Robert Fulton Search Robert Fulton American engineer and inventor Robert Fulton designed the first commercially successful steamboat in America in 1807, becoming a major source of transportation on rivers and resulting in a significant reduction in inland shipping costs. Share ASME getmedia/8aae915b-db8e-4f30-90ad-b6e3eaa458fb/Robert_Fulton-Transportation-60th.jpg.aspx?width=60&height=60&ext=.jpg Overcoming several failures early in his career, American engineer and inventor Robert Fulton (1765 – 1815) is credited with developing the first successful commercial steamboat in the early 1800s. Fulton was born near Lancaster, PA, on November 14, 1765. At an early age, he was known to enjoy building mechanical devices. Some legends say he built roman candles, rockets, and a hand-propelled paddle wheelboat. As a teenager, his interests turned to art and at the age of 18 he moved to Philadelphia, where he was able to support himself through sales of portraits and technical drawings.

At the age of 21, Fulton traveled to London to study painting with family friend Benjamin West , who was one of the leading American painters living in England. Fulton met with limited success as a painter and the public's response to his work was disappointing. During this period, England was in the midst of its industrial revolution and Fulton was impressed with the many engineering feats that were being accomplished, particularly in the areas of canals, mines, bridges, roads and factories. Still living in England, he focused his creativity on current engineering challenges and became involved in a project to design a canal system to replace the conventional locks that were in use at the time. He was granted an English patent in 1794 for his first invention ― a double inclined plane system for hauling canal boats over difficult terrain. He later developed plans for cast iron aqueducts and invented a mechanical dredge to speed the construction of canals. His work with inland waterways culminated in a publication in 1796, entitled Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation.

Robert Fulton's Nautilus In 1797, he traveled to Paris to continue his research on canal construction, but soon became intrigued with the idea of building "plunging boat," a precursor to the modern submarine. Fulton sought funding for the project from the French government, which was at war with England, proposing to build a submarine-like ship that could be used to place powder mines on the bottom of British warships, somewhat like a torpedo. The French agreed, and Fulton launched the first submarine, the Nautilus , at Rouen, France. Although the ship performed well during testing, it wasn't fast enough to engage the nimble sloops of the British navy and the program was scrapped. He later tested several military inventions for the British government but met with limited success as well. Seemingly undaunted by these failures, Fulton refocused his engineering creativity on the use of steam power. While in Paris, Fulton met Robert Livingston, the American foreign minister to France who also owned a twenty-year monopoly on steam navigation in New York state. After listening to Fulton's ideas for a steam powered ship, Livingston agreed to a business partnership in 1802 that would provide Fulton with the resources necessary to build his ship.

One year later, they launched a modest steam-powered boat on the Seine river that was based on the design of fellow American John Fitch, who seven years earlier had demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River at Philadelphia, but was unable to make it a commercial success. While Fulton's steamship on the Seine River traveled at only 3 mph, he proved the technology could work with some modifications. In 1803, Fulton returned to New York to refine his steamship designs which were based on the paddle wheel for propulsion. After overcoming British export laws, he acquired a steam engine from an English company owned by James Watt , who received a patent for a powerful steam engine the same year Fulton was born. After four years of development, in 1807, Fulton launched the Clermont , a steam-powered vessel that made the 150-mile journey up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany in 32 hours at a speed of 5 miles per hour, reducing the usual sailing time by 64 hours. It became the first commercially successful steamship. In the following years, Fulton launched 13 more steamships, including the Demologus , the first steam powered war ship.

Fulton died of pneumonia in New York City at the age of 49. As a result of his inventions, steamships became a major source of transportation on rivers and resulted in a significant reduction in inland shipping costs. Tom Ricci is the owner of Ricci Communications. As a result of his inventions, steamships became a major source of transportation on rivers and resulted in a significant reduction in inland shipping costs. Robert Fulton's Steam Boat- Clermont 1809-2009 200th anniversary of the Steamship, Clermont. The North River Steam Ship, Clermont, 200 years old 1807-2007 Fulton, Robert (1765-1815), One of the Most Obscure of Famous Men in American History, was an inventor, mechanical and civil engineer, and artist. He is best known for designing and building the Clermont, the first commercially successful steamboat. The Clermont ushered in a new era in the history of transportation.

In addition to his work with steamboats, Fulton made many important contributions to the development of naval warfare, the submarine, the technology of mine warfare, the design and construction of the first steam-powered warship, and to canal transportation which began with passenger service and later helped in the development of canal-based transportation that could transport goods quickly and efficiently. Early years. Fulton was born Nov. 14, 1765, on a farm near Little Britain in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He spent his boyhood in Lancaster, and showed inventive talent at an early age. He turned out lead pencils, household utensils for his mother, and skyrockets for a town celebration. Fulton developed a hand operated paddle wheel for use on a rowboat. He also built a rifle that had sight and bore of original design. Fulton went to Philadelphia at the age of 17, and was apprenticed to a jeweler. He soon began to win fame as a painter of miniatures and portraits. He saved enough money to buy a farm for his mother. At the age of 21, Fulton went to England to study with the fashionable American artist Benjamin West. In London, Fulton made a moderate living as an artist.

But he became increasingly interested in scientific and engineering developments. After 1793, he gave his full attention to this field, and painted only for amusement. The inventor. Fulton's first enthusiasm was for canal development. He designed new types of canal boats, and a system of inclined planes to replace canal locks. Other mechanical problems challenged him. He invented a machine for making rope and one for spinning flax. He made a labor-saving device for cutting marble, and invented a dredging machine for cutting canal channels. In 1796, Fulton published A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation. About 1797, Fulton turned his attention to the submarine. In 1801, he built a diving boat, the Nautilus, which could descend 25 feet (7.6 meters) underwater. Fulton's work with submarines continued until 1806. He realized the dangers that submarines would bring to naval warfare but thought that they might serve to limit sea war and piracy, for that very reason. Fulton's experimental submarines were able to dive and surface, and he succeeded in blowing up anchored test craft. However, the problem of propulsion underwater was never satisfactorily solved.

