has proved himself universal
Yankee" but one who lived a few
years too early to reap the reward of
his own genius.
Two years after Fitch's first exper-
iment Symington put in motion the
first steam boat built in Great Britain.
MOrey, Evans, Stevens and Fulton
soon followed as experimenters in
steam boat building in the United
States.
Fulton commenced in 1903; four
years later the Clermont, in running
from New York to Albany, made
four and sevep-tepths miles an hour
In 'SS the Perseverance run six and
one-third miles an hour. At the ex-
piratiOn of the monopoly of Fulton
and Livingston their steamers had
Just acquired speed of eight miles
per hour. Stevens so IN put them up
70 thirteen miles in the same time.
In an inquiry of this kind the
question naturally arises, in what are
we indebted to Fulton as a prior in
, ventor? He himself meyer claimed
, the invention, ''Was it for the
wheels? they had been used a half
century before" The crank, shaft |
and axle, a committee of the New |
York Legislature say, were contained |
! in Fitch's patent of 1871. AS to /
speed there was a retrograde of one
third. Remove these inventions frum |
the Clermont, and what would remain
but the hull?
The committee just referred to,
said in 1917 that ''the boats built by
Fulton and Livingston were in SUBJ
stance the Invention patented TO
John Fitch, in I791, and that Fitch.
during the life of the patent, had the
exclusive right to use the same in the
United States"
OF all the projects started by differ
ent inventors to whose is the modern
steamboat most nearly allied? I
Rumsey had one plan, JOuffroy j
another and Fitch third. They all !
bore the common name of t'the !
steamboat" In each case there was {
a vessel, and the resistance of the
water was to be overcome by means of a
an internal power. Which of these 4
boats has been reduced to practice? q
Oliver Evans, an inventor whose Z
improvements had been alike useful b
and honorable to the country, said s
The yielded to John Fitch and his d
associates all the honor and profits q
justly due them as the original in s.
ventOrs." n
Fernando Fairfax, of Washington, q
d. c., in 1915, in speaking with re- d
gard TO the original invention, said G.
''if those spirited individuals (refer- il
ring to Fitch and his company spent ii
thousands of pounds in demonstrate W
ing their scheme, without reapiDg the OF
profit which its establishment would Il
have insured, but when others, taking n
up their invention at later and more A
fortunate period, were enabled to pe
realize, they are not the less entitled n,
to the favor of an enlightened COM w
or to the reward of inventive al
genius" tu
The testimony of such men as Rit- w
Evans and Thornton with A
many others cannot well be denied. su
here can be no reasonable doubt Of OF
heir authenticity, a practical mind III
will naturally inquire why FitchIs M
)oat did not come into immediate use. he
Phis will be to many the sole test of an
he value of his invention. di.
To properly understand the reasons tn,
or the financial failure of Fitchis wa
'oats, we must fake into consideration eal
he situation of the country at that tn,
ime. sh,
The war for American independ- tor
nee had Just closed. Capital, as well ths
S public and private credit, bad been ma
up in one common ruin.- log
'or some years the commerce of the ne,
ountry was at its lowest ebb. This I'M
7as the period of Fitch's efforts. 1t giy
not strange that under such adverse Of
it was a failure finan- kir
ially. 4
A few years later the effects of a of
able government, and the capital by
-hich had been coined anew by the ouc
ands of labor began to show itself in pre-
lie throbbing pulse Of commerce
ong our national highways. The
rms OF trade were reaching out
wards the fertile valleys Of the west, rFrc
eeding new facilities for its exten-
on and development. The Hudson A
ad become a thoroughfare, and the hon
lermont proved a paying invest bor
ent. me North river Doats, IN OsE
nding the PARAGON ana tne Gar OF JAG
eptune, continued to run and pay vel
vidends, and mankind remember nner
e month of August, 1907. while the eho,
perseverance, Win q spee9 tnree han
lies an hour greater than the Cler- can
ont, is well nigh forgotten. ienf
Before the grass had grown upon nroi
e grave of Fulton he had an eulogist NM
no heralded forth his praises 20 the occs
lrld. His name has been heard on mass
cry shore where a steamboat has NEE
en- seen. anv
Fitch had died in an obscure west coSr
n village. and his friends were for neTe
ars ignorant of the "time, place and Stat,
amer of his DEATH" Models. pat tion
IS and documents of various kinds him
I by him have been a prey to fire one
three different occasions. His His
ends and contemporaries were nearly aver
in their graves before any effort faith,
IS made to rescue his memory from aIws
, thick cloud Of darkness which and
s fast settling around il. How able
en- are eneomiums offered TO the assis
ted mechanics who have contribu- time
their improve ments to the world s On I
breal
How seldom do we hear the name sudd
Fitch. We would detract from no the
ms honor or reputation, but we the
uld see tine name of John Fitch whel
nding in the position to which his thou
Ids entitle him. How prophetic at ii
the declarations which we find men,
orded in his journal. STEAMBOATS, folio,
I be preferred to all other convey perso
,es, and will be particularly useful yirtu
the navigation Of the Ohio and garm
pugil
n 1911 the New Orleans, the pion- form
steamer of the west, was COM outri
ted at Pittsburgh, and passed down end
Ohio anu continued to make trips yillar
II she was wrecked in 1915. they
lie wrote to Franklin and Ritten- a not
lse, saying "this will be the mode perse
crossing the Atlantic in time, formi
ether 1 shall bring it to perfection rebel
lot. ment
n the 28th of May, 1919, twenty brave
rs after Fitch's death, the steamer to ca
annah sailed from the mort of that drill !