Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-02-14
For the CHRcx1c1E.
FITCH THE INVENTOR.

For the CHRcNIcLE.
FITCH THE INVENTOR.
Among the strange things of this
age is the oblivious neglect of this ex-
traordinary man. There is scarcely
a similar case on record. Only few
seem to have made themselves ae-
quainted with his history. Even
many of those to whom his name is
not unfamiliar, consider him as the
man who failed to make his fortune
out Of the steamboat.
The circumstances under which his
! last years were passed, together with
the burial of all his manuscript, con-
sisting of five volumes in the Phila-
delphia library, not to be opened for
thirty years, gave an opportunity for
ambitious inventors to deprive him of
his share of the honor. The fame
and rewards justly his due fell into
other and later hands. The papers
spoken of include some $50 pages of
f0olscap, containing memoirs of his
own life, with the history of his in
ventions with diagrams brought down
to 1892. a
For nearly two hundred years before
Fiteh's time men had been speculat-
ing on the power of steam. Some
patents had been taken out in Eng
land for inventions in propelling
boats, but the specifications were so
general and vague that it was impos-
sible to decide with certainty whether
the claimants intended to rely on
steam. @
The engine was an awkward and
cumbrons thing" It had been en-
ployed merely as a litter. "It had
been taught to open and shut some of
the valves of the condenser its
power was communicated only in one
direction, relying on the atmosphere
to bring the piston back to its place.
No engineer had yet arisen capable of
building an engine with q rotary mo-
tion, an improvement which could
alone fit it to be the powerful motor, |
which it mas become at the present |
day.
1t is impossible, in the space at our
command, nor is it necessary for our
present purpose, to 60 over the inn
provements made in the plans of the |
early inventors. The Hulls, of Eng |
land, Marquis, of Worcester, Larsry,
Newcomer, with others, had been /
making experiments and theorizing /
on this subject. In France it had |
also received some attention, the |
Marquis de Jouffroy having succeed
ed in moving boat with some veloc- |
ity.
The first experiment made i'll
America was at Shepherdstown, Va, /
by James Rumsey. His boat of a
capacity of six tons was first set in |
motion in "seeret, during the dark !
ness of night, in the presence of few /
friends" The first public expert |
ment took place in 1856 or Z.
During the summer of '85 Fitch's |
first model was completed in brass :
bearing whee at its sides, instead of
paddles. Between these two invent /
ors q controversy soon arose. The ex-
elusive right to the building and |
using of Steamboats, was the prize /
claimed by both parties. AS early as
17SS the 'sbattle of the pamphlets be- |
gan. These were issued at various /
times under different titles setting I
forth the claims of each to priority of
invention. Prominent men of that /
period took sides on the question.
The two schemes of navigation which |
occupied the minds Of these two in /
ventors, and became the ruling pas
sion of their lives, were so different,
having nothing in common but the
boiler and floating craft, that no con-
troverey need to have taken place be-
tween them.
To show the methods Of the two in
yentors. a description of their boats iE 4
here introduced:
DESCRIPTION OF THE BOAT OF JOHN
FITCH, PUBLISHED BY HIMSELF IN
ITG5.
The cylinder is TO be horizontal and /
the steam to work with equal force at /
both ends. The mode by which We
obtain a vacuum is, we believe, en- [
tirely new, as is also the method of
letting the water into it and throwing
it of against the atmosphere without /
any friction. 1t is expected that the /
cylinder, which is twelve inches in I
diameter, will move with a clear force
of eleven or twelve cwt. after the fric- l
tions are deducted; this force TO be /
directed against a wheel eighteen
inches in diameter. The piston is to /
move about three feet, and each /
vibration of it is to give the axis Tor
shaft about forty eYolutions. Each I
evolution of the axis moves twelve
oars or paddles, five and half feet
They work perpendiealarly, and are |
represented by the strokes Of the pad
dies of canoe: as six Of the paddles i
are raised from the water six more are |
entered, three on a side and the two /
sets of paddles make their strokes of |
about eleven feet at each eyolution.-t
The cranks of the axis act upon the /
paddles about One-third of their /
length from their lower ends, on
which part of the oar the whole force |
Of the axis is applied. The engine is I
placed in the bottom of the boat,
about One-thiFd from the stern, and I
both the action and evolution turn |
the wheel the same way"
This is the best statement that re-
mains of Fitch's engine. His models
and drawings in the Patent Office /
were burned in 1886. Tine drawings 1
and papers deposited with the Amer
lean Philosophical Society have long
since disappeared. His N. s. journal
contains no clear statement of the /
manner in which the steam engine
was to be constructed"
DESCRIPTION OF The BOAT OF JAMES
RUNsEE, FROM STEWARDS ANEC-
DoTEs OF THE STEAM ENGINE.
"Rumsey's boat was about 50 feet in
length; was propelled by a pump !
worked by 3 steam engine. which I
forced a quantity of water up through
the keel the valve was then shut by
the return stroke, which at the same (
time forced the water through chan
mel or pipe, few inches square, lying
above and parallel to the keelson out /
at the stern under the rudder Tho