Fulton's ideas interested both Napoleon Bonaparte and the British Admiralty, but neither ever adopted them wholeheartedly. In 1802, Robert R. Livingston, the United States minister to France, interested Fulton in turning his attention to the steamboat. Fulton had been interested for many years in the idea of steam propulsion for a boat. An experimental boat, launched on the Seine River in Paris in 1803, sank because the engine was too heavy. But a second boat, which was built in the same year, operated successfully. Fulton returned to the United States in 1806. Builds the Clermont. Fulton directed the construction of a steamboat in New York in 1807. Registered as the North River Steam Boat, the ship was generally called the Clermont after the Hudson River home of Robert Livingston. On Aug. 17, 1807, the steamboat started on its first successful trip 150 miles (241 kilometers) up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, in about 30 hours, including an overnight stop. After extensive rebuilding, the boat began to provide regular passenger service on the Hudson.

The Clermont was not the first steamboat to be built, but it was the first to become a practical, financial, and commercially successful steamboat. Fulton did not try to construct an engine himself, as earlier inventors had done. Instead, he ordered one from Watt and adapted it to his boat. The Clermont was long and slender. From the shoreline of the Hudson River, spectators witnessed a shocking sight. There in the river was a mechanical monster spewing flames and smoke. It was 'Mr. Fulton's Folly'! Most of the people all thought the steam thingy would blow up and explode to the high heavens or roll over like a log that would sink fast, The people were wrong. Part of Fulton's success was due to his concern for passenger comfort. His handbills announced: Dinner will be served at exactly 2 o'clock...Tea with meats...Supper at 8 in the evening and A shelf has been added to each berth, on which gentlemen will please put their boots, shoes, and clothes, that the cabin will not be encumbered. After the success of the Clermont, Fulton became occupied with building and operating other boats.

He also defended the monopolies that state legislatures had granted to him and Robert Livingston. Fulton designed and built a steam-powered warship, Fulton the First, for the defense of New York harbor in the War of 1812, but he died before the completion of this remarkable craft. The statue of Fulton in Statuary Hall, Washington, D.C., honors his achievements. The Clermont dimensions Max width: 4.3m (14 ft.) Max. height: 19m (62 ft.) Draught: 4.8 m (15 ft. 9 in.) Displacement: 1,210 tons. Average Speed: 4.7 miles per hour. Time saved: 150 miles in thirty-two hours. (1 Day and a half.) sailing schooner time: 4 Long Days according to wind and tides. The Clermonts side paddle wheels were 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide and 15 feet (4.6 meters) in diameter. After the rebuilding, the Clermont was 149 feet (45.4 meters) long and 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide.

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton Location of death: New York City Cause of death: unspecified Nationality: United States Executive summary: Inventor of the submarine and steamboat American engineer, born in 1765 in Little Britain (now Fulton, Lancaster County), Pennsylvania. His parents were Irish, and so poor that they could afford him only a very scanty education. At an early age he was bound apprentice to a jeweller in Philadelphia, but subsequently adopted portrait and landscape painting as his profession. In his twenty-second year, with the object of studying with his countryman, Benjamin West , he went to England, and there became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, Earl Stanhope and James Watt . Partly by their influence he was led to devote his attention to engineering, especially in connection with canal construction; he obtained an English patent in 1794 for superseding canal locks by inclined planes, and in 1796 he published a Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation.

He then took up his residence in Paris, where he projected the first panorama ever exhibited in that city, and constructed a submarine boat, the "Nautilus", which was tried in Brest harbor in 1801 before a commission appointed by Napoleon , and by the aid of which he was enabled to blow up a small vessel with a torpedo. It was at Paris also in 1803 that he first succeeded in propelling a boat by steam power, thus realizing a design which he had conceived ten years previously. Returning to America he continued his experiments with submarine explosives, but failed to convince either the English, French or United States governments of the adequacy of his methods. With steam navigation he had more success. In association with Robert R. Livingston , who in 1798 had been granted the exclusive right to navigate the waters of New York state with steam vessels, he constructed the "Clermont", which, engined by Boulton & Watt of Birmingham, began to ply on the Hudson between New York and Albany in 1807.

The privilege obtained by Livingston in 1798 was granted jointly to Fulton and Livingston in 1803, and by an act passed in 1808 the monopoly was secured to them and their associates for a period depending on the number of steamers constructed, but limited to a maximum of thirty years. In 1814-15, on behalf of the United States government, he constructed the "Fulton", a vessel of 38 tons with central paddle wheels, which was the first steam warship. He died at New York on the 24th of February 1815. Among Fulton's inventions were machines for spinning flax, for making ropes, and for sawing and polishing marble . Father: Robert Fulton, Sr. (d. 1774) Wife: Harriet Livingston ( Robert R. Livingston 's niece, m. 1808, one son, three daughters) Robert Fulton Biography (1765-1815) Robert Fulton Biography (1765-1815) Occupation inventor Robert Fulton, best known for his work in steamboat technology, was born in Little Britain, Pennsylvania, in 1765.

As a child, Fulton enjoyed building mechanical devices, taking on such projects as rockets and a hand-propelled paddle wheel boat. His interest turned to art as he matured, and by the age of seventeen, Fulton was supporting himself through his sales of portraits and technical drawings. In 1786, Fulton left the United States to study painting inEngland. Although he managed some success, the general response his work received was disappointing and convinced him to concentrate on his engineering skills. The first project to capture his attention revealed his emerging interest inwater transportation. His assignment involved designing a canal system to replace the locks that were then in use. After several years of work, Fulton came up with a double inclined plane system for which he was granted a British patent in 1794. His creative ideas continued to flow as he developed a plan for cast iron aqueducts and invented a digging machine; in 1796, he published asummary of his ideas on improving canal navigation in his Treatise on theImprovement of Canal Navigation. In 1797 further research on canals took Fulton to Paris, France.

While he wasthere he became fascinated with the notion of a "plunging boat," or submarine, and began designing one based on the ideas of American inventor David Bushnell. Fulton approached the French government, then at war with England, withthe suggestion that his submarine could be used to place powder mines on thebottom of British warships. After some persuasion, the French agreed to fundthe development of the boats and, in 1800, Fulton launched the first submarine, the Nautilus, at Rouen. The 24 1/2 foot (7.5 m) long, oval-shaped vessel sailed above the water likea normal ship, but the mast and sail could be laid flat against the deck whenthe craft was submerged to a depth of twenty-five feet by filling its hollowmetal keel with water. Fulton's plan was to hammer a spike from the metal conning tower into the bottom of a targeted ship. A time-released mine attachedto the spike was designed to explode once the submarine was out of range. Although the system worked in the trials, British warships were much faster than the sloop used in the experiments and thus managed to elude the slower submarine.

