Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-03
THE FIRST T0RPED0ES
Robert FuIton's Experiments
Aided by Congress.
INTEREST OF JEFFERSON
Vessel Provided by the Government
Blown Up.
THE EARLIEST OF STEAMBOATS,
James Rumsey's Success on the Po-
tomac Annotated John Fitcb's OPP
erations on the Delaware River.
THE EARLIEST OF STEAMBOATS,
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

BY wILLIAM r. CURTIS
| Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
| Herald
{ Robert Fulton was not the inventor of the
| steamboat although he is generally credited
| with that honor. Nor was James Watt the
| inventor of the steam engine, although both
| were successful in making these necessities
| a commercial success and securing their
permanent employment. The invention Of
1 the steam engine and the steamboat cannot
! be attributed to any one man, for they are
| the results of the inventive powers and ex-
periments of several men Of genius. who
| discovered and developed the principles Of
physics they involve.
A German named Papin actually con-
| structed and operated a steamboat on the
! river Fuda at Cassel in 1907, one hundred
years before Fulton, and it might have been
successful had it not been destroyed by the
SuperstitiouS boatmen of the neighborhood,
who thought it the work of the evil one.
In 1I36 Jonathan Hulls, of whom nothing
else seems to be known. published pam
phet describing steamboat very much like
that of Fulton's, and obtained a patent for
| it in England, but, so far as the world
knows, it was never built.
I An Italian named Bernouili, in 1852
ticpated John Ericssons idea of the screw
propeller.
William Henry gunsmith Of Lancaster,
Pa. was experimenting with steamboat
| on the Canastota river five years before
Robert Fulton was born. 1t met with
accident and was sunk near Lancaster.
John Fitch, who is often claimed to be
the inventor of the steamboat,
| neighbor of Mr.. Henry. frequent visitor
at his house and later in life developed Mr..
Henry's. ideas so successfully that he car
ried passengers at the rate of seven miles
an hour on steamboat called 'Persever-
ance' between Philadelphia and Trenton
and Wilmington and Chester during the
years 1I90-91. This boat probably ran be-
tween two and three thousand miles, but
was a mechanical and commercial failure.
Fitch also built a boat with screw pro-
peller, but could never make it go. 1t is
remarkable coincidence that Henry. Fitch
and Fulton came from the same town of
Lancaster.
Potomac at Shepherdstown, Va, in 1884
and succeeded in running it at the rate of
| four miles an hour against the current, in
the presence of George Washington, who
gave him a written certificate. The state
| of Kentucky voted Rumsey a gold medal
| for giving to the world the benefit of the.
| steamboat but Rumsey's method was not
practical.
Nicholas Roosevelt built a boat on the
| Passaic river in 1885, put into 1t an en-
| CINE with cylinder twenty inches In
diameter and carried a party of invited
| guests at the rate of eight miles an hour
| but his machinery broke down and the
| steamboat was abandoned.
There were other attempts and other
IaliureS,G DOM IN Europe ana the OmCed
| States. and Robert Fulton had the benefit
! of them. He was a of practical ge-
| MUS, and had the penetration to detect the
errors and the advantages in the models
of other men, SO that he was able to build
| the first steamboat that would work, and
/ within few years after it's successful trial
| had fifteen steam vessels in operation in
| the waters around the city of New York.
Fulton's Versatility.
| Fulton was a versatile genius, an Artist
engineer. inventor. prophet and statesman
and the Introduction of steam navigation
was only one Of many achievements. In
| 1778 the citizens of Lancaster having been
| forbidden by the town council to illumi-
nate in honor of Independence day because
of the scarcity Of candles. Robert Fulton,
| then thirteen years old. Invented the sky
| rocket, as he said, to illuminate the
| heavens instead of the streets. When he
| was ten years old he made his own lead
pencils by process that was patented
| by Conte, a German, twenty years later
| When he was fourteen he invented an air
| gun.
! In 1874 he obtained from the British gov
eminent patent for handling canal boats
| by means of a double-inclined plane; In
| the same year he invented a machine for
| saving marble. a machine for spinning
| fax, a machine for making ropes, a me-
| which were used for many years in Eng
| land. He invented various other machines
| and apparatus, the plans of which were
ruined by being submerged in water in a
| vessel that went to wreck. A list of his
| inventions would fill a column. He OBJ
| tanned many patents. He received several
medals. and resolutions were passed by
LEI med societies In England and France
| science. He gave a patent for canal i'm
| provements to the British government. He
/ painted the first panorama ever known,
devisinR the familiar method Of rolling I'D
/ the at end Whila 1od
| self at the other, thus presenting q moving
i picture to the audience.
| In 1901 he invented a submarine boat,
| which was the forerunner of those now in
| use. and spent hours twenty-five and thirty
| feet below the surface of the water In the
| harbor Of Brest. repeating his experiments
several days successfully. He supplied his
| crews and himself with pure air from a
| reservoir of copper.
Invention Of Torpedoes.
He next invented the marine torpedo, de-
veloping the fundamental principles upon
which all Of the many inventions now in
use are based. His first experiments were
conducted in France under the auspices
Of Admiral Viliaret of the French navy
and he was successful in blowing several
| anchored vessels to atoms. Napoleon, the
Great took deep interest in his expert
ments and the Nautilus, his diving boat, y
British fleet in state of apprehension He
| promised Napoleon that he would deliver
France and the whole world from British
oppression" but for some reason or Other
| his negotiations with the, French govern
ment fell through, and, in December, 1906
he returned to the United States and sub
mtted his plans to our government.
| Thomas Jefferson, who was President a.
| that time, took an active interest in the
| matter and among the Jefferson papers II
| the Library of Congress are number o.
| autograph letters referring to this subject
In August, 1867, he wrote Mr.. Fulton a.
| follows:
Monticello, August 1S, 'O7.
"Sir-Your letter of July % came to hant
| Just as I was about leaving Washington
| to acknowledge it.
s.I consider your torpedoes as very valu
| able means of the defense of harbors AM
| have no doubt that we should adopt then
| in a considerable degree Not that / 20 tn
| whole length, as 1 believe you do of con
| sidering them solely to be relied on Neithe