The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-03-14

ne Drought Win MIN 10 tnlB country
steam engine made by Bolton & Wat
which had been used aboard the Char,
lotte Dundas in partially successful ex
pertinent in Scottish waters. Mr.. Roose.
velts niachinists put this engine into the
} Clermont, steamer named for Living
ston's country seat on the Hudson. The
inventors thought that they had correct
ed all mistakes, but they actually got no
, more speed than Fitch had done years
before. The difficulty now was seen to
be not the applicability of the paddle,
hut the difficulty of getting up enough
steam. Stephens addressed himself to
this problem and with the invention of
return hues for the boilers he raised the
speed of the Clermont to six miles an
hour. Fulton publicly declared that this
would remain the ne plus ultra of speed,
and declined to wrestle with the FIVE.
mile current of the Mississippi.
In 1910 Mr.. Roosevelt, having COM
pleted his copper contract, went to Lou
isville determined to settle the question
of navigating the Ohio and Mississippi
by steam. A paddle-wheel steamer
called the Vesuvius was built for the
Ohio above the rapids. The machinery
was cumbrous, and after it was in place,
the drift of water was found to be too
great for the navigation of the upper
river. 1t was decided to try the expert
ment of running the rapids and endeav.
orlng to stem the current again. If the
Vesuvius stood this test the experiment
of rapid navigation was to be considered
as settled. Public attention Lad been 80
wrapped up in the trial that thousands
of strangers lined the banks of the Ohio
on the trial day. The only passengers
who were willing to risk the frightfully
hazardous voyage were the extra paid
hands, the interested engineers, and Mr..
and Mrs. Nicholas J. Roosevelt. The
well-meant Temonstrances of friends
could not deter the brave lady from
sharing the perils which her husband be-
lieved he had successfully overcome.-
The passage down the rapids was accom-
plished without accident, and when the
unwieldly craft obeyed her helm, turned
and, slowly putting, stemmed the rapids
back again, the enthusiasm of the spec.
tators knew no bounds. When the We.
suvius tied up at the wharf at Louisville,
the people took possession of Mr.. and
Mrs. Roosevelt, bore them on their
shoulders to the hotel and entertained
them at banquet. The Vesuvius soon
afterwards made her first trip to New Or
leans, during which the earthquake of |
1871 occurred. One of her passengers in |
book now almost out of print described |
that frighsful feature Of the voyage, the
swaying of the trees on shore, the dis. |
turbanCe of the water and the mortal fear |
that assailed the residents Of the shaken |
land.
Mr., Nicholas Roosevelt was also the
inventor of the double-acting steam en-
gines. His patent is dated 1898, and in
1902 Symington took out the English
patent for model almost precisely sim
liar. Up to the date of that invention
locomotives had attained a speed of only
five miles an hour, and fy-wheels under
the engine were used to avoid what are
known in mechanical engineering as
dead points. The great Stephenson ap-
piled this invention, and by means of it
attained the great speed of the locomo-
tives ofto'day. Smallman, who was the
foreman and chief assistant of Mr.. Roose-
velt, was associated with him in most of
the patents issued.
Mr.. and Mrs. Nicholas Roosevelts lat
ter life and green old age were spent in
their handsome residence on the Hud-
son. He never intruded his claims to the
great inventions described, but whenever
the the question was raised as to his or
tulton's priority he delivered himself
clearly and with force.
A very interesting pamphlet by M. J,
II. B. Latrobe, entitled "A Lost Chapter
in the History of the Steamboat" and
in 1871 by the Maryland His
torical Society, relates a part of the story
tolc above and adds an interesting detail.
In 1898, when MN Latrobe was young
lawyer in Baltimore, one John Devereux
Delacey, who had been associated with
Fulton, Roosevelt, Livingston and DR..
Mitchell in some of their experiments,
called at his Office and said:
u want suit brought against every {
steamboat owner in the United States,
md you must begin with old Billy Nc. I
Donald, here in Baltimore. See this :" /
md thereupon produced the patent sign
I'd by President Madison, Secretary Mon /
'oe and Attorney General Rush granting I
o Nicholas j. Roosevelt the exclusive q
light to his "new and useful improve. e
nent in propelling boats by steam" j
This was dated December /, 1874, and 0
lad still some months to run. Delacey k
lext produced an opinion by William
Writ pronounCing the patent valid.
Mr.. Latrobe wrote to Mr.. Roosevelt, a
nd on his reply took up the case and b
10Th Mr. Wirtand Mr.. Taney, afterwards tt
)hief Justice, agreed to participate in the IL
rial OF it. But the young lawyer had no b
money, his client ordered new clothes of al
Baltimore taylor on the strength of his Cl
opes, was put in Jail by the tailor, and W
lr. Latrobe, who assumed his debt, be- o.
an to lose heart, Finally he told Mr.. b.
aney his troubles, and Mr.. Taney ad- st
lsed him not to hamper himself at the fir
ltset Of his career with a case like this,
ihich would certainly enlist against him
! steamboat owners of the country.
The young lawyer pigeon-holed bis ~,
apers. For forty years they lay in the :,
lgeon. hole, except that in 1866 or 1856
ley were lent to DR.. Hamlen, a Russian
want, who was preparing a history of
cam navigation. Among these papers
as petition for protection by Nicholas
Roosevelt to the New Jersey Legisla. A
re, dated January 13, 1915, in which W
e petitioner asserts with the modest kl
Id manly frmness of honesty that he al
the true and original inventor of ct
eamboats with vertical wheels now in al
je." ar
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