The French stopped funding the project after the failed battle attempt, but the British, who considered the technology promising, brought Fulton over to their side. Unfortunately, once again the submarine worked well in tests, but proved unsatisfactory on practical situations. After its failure in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), the British too abandoned the project. After these experiences, the undaunted Fulton turned to a new area of exploration--steam. Correspondence indicates that he had been aware of work on the movement of ships by steam power since at least 1793. Through his contacts inParis, Fulton met Robert Livingston (1746-1813), the American foreign minister to France who also owned a twenty-year monopoly on steam navigation in NewYork State. Fulton shared some of his ideas about steam power with Livingstonand, in 1802, the two decided to form a business partnership. The followingyear, they launched a steamboat on the Seine river that was based on the design of fellow American John Fitch. The vessel traveled at a speed of three miles per hour and, although some adjustments were necessary to make the craft sufficiently seaworthy, it was clear that the basic technology worked well.

Fulton returned to New York later in 1803 to continue developing his designs,conscious of the fact that his partner's monopoly was contingent on their development of a boat that could travel at least four miles per hour. After four years of work, Fulton launched the Clermont, a steam-powered vesselwith a speed of nearly five miles per hour. The partnership between Fulton and Livingston thrived, and Fulton had at last achieved a recognized success. During the ensuing years, Fulton designed thirteen more steamboats, includingthe Demologus, a warship; and he established an engine works in New Jersey that produced steam engines. Fulton died on February 24, 1814. His persistence and belief in his ideas helped steamboats become a major source of transportation on the rivers in the United States, and resulted in a significant reduction of domestic shipping costs. User Contributions: Robert Fulton (Engineer) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Robert Fulton Male Born Nov 14, 1765 Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat.

In 1800, he was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to design the Nautilus, which was the first practical submarine in history. He is also credited with inventing some of the world's earliest naval torpedoes for use by the British Navy.… Read More related links Broncos, Rough Riders Face Off In Week 1 Matchup Greeley Tribune Google News - Sep 02, 2011 'Junior <mark>Robert Fulton</mark> will be the quarterback, and he should have a few reliable targets in junior wide receiver Blake Karlin, junior tight end Michael Graff and senior wide receiver JT Francies. Centaurus went 8-3 last year, falling 18-15 in the first' Population Growth Puts Pressure On Sussex Schools Delmarva Now Google News - Aug 31, 2011 'Cape Henlopen grew by about 200 students for the upcoming school year alone, said Assistant Superintendent <mark>Robert Fulton</mark>, and it&#39;s beginning to prepare for further growth.

&quot;As we look to the future of our district, we look at elementary schools,&quot; he' Quarryville Church Hosts English Classes Lancaster Newspapers Google News - Aug 30, 2011 'Each session will run from 6:45 to 8:30 pm at the church facility, 611 <mark>Robert Fulton</mark> Highway, Quarryville. Linda Barnes serves a program director and she&#39;s looking forward to this year&#39;s English classes. She&#39;s a natural for the job, thanks to previous' Vintage Steam Machine Rolls Along Lake Of The Ozarks Lakenewsonline.Com Google News - Aug 26, 2011 'The American, <mark>Robert Fulton</mark> was accredited with turning the steamboat into a commercial success. In 1807, <mark>Robert Fulton</mark>&#39;s Clermont went from New York City to Albany making history traveling at the average speed of about 5 mph' Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Robert Fulton.

CHILDHOOD 1765 Birth Robert Fulton was born on a farm in Little Britain, Pennsylvania, on November 14, 1765. … Read More He had at least three sisters â Isabella, Elizabeth, and Mary, and a younger brother, Abraham. He then married Harriet Livingston and had four children, Julia, Mary, Cornelia, and Robert. His father, Robert, had been a close friend to the father of painter Benjamin West, (1738-1820). Fulton later met West in England and they became friends. Read Less TWENTIES 1785 20 Years Old Fulton stayed in Philadelphia for six years, where he painted portraits and landscapes, drew houses and machinery, and was able to send money home to help support his mother. In 1785 he bought a farm at Hopewell Township in Washington County for Â£80 Sterling and moved his mother and family into it. … Read More While in Philadelphia, he met Benjamin Franklin, (1705/1706-1790), then known not only for his political and writing abilities but his scientific and inventing knowledge, and other prominent figures.

At age 23 he decided to visit Europe. Read Less 1786 21 Years Old Fulton came to England in 1786, carrying several letters of introduction to Americans abroad from the individuals he had met in Philadelphia. … Read More He had already corresponded with Benjamin West, and West took Fulton into his home, where Fulton lived for several years. Fulton gained many commissions painting portraits and landscapes, which allowed him to support himself, but he continually experimented with mechanical inventions. Read Less 1793 28 Years Old He became caught up in the enthusiasm of the "Canal Mania" and in 1793 began developing his ideas for tub-boat canals with inclined planes instead of locks. He obtained a patent for this idea in 1794 and also began working on ideas for the steam power of boats. … Read More He published a pamphlet about canals and patented a dredging machine and several other inventions. Read Less In 1794 he moved to Manchester to gain practical knowledge of English canal engineering. … Read More Whilst there he became friendly with Robert Owen, the cotton manufacturer and early socialist.

Owen agreed to finance the development and promotion of his designs for inclined planes and earth-digging machines and was instrumental in introducing him to a canal company where he was awarded a sub-contract. However, this practical experience was not a success and he gave up the contract after a short time.<br /><br /> In 1797 he went to Paris where his fame as an inventor was well known. In Paris, then along with London, the scientific centers of the 18th Century world, Fulton studied languages French, and German, along with mathematics and chemistry. He began to design torpedoes and submarines. In Paris, Fulton met James Rumsey, (1743-1792), who sat for a portrait in West's studio, where Fulton was an apprentice. Rumsey was an inventor from Virginia who ran his own first steamboat up the Potomac River near Shepherdstown, then in Virginia in 1786.

As early as 1793, Fulton proposed plans for steam-powered vessels to both the United States and British governments, and in England he met the Duke of Bridgewater (Francis Egerton), (1736-1803), whose canal, the first to be constructed in Britain, was being used for trials of a steam tug. Read Less THIRTIES Show Less Fulton became very enthusiastic about the canals and in 1796 wrote a treatise on canal construction, suggesting improvements to locks and other features. Working for the Duke of Bridgewater between 1796 and 1799, he had a boat constructed in the Duke's timber yard, under the supervision of Benjamin Powell. … Read More After installation of the machinery supplied by the engineers Bateman and Sherratt of Salford, the boat was duly christened "Bonaparte" in honour of Fulton having served under Napoleon. After expensive trials, because of the configuration of the design,it was feared the paddles may damage the clay lining of the canal and the experiment was eventually abandoned.

