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he died before its completion, yet liis associates completed it, and obtained 

 a speed of 4 miles an hour against wind and tide on the Thames. 



Patrick Miller, of Dumfrieshire, James Taylor and William Symington, 

 each made experiments in the boat, the paddle wheel, and reciprocating 

 motion of the steam engine, each having a beneficial tendency to the future 

 introduction of steam navigation. 



Miller proposed two hulls, with a paddle wheel between, so as to enable 

 the vessel to bear sail. 



In 1789, Miller constructed a large double barge, with a paddle wheel 

 in the centre, driven by a 12 horse power engine, which made 7 miles an 

 hour on the Forth and Clyde canal. 



Symington, in 1801, commenced experimenting in steam navigation un- 

 der the auspices of Lord Dundas. His object seems to have been the 

 introduction of tug boats, instead of horses, for drawing boats on canals. 

 In 1802, one of his boats drew, on the Forth and Clyde canal, two loaded 

 vessels of 70 tons burden, each 19 miles, in 6^ hours, against a head wind 

 so strong that no other vessel could move to the windward that day. 



This tug boat was a short vessel with a single paddle wheel in the stern, 

 driven by a horizontal engine, connected directly with the crank, having a 

 cylinder 22 inches diameter and 4 feet stroke. 



In this case the success of the vessel was beyond all doubt, but the pro- 

 ject was abandoned in consequence of the injury to the banks of the canal 

 from the undulation of the water, caused by the paddle wheel. The 

 speed of the boat, alone, is said to have been 6 miles an hour. 



In 1791, John Stevens, of Hoboken, commenced his experiments, which 

 although more perfect than his predecessors, were unsuccessful in the great 

 object. He succeded in impelling boats at 5 or 6 miles an hour. During 

 these experiments he invented the first tuhilar boiler. 



In 1793, the Earl of Stanhope constructed a boat on the plan of Gene- 

 vois, with a propeller similar to a duck's foot, but being unable to obtain 

 more than 3 miles an h'Our, it was abandoned. We find Fulton advising 

 him to use the paddle wheel, but he declined so doing. 



Chancellor Livingston now took up the subject, and constructed a boat 

 propelled by a system of paddles resembling a chain pump, and in 1797 

 applied to the Legislature of New York for an exclusive grant to navigate 

 boats by a steam engine, which was granted on condition that he should, 

 within twelve months, produce a steam vessel that should attain a mean 

 rate of 4 miles an hour. Although assisted by Nesbitt and Brunei, he 

 failed to accomplish it, and being appointed minister plenipotentiary of the 

 United States to France, he suspended his operations. 



In 1801, Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, made an experiment which may 

 be mentioned in this connection. He built for the corporation of the city 

 of Philadelphia, a dredging machine, weighing twenty-one tons, which he 

 mounted on wheels, and gearing the engine to the axle, propelled the ma- 

 chine from his shop one and a half miles to the Delaware river. He then 



