more rapid progress were made towards realizing steam navigation as a practical fact. Mr. Fulton, an American, residing in France, after making a number of experiments, under the sanction and with the assistance of Mr. Livingstone, the American Ambassador, launched a small steam-boat on the Seine in 1803, but the weight of the engine proved too great for the strength of the boat, which broke in the middle, and immediately went to the bottom. Not disheartened by this failure he built another one, longer and stronger, and this he succeeded in propelling by steam power, though very slowly. It was, indeed, a much less successful effort than the attempts of Mr. Miller and Lord Dundas. Having been threatened with opposition by M. le Blanc, the patentee of steam- boats in France, Fulton determined to return to his native country, where the large navigable rivers and lakes offered ample scope for the development of steam navigation. Having heard of the success of Symingtons boats, he visited Scotland for the purpose of profiting by his experience; and he induced Symington, by promises of great advantages if the invention succeeded in America, to show him the Charlotte Dundas at work, and to enter into full explanations of every part. Thus primed with the facts, and with the further suggestions of Symington, Fulton repaired to New York. Mr. Livingstone, who had assisted Fulton in his experiments, was himself an inventor of several plans of propelling vessels by steam, and in 1798 he obtained a patent in 15 the State of New York, for twenty years, on condition that he should produce a steam-boat by the 7th of March, 1799, that would go at the rate of four miles an hour. Having failed to fulfil that condition, the patent privilege was left open, and was promised to the first inventor who succeeded in propelling a boat by steam power at the proposed speed of four miles an hour. Fulton, who had entered into partnership with Mr. Livingstone, possessed advantages in the construction of the vessel he built in America, far greater than any previous inventor. He had not only gained knowledge by his former failures, but he was able to profit by the
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 13:52:39 +0000
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