In 1801 the Duke, impressed by the "Charlotte Dundas" constructed by William Symington, (1764-1831), decided to order eight of such vessels for his canal, but when he died in 1803, the order was cancelled. Symington had successfully tried steamboats in 1788, and it seems probable that Fulton was aware of these developments.<br /><br /> The first successful trial run of a steamboat had been made several years earlier by inventor John Fitch, (1743-1798), on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention, then observing and taking a break from its summer-long sessions at Independence Hall. It was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. The following year Fitch launched a boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat he carried up to thirty passengers on numerous round-trip voyages on the upper Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey.

Read Less 1797 32 Years Old In 1797, Fulton went to France, where Claude de Jouffroy (1751-1832), had made a working paddle steamer in 1783, and commenced experimenting with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats. Show Less Fulton is the exhibitor of the first panorama painting to be shown in Paris, which was complete by 1800 "Vue de Paris depuis les Tuilerie" painted by Pierre PrÃ©vost, (1764-1823), Jean Mouchet and Denis Fontaine. … Read More The street where his panorama was shown is still called "'Rue des Panoramas'" (Panorama Street) today.<br /><br /> Fulton designed the first working submarine, the "Nautilus" between 1793 and 1797, while living in France. When tested his submarine went underwater for 17 minutes in 25 feet of water. He asked the government to subsidize its construction but he was turned down twice. Read Less Eventually he approached the Minister of Marine himself and in 1800 was granted permission to build.

… Read More The shipyard Perrier in Rouen built it and it sailed first in July 1800 on the Seine River in the same city. Read Less 1801 36 Years Old In France, Fulton also met Robert R. Livingston, (1746-1813), who was appointed U.S. Ambassador to France in 1801, who was also of a scientifically curious mind, and they decided to build a steamboat together and try running it on the Seine. … Read More Fulton experimented with the water resistance of various hull shapes, made drawings and models, and had a steamboat constructed. At the first trial the boat ran perfectly, but the hull was later rebuilt and strengthened, and on August 9, 1803, this boat steamed up the River Seine, but sank. The boat was long, beam, and made between against the current. Read Less Show Less Although he continued to develop his inventions with the British until 1806, the decisive naval victory by Admiral Horatio Nelson at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar greatly reduced the risk of French invasion, and Fulton found himself being increasingly ignored.

In 1806, Fulton returned to America and married Harriet Livingston, the niece of Robert Livingston and daughter of Walter Livingston. … Read More They had four children: Robert, Julia, Mary and Cornelia. Read Less 1807 42 Years Old In 1807, Fulton and Livingston together built the first commercial steamboat, the "North River Steamboat" (later known as the "Clermont"), which carried passengers between New York City and upstream to the state capital Albany, New York. … Read More The Clermont was able to make the 150-mile trip in 32 hours. Notable passengers on the maiden voyage included infant Alexandria Jones, the daughter of a prominent lawyer from Bethlemem, PA. who later would serve on a steamboat hospital as a nurse for the Union in the Civil War. Read Less Show Less From 1811 until his death, Fulton was appointed by the Governor of New York, a member of the Erie Canal Commission. … Read More Fulton's final design was the floating battery "Demologos" the world's first steam-driven warship built for the United States Navy for the War of 1812.

The heavy vessel was not completed until after his death and was renamed the "Fulton" in his honor. Read Less From October 1811 to January 1812, Fulton, along with Livingston and Nicholas Isaac Roosevelt (1787-1854), worked together on a joint project to build and travel from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on their specially designed and built a new steamboat "New Orleans" solid enough for a long trip down the mid-western Ohio River, with stops at Wheeling, Virginia, Cincinnati, Ohio, past the "Falls of the Ohio" at Louisville, Kentucky, to near Cairo, Illinois and the juncture with the Mississippi River, past St. Louis and follow the "Big Muddy" as it was acquiring the nickname, all the way down past Memphis, Tennessee and Natchez, Mississippi to the city of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico coast, this just a decade after the United States had acquired the Louisiana Territory from France and the rivers were not well settled, mapped or protected. … Read More By achieving this first breaking voyage and also proving the ability of the boat to reverse and go back upstream, changed the entire transportation outlook for the American heartland.

Read Less Robert Fulton | Napoleon Bonaparte | ZoomInfo.com Napoleon Bonaparte + Get 10 Free Contacts a Month Please agree to the terms and conditions I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . I understand that I will receive a subscription to ZoomInfo Grow at no charge in exchange for downloading and installing the ZoomInfo Contact Contributor utility which, among other features, involves sharing my business contacts as well as headers and signature blocks from emails that I receive. Find other employees at this company (15) Background Information Web References (7 Total References) In 1801 [cached] In 1801 Robert Fulton, an American engineer living temporarily in France, completed the world's first working submarine 'a plunging boat' called The Nautilus (whose name Jules Verne took for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), and carried out trials in the Anse de Camaret. ... In August 1801, watched by Napoléon's Admiral Villaret, Fulton demonstrated the power of his weapon by completely destroying a 40ft sloop but his subsequent failure to blow up target British ships along the coast led to the project being abandoned.

After failing then to interest the British in his invention, which he believed had, "the possibility of destroying all military marines and of giving liberty to the seas", he futuristic idea was not realised until the end of the 19th century. Robert Fulton Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, is joining Napoleon I in Paris. He invention, the steamboat. ... Hanya Karl May lah yang mampu merangkai Napoleon, Fulton (penemu kapal uap) dengan Jawa dan Dayak dalam novel yang orangnya benar-benar ada (Robert Surcouf adalah tokoh nyata). Benar-benar imajinasi yang luar biasa. Teluk Sangkulirang terletak sekitar duaratus kilometer di utara Bontang, Kalimantan Timur. Nama Selat Makasar kali ini tidak salah eja. IndoKarlMay - Robert Surcouf Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, is joining Napoleon I in Paris. He invention, the steamboat. ...

