Great Facts. Frederick C. Bakewell

for instance, we look upon an ordinary steam-boat, the most remarkable and the most important feature is the paddle-wheel, by the action of which against the water the boat is propelled. Yet that method of propelling boats was practised by the Egyptians hundreds of years before steam power was thought of; and the ancient Romans made use of similar wheels, worked by hand, as substitutes for oars. It would seem, therefore, to be only a small step in inventive progress, after the discovery of the steam engine, to apply that motive power to turn the paddle-wheels which had been previously used; and now that we see the perfected invention, it may surprise those who are unacquainted with the difficulties which attend any new appliance, that Steam Navigation did not sooner become an accomplished fact.

      In a book called "Inventions and Devices," by William Bourne, published in 1578, it was proposed to make a boat go by paddle-wheels, "to be turned by some provision." The Marquis of Worcester, in his "Century of Inventions," also speaks vaguely of a mode of propelling ships. But Capt. Savery, the inventor of the earliest working steam engine, was the first to suggest the application of steam to navigation; and Dr. Papin, who contended with Savery for priority of the invention, also suggested about the same time the application of the elastic force of steam to that purpose.

      These crude notions, however, do not deserve to be considered as inventions, though they probably assisted in suggesting the idea of the plan proposed by Mr. Jonathan Hulls, who in 1736 took out a patent for a steam-boat, and in the following year published a description of his invention, illustrated by a drawing, entitled, "A description and draught of a new-invented machine for carrying vessels or ships out of or into any harbour, port, or river, against wind or tide, or in a calm."

      The greater part of this publication is occupied with answers to objections that he supposed might be raised to the scheme, and in the preface he makes the following observations on the treatment inventors were exposed to in his day, which we fear will apply equally at the present time. "There is," he says, "one great hardship lies too commonly on those who purpose to advance some new though useful scheme for the public benefit. The world abounding more in rash censure than in candid and unprejudiced estimation of things, if a person does not answer their expectations in every point, instead of friendly treatment for his good intentions, he too often meets with ridicule and contempt."

      At the time of Mr. Hulls' invention, Watt had not made his improvements in the steam engine, and the kind of engine Hulls employed was similar to Newcomen's, in which the steam was condensed in the cylinder, and the piston, after being forced down by the direct pressure of the atmosphere, was drawn upwards again by a weight. The paddle, or "vanes," as he called them, were placed at the stern, between two wheels, which were turned by ropes passing over their peripheries. The alternate motion of the piston was ingeniously converted into a continuous rotary movement, by connection with other ropes attached to the piston and to the weight, the backward movement being prevented by a catch or click.

      The woodcut which lays before you is a reduced copy of Hulls' "draught" of his steam-boat, as given in his book, a copy of which is preserved in the British Museum.

      The utmost application of steam power to navigation contemplated by Hulls was to tow large vessels into or out of harbour, in calm weather, by means of a separate steam tug-boat, as he considered the cumbersome mechanism would be found objectionable on board the ships to be thus propelled. It does not appear that this plan was effectually tried, nor was the arrangement of the mechanism, nor the imperfect condition of the steam engine at that period, calculated to make the effort successful.

      For some years after Mr. Hulls' plan had been published, and had proved abortive, no further attempt seems to have been made, until the improvements in the steam engine, by Watt, rendered it more applicable for the purpose of navigation. The French claim for the Marquis de Jouffroy the honour of having been the first who successfully applied steam power to propel boats, in 1782; though another French nobleman, the Comte d'Auxiron, and M. Perier, had eight years previously made some experiments with steam-boats on the Seine. The Marquis de Jouffroy's steam-boat, which was 145 feet long, was tried on the Soane, near Lyons, with good promise of success. The marquis was, however, obliged to leave France by the fury of the Revolution, and when he returned in 1796, he found that a patent had been granted to M. le Blanc, for building steam-boats in France. He protested against the monopoly, but the patent remained in force, and the plan received no further development, either from the Marquis de Jouffroy, or the patentee.

      About five years later, Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, in Scotland, directed his attention to the propulsion of boats by mechanical means, and contrived different kinds of paddles, and other propellers to be worked by hand, which were tried on boats on Dalswinton Lake. The great labour required to work these machines induced Mr. James Taylor, a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, to suggest the use of steam power to turn them, and he recommended Mr. Miller to obtain the assistance of William Symington, an engineer, who was at that time endeavouring to make a steam locomotive carriage. Among the first difficulties that suggested themselves, was the danger of setting fire to the boat by the engine furnace. This difficulty was overcome by Mr. Taylor, and the arrangements were completed, and the experiment was tried in 1788. The steam engine and mechanism were applied to a double pleasure-boat; the engine being placed on one side, the boiler on the other, and the paddle-wheel in the centre. The cylinders of the steam engine were only four inches in diameter; but with this engine the boat was propelled across Dalswinton Lake at a speed of five miles an hour.

      The success of this experiment induced Mr. Miller to have a larger boat built, expressly adapted for the introduction of a steam engine. It was constructed under the superintendence of Symington, and was tried successfully on the Forth and Clyde Canal in 1789, when it was propelled at the rate of seven miles an hour.

      In the arrangement of the mechanism of this boat, the cylinder was placed horizontally, for the purpose of making connection between the paddle-wheel and the piston, without the working beam. The piston was supported in its position by friction wheels, and communicated motion to the paddles by a crank. The paddles were placed in the middle of the boat, near the stern; and there was a double rudder, connected together by rods which were moved by a winch at the head of the vessel.

      It is not very clear why Mr. Miller did not follow up this success. Objection, indeed, was made by the proprietors of the canal on account of the agitation of the water, which it was feared would injure the banks. It would appear also that a misunderstanding took place between Miller and Symington, which gave the former a distaste to the undertaking; and having shown that such a plan was practicable, he left others to carry it into practical effect.

      Several methods of propelling boats, otherwise than by paddles, had some years previously been suggested; among which were two that have been again and again tried by succeeding inventors, down to the present day.

      One of these is an imitation of the duck's foot, which expands when it strikes the water, and collapses when it is withdrawn. The other is the ejection of a stream of water at the stern, or on both sides of the boat, so as to produce a forward movement by reaction. Both these plans of propulsion seem feasible in design; but they have hitherto failed in practice. A pastor at Berne, named J. A. Genevois, has the credit of having invented the duck-feet propeller in 1755; and in 1795, six years after Mr. Miller's successful experiments, Earl Stanhope had a steam-boat built on that principle. It was so far a failure, that it was not propelled faster than three miles an hour. The other method of propulsion, though of older date, was patented in 1800 by Mr. Linnaker, who proposed to draw the water in at the head of the vessel, and eject it at the stern, and thus to obtain a double action on the water for propelling; but the plan was not found to answer.

      In 1801, Lord Dundas revived Mr. Miller's project, and availed himself of Mr. Symington's increased experience and the further improvements in the steam engine, to construct a much more perfect steam-boat than any that had been made. He spent £3,000 in the experiments, and in March, 1802, his vessel, called the "Charlotte Dundas," was tried on the same scene of action, the Forth and Clyde Canal. This boat, according to Symington's report, towed two vessels, each of seventy tons burthen, a distance of nineteen miles and a half in six hours, against a strong wind. The