THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE. 



453 



tance of one hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours running time, 

 and returning in thirty hours. The sails were not used on either 

 occasion. 



This was the first voyage of considerable length ever made by a 

 steam- vessel, and the Clermont was soon after regularly employed 

 as a passenger-boat between the two cities. 



Fulton, though not to be classed with James Watt as an inventor, 

 is entitled to the great honor of having been the first to make steam- 

 navigation an every-day commercial success, and of having thus 

 made the first application of the steam-engine to ship-propulsion 

 which was not followed by the retirement of the experimenter from 

 the field of his labors before success was permanently insured. 



89. The engine of the Clermont (Fig. 52), was of rather pecu- 



Fig. 52. Engine of the Cleemont, 18C7. 



liar form, the engine being coupled to the crank-shaft by a bell-crank, 

 and the paddle-wheel shaft being separated from the crank-shaft, but 

 connected with the latter by gearing. The cylinders were twenty- 

 four inches in diameter and of four feet stroke. The paddle-wheels 

 had buckets four feet long, with a dip of two feet. 



An old drawing made by Fulton's own hand, showing this engine 

 as it was improved in 1808, is in the relic-corner of the lecture-room 

 of the author at the Stevens Institute of Technology. 



The voyage of this steamer to Albany was attended with some 

 ludicrous incidents, which found their counterparts whenever subse- 

 quently steamers were for the first time introduced. 



90. Mr. Colden, the biographer of Fulton, says that she was de- 

 scribed by persons who had seen her passing at night, " as a monster 

 moving on the waters, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames 

 and smoke." 



This first steamboat used dry pine-wood for fuel, and the flame 

 rose to a considerable distance above the smoke-pipe, and, when the 

 fires were disturbed, mingled smoke and sparks rose high in the air. 



" This uncommon light," says Colden, " first attracted the atten- 

 tion of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and 

 tide were averse to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it 

 was rapidly coming toward them, and, when it came so near that the 