Hanya Karl May lah yang mampu merangkai Napoleon, Fulton (penemu kapal uap) dengan Jawa dan Dayak dalam novel yang orangnya benar-benar ada (Robert Surcouf adalah tokoh nyata). Benar-benar imajinasi yang luar biasa. Teluk Sangkulirang terletak sekitar duaratus kilometer di utara Bontang, Kalimantan Timur. Nama Selat Makasar kali ini tidak salah eja. Robert Fulton Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, is joining Napoleon I in Paris. He invention, the steamboat. ... Hanya Karl May lah yang mampu merangkai Napoleon, Fulton (penemu kapal uap) dengan Jawa dan Dayak dalam novel yang orangnya benar-benar ada (Robert Surcouf adalah tokoh nyata). Benar-benar imajinasi yang luar biasa. Teluk Sangkulirang terletak sekitar duaratus kilometer di utara Bontang, Kalimantan Timur. Nama Selat Makasar kali ini tidak salah eja.

Americans Browse ZoomInfo's Business People Directory Sign up to receive a free trial of the ZoomInfo Platform. Copyright © 2016 Zoom Information, Inc. 3. Check your inbox to Sign in to ZoomInfo Grow I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . I understand that I will receive a subscription to ZoomInfo Community Edition at no charge in exchange for downloading and installing the ZoomInfo Contact Contributor utility which, among other features, involves sharing my business contacts as well as headers and signature blocks from emails that I receive. Thank You for Downloading! Project MUSE - Robert Fulton's Torpedoes Robert Fulton's Torpedoes Stephen H. Cutcliffe and Kimberly Fabbri (bio) Abstract Robert Fulton, usually remembered for his steamboats, also developed underwater mines that he called "torpedoes" as part of a naval weapons system that he hoped would keep the seas safe for travel and commerce. Two of Fulton's original drawings of these "torpedoes" are held by the Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections Department. Fulton executed these drawings in pen and ink and colored washes at the time the British were preparing to ward off an attack across the Channel from a French fleet anchored in Boulogne.

The essay describes the 1804 drawings and analyzes the context in which they were developed, tracing Fulton's ideas about naval weapons, included submarine warfare as well as his "torpedo" mines. The Liberty of the Seas will be the Happiness of the Earth. —Robert Fulton, Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions, 1810 Robert Fulton is usually remembered as the American "inventor" of the steamboat. Historians of technology are also aware that Fulton was the inventor/designer of other technical systems, such as a canal system that used inclined planes instead of locks to raise and lower canal boats, and an early submarine that he originally called a "plunging boat" (later called the "Nautilus"). Fulton also developed underwater mines that he called "torpedoes," and over a period of years he developed a naval weapons system that he hoped would keep the seas safe for travel and commerce. A dedicated innovator, Fulton hoped to make his fortune by offering his torpedo system to the highest bidder, and he tried in earnest to sell it to at least three national governments—the French, the British, and the United States.

He considered his torpedo system, the subject of this note, more important than the steamboat, but history proved otherwise. Two of Fulton's original colored drawings of his proposed torpedoes, dated 1804, are now held by the Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections Department. Lehigh acquired the drawings in January 1959 as a gift from Robert B. Honeyman Jr., a metallurgical engineering graduate of the class of 1920, and his wife Marion [Stewart]. Early in his career, Honeyman had begun to collect rare books, including material in literature, art, [End Page 879] and the history of science and technology, from which he made a series of gifts to Lehigh over the course of many years. 1 Among them were the two holographic Fulton drawings. Readers of Technology and Culture will be especially interested in librarian James D. Mack's acknowledgment of receipt. He wrote in part that "we should look up the sources to see whether these [drawings] have been published.

If not, they might be acceptable in a new journal covering the history of technology." 2 The "new journal" to which Mack referred was almost assuredly Technology and Culture, for which as librarian he would have received a circular and whose premier issue would appear later that year. For whatever reason, Mack apparently never followed through on the Technology and Culture submission, but now, a half century later, we are pleased to reproduce them as part of this research note (figs. 1 and 2 ). Click for larger view Robert Fulton, "Great Torpedo," ink-and-wash drawing, 21 July 1804. (Courtesy of Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections.) The Lehigh drawings are dated 21 and 24 July. The first, entitled "Great Torpedo," includes this description: "About 20 feet long 3 wide, [a]nd 2 deep Sufficient to contain 2,000 Combustible balls each 4 Inches diameter; and one ton of powder.

This may be varied by having a less number of balls and more powder, to be ballanced [sic] in the water like the small one." The [End Page 880] right side of the drawing notes the scale as being "one inch to a foot" and includes these further dimensions: "Outside planks of 2 inch Oak[.] Inside lining inch Oak. [B]oth to be well caulk'd and perfectly water tight"[.] The drawing is dated and initialed R. F. to accommodate both "Robert Fulton" and his sometime alias, "Robert Francis." 3 Although dated three days apart, the two drawings are linked; the earlier drawing from the 21st refers to the "Small Torpedo" drawing finalized three days later. The description on the latter reads: "7 feet long 1 foot wide and one foot deep capable of containing from 150 to 180 combustible balls and 200 pounds of powder.

The ends A, A left open at the top to receive ballast B, B two pieces of cork two inches thick 18 long and 6 wide to suspend the torpedo any given depth in water; C the clockwork Battery." Click for larger view Robert Fulton, "Small Torpedo," ink-and-wash drawing, 24 July 1804.

(Courtesy of Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections.) The lower half of the Small Torpedo drawing depicts two sizes and includes an extended description of the "combustible balls" ["bombs"] referenced in the earlier drawing: "Combustible bombs real size, one 6 inches the other 4 inches diameter, each must have a barbed copper nail so that it may stick where it falls[,] also a fuse to take fire at the time of explosion, and sit [sic] fire to the mass when fallen." A further description of the bomb's contents is included below the date and Fulton's initials: "Composed [End Page 881] of rope yarns, Rosin[,] Salt petre, and oil of turpentine or any other inflamible [sic] matter." The depiction of "combustible bombs" is interesting in that they do not seem to appear in other drawings of this period nor in descriptions of Fulton's subsequent tests. This may well reflect Fulton's ever-evolving thinking and experimentation with his weaponry.

Both Lehigh drawings are 40 [H11003] 59.5 cm (15-3/4 [H11003] 23-1/2 inches) and are done on a heavy paper stock of light, albeit now somewhat dirty, beige. The drawings are in ink, although light centering marks and extensions of curves done in pencil are seen. Most of the drawings are done in shades of gray wash, although other watercolor washes have been applied as well. The Great Torpedo drawing is rendered almost entirely in gray, while the metal strapping that ends in eye bolts is colored in blue. The Small Torpedo drawing is much more colorful, with the background of the middle section done in a blue wash to represent how the carcass would float when in the water. Execution of the second Small Torpedo is somewhat more embellished. The combustible bombs, both the 6 and 4 inch, as well as the very small one in the upper-right-hand corner, have orange, yellow, and red streaks of color added to the rear of each bomb to imply their explosive power.

