34 



BULLETIN 173, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Schuyler mine. This establishment was located on Second River near 

 Belleville, N. J., and was called "Soho" after the Boulton and Watt 

 works of the same name. In 1798, under the direction of Roosevelt, 

 who was then probably the sole owner, a steam engine was made for 

 the boat Polacca. This engine had a 20-inch diameter cylinder and 

 a 24-inch stroke (Nelson, Josiah HornhloiDer). The boat was the 

 result of the combined efforts of Col. John Stevens, of Hoboken, 

 Robert R. Livingston, of New York, and Roosevelt. 



On March 21, 1799, Roosevelt contracted to build the engines for 

 the Center Square and the Schuylkill (at Chestnut Street) stations 

 of the Philadelphia waterworks. These were large engines of the 

 Boulton and Watt type and were put in operation in December 1800 

 and January 1801. The contract price was $30,000 for the two, but 

 Roosevelt claimed that they cost him $77,192 to build. Complete 

 descriptions of these are given in an illustrated paper by Fred. 

 Graff, C. E., quoted in the article "The History of the Steam Engine 

 in America" in the Journal of the Franklin Institute^ October 1876, 

 and also in United States Centennial Com/mission: Reports and 

 Awards^ International Exhibition^ vol. 6, p. 197, 1876. The same 

 references show that in July 1800 a small cylinder for a steamboat 

 engine (for Roosevelt, Livingston, and others) was being bored at 

 the "Soho" works. 



Col. John Stevens in 1799 became the engineer of the Manhattan 

 Company, which was organized that year to supply water to the City 

 of New York. He convinced the directors that a steam pump should 

 be substituted for the horsepower pumps with which the company 

 started, and in 1800 constructed (probably at his own shop in 

 Hoboken) an engine of the Savery type embodying several of his 

 own improvements. This was not satisfactory, and Stevens then 

 attempted to construct an engine with "Doc" Appollos Kinsley, 

 owner of a small machine shop in Greenwich Street, New York. 

 Kinsley wrote in August 1801 that he had the engine in operation, 

 ready to deliver, but he became ill before its completion and Stevens 

 procured an engine of the Boulton and Watt type, constructed by 

 Robert McQueen, of New York. This engine continued in operation 

 to about 1844 (Turnbull, A. D., John Stevens^ An American Record,, 

 pp. 151-152, 1928). 



Oliver Evans, millwright and engineer, speculated on the use of 

 the steam engine to propel land carriages as early as 1773-74. He 

 filed an application for a patent with the United States Patent Office 

 in 1792 containing specifications for horizontal and vertical recipro- 

 cating engines and a rotary engine. In 1801 he completed a prac- 

 tical steam engine, which, if it did grind plaster and saw marble, 

 was the first steam engine to be used in a manufacturing process in 

 this country, all earlier engines having been used to pump water or 



