The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-05-12
FIRST AUTOMOBILE.
Congress Laughed at Judge Nathan Read,
but he was Century Ahead of his Time
in Steam Power.
(Boston Sunday Globe. }

(Boston Sunday Globe.)
Plans for the first automobile in this
country caused such a laugh in con-
! gress that the man who presented
! them, Judge Nathan Read of Danvers,
turned away from the honorable body
in disgust. Congressman considered
Read visionary.
But Read believed that steam loco
motion would revolutionize the coun-
+ try, develop the great west, and bring
all sections into close contact. and he
spent most of his life in working out
problems of steam locomOtiOn. Time
proved him a man century ahead of
his fellows.
! The discoveries of Watt in England
! attracted Yankees to steam power pos
: sibilities. Watt intended to harness
steam for mills and mines only. But
several Yankees, James Rumsey of
/ Maryland, John Fitch, a Connecticut
genius, and Nathan Read of Danvers,
+ believed that it was possible to use
steam for propelling vehicles both on
land and water.
| Success did not crown their efforts.
Fitch died with the prayer that he
might be "buried by the river side,
where the music of the steam engine
would soothe his spirit" Read made
models both OF steamboats, and steam
carriages and it remained for Fulton
+ to make the first steamboat and Steph-
enson the first steam engine. such as the
earlier geniuses dreamed of.
] Read began the study of steam in
| 1888, when he was an apothecarv in Sa-
! lem, Mass. He succeeded in producing
a portable furnace boiler" which he
patented in 1891. His invention was
wonder to many, and even those who
thought it might be possible to make a
portable boiler also thought that the
boiler would be blown up if supplied
with fuel or water during its move
ment.
Read intended this boiler for both
steamboats, and land carriages. He
made models of both, and the Ameri-
can academy of science approved them.
He exhibited them to President
Washington, and to the public OF New
York. Congress granted his petitions
for patents as far as they related to
steamboats,, but laughed at his steam
carriage proposition, and Read turned
away from that body in disgust. Later
he was sent to congress by his constit-
uentS.
Read developed his steamboat ideas
more than he didihis automobile plans.
| While other inventors worked on ideas
of long poles to be driven like oars, and
of water elections, Read put sidewheel
paddles on boat and actually drove it,
by hand power, on Porters river, Dan
vers. He was satisfied that he could
substitute his portable furnace boiler
for the manual power, but whether or
not he ever did SO is a matter OF doubt.
| ,n1 fnr 1odn
neer, named Evans to make the first
vehicle to be propelled under its own
power in this country, he having, in
1904, mounted a river scow on wheels
and driven it by steam power over land
and down river. Fulton got out his
first steamboat in 1SO3 but his famous
first voyage on the Hudson was not
made until 1907. Like Read, Fulton
was disguised with the reception the
people gave his steamboat.
| 1t appears that Read gave up his ex-
periments with steam for propelling
carriages and boats when he was close
to victory. The model of his steam
boat lay neglected for some time in his
apothecary shop in Salem, while he en-
gagged in other pursuits. Several of his
models were. destroyed in the patent
Office fire.
Read was a remarkable man, SOft
of Paul Revere, for he engaged in
many enterprises. He was graduated
from Harvard college in the class of
1881, and he taught Hebrew while in
college. He studied for the ministry
in college, but, after graduating, he
took up medicine with the famous DR..
Holyoke of Salem, and he opened an
apothecary store. He gave much time
/ RI tho otn6v Of mechanical rtS
He also settled upon the Porter farm,
in Danvers, helped to build an early
iron mill near his farm, constructed
the Waters river bridge after the State
| failed to do it. The iron mill is run
ming and the bridge stands to-day.
He was sent to congress from the
Essex district, was made special JUS
tice of the court Of common pleas, and
later, while residing in Belfast, Me-, he
became chief justice. He gave much