Fulton's varied career, which exemplified not only artistic talent and technical innovation but personal ambition and political connection as well, helps to contextualize the two Lehigh torpedo drawings. Fulton spent his childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Apprenticed to a Philadelphia jeweler at the age of 14, he acquired a variety of mechanical skills and the art of painting miniature portraits. Seven years later, in 1787, he traveled to London, where he hoped to further develop his artistic talents. Instead, after several years of creative floundering, Fulton, with the support of Charles Mahon, third Earl of Stanhope and also an inventor, became caught up in the canal-building craze of the 1790s. In 1796, he obtained a British patent for a canal system that used short, narrow boats raised and lowered by inclined planes rather than the traditional but more expensive system of locks. 4 In 1797, he traveled to Paris and received a French patent for this idea. Fulton hoped to profit from his canal system, but little came of it. However, while in Paris he became fast friends with Joel Barlow, an American poet, business agent, and diplomat.

Barlow recognized Fulton's unusual technical skills and enlisted him in support of his own interest in free trade and freedom of the seas. This encouraged Fulton to develop a submarine, a project clearly derived from the earlier work of David Bushnell but a significant advance in terms of seaworthiness. 5 Although successfully [End Page 882] tested on the Seine in mid-1800, Fulton's "Nautilus" failed in action later that year in an attack on the British fleet that was blockading Le Havre. Despite this failure, French enthusiasm for Fulton's submersible boat continued to fluctuate during the long war with Great Britain, but it disappeared with the Peace of Amiens in March 1802. By then Fulton's first "plunging boat" had deteriorated badly and had been sold as scrap. 6 Fulton next turned his attention to the development of a steamboat. In the same month as the conclusion of the Amiens Treaty, he met Robert Livingston, who had traveled to Paris to negotiate what would become the Louisiana Purchase.

Livingston had earlier acquired a twenty-year monopoly for navigation on the Hudson River, but he had no steamboat, and certainly not one capable of achieving the New York state legislature's upstream speed requirement of four miles per hour. The two men soon joined forces in a partnership to build such a boat. During the ensuing year (1803), Fulton built and then tested in August a steamboat on the Seine, achieving a speed of three miles per hour, impressive in and of itself but inadequate for the Hudson River monopoly requirement. 7 The real limitation was the inadequacy of the French Perrier steam engine available to Fulton at the time (Fulton had desired a Boulton and Watt engine but was stymied by British export law). France and Britain were again at war when the steamship was tested in August 1803, but this time the British, prompted by Lord Stanhope, now a Member of Parliament, expressed interest in Fulton's submarine and his associated torpedoes, if for no other reason than to keep them out of French hands.

Ever mindful of an opportunity to capitalize on his naval inventions, [End Page 883] Fulton willingly opened negotiations with the British, but—equally mindful of the potentially treasonous international gambit in which he was engaged—he conducted his negotiations under the barely opaque name of Robert Francis, and it was perhaps under this alias that Fulton set sail for England in late April 1804. His agreement with the recently selected Prime Minister William Pitt and the Admiralty was finally settled on 20 July 1804, a day before he executed the first of the Lehigh drawings. The Admiralty focused on Fulton's development of the underwater mines, believing his submarine to be unproven and too expensive. 8 Importantly for the future success of the steamboat, the agreement also allowed Fulton to export a Boulton and Watt steam engine to America. With an eye toward attacking the French fleet then massed at Boulogne for a cross-channel invasion of England, Fulton turned his attention to developing his mines.

Fulton himself referred to his mines by various names: "coffers," "carcasses," and "submarine bombs," as well as "torpedoes." By whatever name, they should not be confused with modern self-propelled torpedoes; rather, they were surface or sub-surface floating mines constructed of either copper canisters or wooden boxes packed with gunpowder. Fulton developed two plans for their deployment. The first, and the one he actually tested against the French fleet at Boulogne in October 1804, involved harnessing two bombs by means of a line. They could be paddled by boat (here, a link to his submarine idea) or allowed to drift down on the tide, positioned so that the line linking the two bombs would wrap around the anchor cable of the targeted ship. The action of the tide would then draw the bombs alongside, pushing them underwater in a manner such that they would come to rest against the ship's keel. A previously set "clockwork" firing lock, encased in a brass box and inserted within the bomb's end, would then ignite the powder charge, the resulting explosion, one hoped, sinking or at least badly damaging the ship.

A second proposal entailed anchoring a series of bombs, weighted to float five to ten feet below the surface at low tide where they would be held by the ebb and flow of the tide against the device. In this instance, an external "instantaneous" lock or trigger mechanism would ignite the charge upon contact and, with any luck, result in the ship's devastation. 9 In the first usage, the clockwork lock—its cost estimated at £10 to £14—was the most expensive single component. 10 [End Page 884] Fulton's test in October at Boulogne destroyed only one French pinnace. A second, much smaller test conducted in December 1804 against Fort Rouge in Calais Harbor was even more unsuccessful, as the torpedoes failed to explode. There was little further action until September 1805, when Fulton was authorized to contract for 100 "carcasses of copper" and an equal number of "clockwork locks." On 30 September, another test attack at Boulogne utilizing two bombs failed to do any damage, although one did explode.

Desperate for a successful showing, Fulton ultimately convinced the Admiralty to allow him to target the Dorothea, a captured Danish brig of 300 tons then anchored in Deal Harbor, near Dover and visible from Walmer Castle, Pitt's official residence as lord warden. After a day of practice runs with empty torpedoes, Fulton finally succeeded in blowing up and quickly sinking the Dorothea on 15 October (albeit in broad daylight with no actual enemy defenders), using two torpedoes, one fully primed with 180 pounds of powder and the other filled with peas as a counterweight. 11 A fourth and final, largely botched attempt to attack the French fleet at Boulogne marked the end of active British experiments with Fulton's torpedo system. The declining interest in Fulton's project was due more to the almost simultaneous British victory over the French and Spanish under Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar on 21 October, news of which reached England late in the month, than to any actual failure of Fulton's torpedoes themselves. While none of this deterred Fulton from continuing to promote his submarine and torpedo project, it soon became evident that the British were no longer interested in him or his naval devices.

At the same time, Fulton was under pressure from Livingston to return to America to work in earnest on the steamboat. By mid-1806 he was putting his affairs in order, and he finally departed Falmouth in late October, arriving to great acclaim in New York on 13 December. In preparation for his return to America, Fulton drew up a lengthy summary of the British events, dated 10 August 1806. 12 Compiled as a historical record and financial accounting of his efforts on behalf of the British, Fulton also wanted it to explain his "motives for inventing submarine Navigation and attack." He further recognized that cross-Atlantic travel in the late fall was not risk-free and, following arbitration of his financial [End Page 885] demands on the Admiralty, he left the document with the American consul in London, William Lyman, in case he should encounter ill fate upon the crossing. The document includes twelve drawings, seven of his submarine and five of the torpedo bombs, but none of the latter is remotely similar to the Lehigh 1804 drawings.

Several of the twelve drawings date from 1804, when Fulton was first proposing his submarine system to the British, while others have been copied and bear the date 1806. The descriptions and images of the bombs now refer to them as being of copper, suggesting a shift in Fulton's thinking beyond the actual experiments, which utilized the wooden, box-like carcasses depicted in the two 1804 drawings. 13 Whether the Lehigh 1804 drawings were also left with Lyman, traveled across the Atlantic with Fulton, or had previously come into another's possession has not yet been determined. In contrast to the Lehigh drawings, William Parsons describes the twelve original drawings for the 1804 contract and 1806 summary report as being on heavy Bristol paper measuring 18-3/4 [H11003] 22-1/4 inches, and he notes that the 1806 copies were tracings done on much thinner paper.

14 The New York Public Library holds seven of the original 1804 sketches, apparently acquired as a gift from Parsons, who was a trustee of the institution; the Library of Congress has the duplicate drawings from 1806, from the New Jersey Historical Society holdings, where Parsons had accessed them for his 1922 book to fill in the missing 1804 drawings. A comparison of the twelve images in the 1804/1806 Submarine Navigation and Attack document drawings with the two at Lehigh suggests that while Fulton executed both sets in the same time frame, they are quite different. The first seven from this document depict various aspects of his submarine ideas. The remaining five show different ways of deploying torpedoes. The torpedoes themselves are shorter and more cylindrical than in the earlier drawing and provide no real detail as to their construction. They were intended to illustrate the overall workings of Fulton's naval weapons system and not as scaled construction drawings. Fulton's reason for producing the Lehigh drawings is unclear.

Given their date of execution, however, we can speculate that he drew them only at that point so as "to disclose the principles of his scheme," the details of which he had avoided divulging prematurely—that is, prior to the signing of the Admiralty agreement, which had occurred the previous day. 15 Beyond that, we may assume he intended them as actual working drawings to be used for the construction of the torpedoes used at Boulogne. An unexploded [End Page 886] carcass was recovered during one of the attempts on the French fleet there, and several scaled drawings were made as part of a post-attack assessment. 16 Wallace Hutcheon's reproduction of the French drawing of the captured device suggests it was of the same size as the Great Torpedo in the first Lehigh drawing. The French drawing is more detailed and depicts what is perhaps a type of bomb device within the carcass, but it appears to be somewhat different from the "combustible bombs" depicted in the Lehigh Small Torpedo drawing. In any case it is hard to envision how the so-called "combustible bombs" with their copper barbed nails would be effective if and when exploded underwater.

As they are not otherwise described in the attack at Boulogne, nor in the 1806 summary document, it is likely that Fulton eventually recognized their impracticality and abandoned them. Allowing for differences in the time presumably allotted for creating the respective drawings and their differing purposes, we believe Fulton intended the July 1804 drawings as actual construction drawings for his torpedoes. Differences between these two early drawings and the later French schematic would thus reflect changes made during the process of building and testing the carcasses themselves. Until Fulton torpedo drawings with more detailed diagrams and construction instructions come to light, we will presume this to be the most likely explanation for the Lehigh drawings. Fulton's plan upon returning to New York was ostensibly to follow through on his partnership with Livingston to build the now famous Hudson River steamboat, christened the North River Steam Boat but popularly called the Clermont. 17 Yet never far from his attention was the goal of proving his naval weaponry system. He was, in fact, slow to start work on the steamboat, but almost immediately upon his return, he approached the Jefferson administration for funds to develop his torpedoes as a defense against the British.

Trials utilizing copper canisters, held the following summer and again in 1810, proved no more successful than had those in France and Britain. Also in 1810, Fulton published the promotional treatise Torpedo [End Page 887] War and Submarine Explosions, which had as its epigraph "The Liberty of the Seas will be the Happiness of the Earth." 18 He never lost faith that he was onto an important idea, the "favorite offspring of my scientific pursuits," that would help keep the seas safe from military depredation and free for trade. 19 In 1814, he received the last of nine patents, this one for an armored, steam-powered frigate to be used as a floating battery against his former employers, the British. Shortly thereafter, he received a government contract to build an initial floating battery, christened Demologos but subsequently renamed Fulton I, to protect New York. Fulton never saw the project to completion. Following an early-winter inspection trip of the vessel, he and some companions had sought to aid one of their party who, while attempting to cross the Hudson River on their way home, fell through the partially frozen ice.

Wet and cold from this effort, Fulton fell ill, ultimately contracted pneumonia, and died on 23 February 1815, at the age of fifty. [End Page 888] Robert Fulton - Essay / Biographies Robert Fulton This Essay Robert Fulton and other 61,000+ term papers, college essay examples and free essays are available now on ReviewEssays.com Autor: reviewessays • December 7, 2010 • Essay • 360 Words (2 Pages) • 330 Views Page 1 of 2 Robert Fulton is one of the greatest inventors that have ever lived. Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on November 14, 1765, Fulton was of Irish decent. His mother and father came from Kilkenny, Ireland in the early 18th century and settled in Little Britain Township in Lancaster. They were very poor, so Robert's education was not the most formal. He spent his early twenties as an artist, painting mainly portraits and landscapes. Fulton went to England in 1786, where he gained an interest in engineering and studied shipbuilding and canal navigation.

In London, he was taken in by Benjamin West and his family, to whom he apprenticed. Fulton studied with West for many years, then later on relocated to Devonshire, where he worked for wealthy patrons, such as the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl Stanhope. In 1797, Fulton began to experiment with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats in France. In 1800, he completed the construction of his very own submarine Nautilus. The submarine was commissioned by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. It was then that Fulton met the US Ambassador, Robert Livingston, whose niece, Harriet, he later on married. Robert and Harriet had one son and three daughters. In 1803, Fulton met up once again with Livingston to draw up an agreement to construct a steamboat to travel between New York and Albany. The boat was built on the Seine, but was not strong enough. The second boat was tested in August, 1803, but it was not fast enough in speed. In 1807, he built the Clermont (also known as the North River Steamboat), whose engine was provided by Boulton & Watt of Birmingham.

The ship took its maiden trip from New York to Albany in 1807 in a record breaking thirty-two hours (for forty miles). Fulton was the only provider for steamboat traffic for thirty years until 1824, when they took away his right to the seas because states could not legally regulate interstate trade. He became bankrupt after he was unable to compete with other companies' low prices. Fulton died on February 24, 1815 of pleurisy, and is buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan. ... How Steamboats developed...;Fulton's background Robert Fulton and the Clermont Robert Fulton's Clermont Robert Fulton (1765-1815) took what others had already done with steam power and made it into a successful commercial venture. Fulton made steamboats a reliable means of water transportation. Born November 14, 1765 in Pennsylvania, Fulton developed his artistic talents as a youth. He went to Philadelphia at age 17 and took up an apprenticeship with a jeweler.

By the age of 21 he was able to provide for his widowed mother and his sisters and still have enough money to move to England where he studied with a well regarded painter, Benjamin West. Once established Fulton turned his creativity to inventing. He designed proposals for canal locks, rope making machines and, in 1797 for a submarine. A cross section drawn by Robert Fulton of his submersible the Nautilus. From Library of Congress, Robert Fulton (1765-1815). Interior Chambers for Crew, Ballast, and Submarine Bombs. Graphite, ink and watercolor on paper, 180. He offered the French government his services for the development of a military submarine but was rejected. In 1800, the undeterred Fulton launched the Nautilus using his own resources. Shortly thereafter he met up with the American minister to France, Robert Livingston and they collaborated on developing a reliable steamboat design to take advantage of Livingston's twenty year steamboat navigation monopoly that he secured from New York State. The Fulton-Livingston Collaboration Robert Livingston (1746-1813) was born in Clermont, New York to a wealthy family.

Livingston studied law as a young man and passed the bar in 1770. He was an active participant in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, serving on committees including finance, foreign affairs, and judicial affairs. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. In 1777 Livingston helped draft New York's constitution and was the state's first chancellor. The Articles of Confederation created the Department of Foreign Affairs and Livingston was appointed its secretary where he served with distinction at the Paris Peace Conference during 1782-1783. Livingston administered the oath of office to George Washington on April 30, 1789. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him as minister to France where he negotiated the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. It was in Paris that Livingston made the acquaintance of Fulton and they began their steamboat collaboration. The men named their first boat Clermont after Livingston's birthplace and ancestral home. Branching Out... To follow the journey of the New Orleans on its journey along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, go to the American Bottom, East St. Louis Environment historical narratives . Robert Livingston Statue, Bronze by Erastus Dow Statue of Robert Fulton, Marble by Howard Roberts Palmer.

Given in 1889; located in Statuary Hall, United States Capitol. Soon after Fulton successfully sailed his steamer, the Clermont, up the Hudson River in 1807 he began to consider using steamboats on the Mississippi. He and Livingston were able to secure an eighteen year monopoly from the territory of Orleans (soon to become Louisiana in 1812) that would only allow their steamboats in the mouth of the Mississippi. This is a 1911 replica of the original New Orleans built to celebrate the first steamboat down the Ohio and Mississippi. The New Orleans Steamboat technology was already more than twenty years old, but no one had yet incorporated it into a successful commercial venture. The Fulton-Livingston collaboration would be the first. In 1809 they sent Nicholas Roosevelt and his wife Lydia to explore the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for the possible use of steamboats. After determining that it was feasible Fulton made plans for the construction of a steamboat that would be the first to venture onto these western rivers. The boat, the New Orleans, was 148 feet long, 32 feet wide, with a twelve foot draft.

Fulton built it in Pittsburgh during 1810-1811. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fulton, Robert - Wikisource, the free online library 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fulton, Robert 2019835 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica , Volume 11 — Fulton, Robert FULTON, ROBERT (1765–1815) , American engineer, was born in 1765 in Little Britain (now Fulton, Lancaster county), Pa. His parents were Irish, and so poor that they could afford him only a very scanty education, At an early age he was bound apprentice to a jeweller in Philadelphia, but subsequently adopted portrait and landscape painting as his profession. In his twenty-second year, with the object of studying with his countryman, Benjamin West, he went to England, and there became acquainted with the duke of Bridgewater, Earl Stanhope and James Watt.

Partly by their influence he was led to devote his attention to engineering, especially in connexion with canal construction; he obtained an English patent in 1794 for superseding canal locks by inclined planes, and in 1796 he published a Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation. He then took up his residence in Paris, where he projected the first panorama ever exhibited in that city, and constructed a submarine boat, the " Nautilus," which was tried in Brest harbour in 1801 before a commission appointed by Napoleon I., and by the aid of which he was enabled to blow up a small vessel with a torpedo. It was at Paris also in 1803 that he first succeeded in propelling a boat by steam-power, thus realizing a design which he had conceived ten years previously. Returning to America he continued his experiments with submarine explosives, but failed to convince either the English, French or United States governments of the adequacy of his methods. With steam navigation he had more success. In association with Robert R.

Livingston (q.v.), who in 1798 had been granted the exclusive right to navigate the waters of New York state with steam-vessels, he constructed the " Clermont," which, engined by Boulton & Watt of Birmingham, began to ply on the Hudson between New York and Albany in 1807. The privilege obtained by Livingston in 1798 was granted jointly to Fulton and Livingston in 1803, and by an act passed in 1808 the monopoly was secured to them and their associates for a period depending on the number of steamers constructed, but limited to a maximum of thirty years. In 1814–1815, on behalf of the United States government, he constructed the " Fulton," a vessel of 38 tons with central paddle-wheels, which was the first steam warship. He died at New York on the 24th of February. Among Fulton's inventions were machines for spinning flax, for making ropes, and for sawing and polishing marble. See C. D. Colden, Life of Robert Fulton (New York, 1817); Robert H.

Thurston, History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine (New York, 1878); George H. Preble, Chronological History of Steam Navigation (Philadelphia, 1883); and Mrs A. C. Sutcliffe, Robert Fulton and the Clermont (New York, 1909).

Question: What was the submarine developed by US engineer Robert Fulton in 1803?
Answer: Nautilus