STEAM ENGINE STEAM NAVIGATION. 



395 



.-cording to Smeaton, ^j^? = 33 horses' power ; 



uncording to DesaguliiTs, 'Irovf ~ 28 horse9 ' P ower ' 



according to Watt, 7 ^2 - 23 horses' power ; 



uotmu 



according to the usual estimate, ~ 17 horses' power. 



44000 



The reader will have no difficulty in forming a 

 general rule for estimating the power of a steam 

 engine. (The effective pressure on each circular 

 inch X the area of piston in circular inches x length 

 of stroke in feet X number of strokes per minute) 

 44000 = the number of horses' power of the 

 engine. 



STEAM ENGINE, LOCOMOTIVE. See 

 Locomotion, Locomotive Engine, and Railways. 



STEAM NAVIGATION. The application of 

 steam power to the propelling of vessels, is one of 

 the most important inventions of modern times, 

 By this application of the steam engine, man has so 

 extended his dominion over nature, that he may 

 be almost said to have completely overcome the 

 wind and the tide in traversing the deep. From 

 the uniformity and amount of the power, the time 

 of transit upon rivers, seas and even the ocean, is 

 not only vastly different from the former modes of 

 navigating, but vessels may be calculated upon in 

 all weathers with as much certainty as can well 

 be desired. The advantages of steam navigation 

 have, as is well known, been immense, and are daily 

 increasing ; but it is at the same time worthy of 

 observation, that the advantages to mankind by its 

 application to the art of war are by no means in- 

 considerable ; for by diminishing the chance of vic- 

 tory of either side of the combatants over the other 

 by chance advantages of winds or currents, it in- 

 creases the certainty of destruction to and propor- 

 tionally lessens the desire for battle. In a book by 

 Valturius, entitled " De re Militari," printed at 

 Verona, in 1472, a method is described of propelling 

 vessels by means of paddles or wheels. The vanes, 

 or paddles, were made of pitched sail clqth, and were 

 put in motion by means of cranks. It is beyond doubt 

 that troops were often transported across rivers, 

 during the 15th and 16th centuries, by means of 

 boats, or pontoons, moved by paddles, the paddles 

 being turned by animal strength. Jonathan Hull 

 was the first who proposed to apply steam power 

 to the propelling of vessels. His method of con- 

 verting the reciprocating into the rotatory motion 

 was ingenious, though by no means so simple as 

 the crank. The steam-boat was patented in De- 

 cember, 1736, and a description, with a drawing, 

 published in a small pamphlet, in 1737, under the 

 title of " A description and draught of a new in- 

 vented machine for carrying vessels or ships out of 

 or into harbour, port, or river, against wind, or 

 tide, or in a calm." From the date of this inven- 

 tion it is manifest that the engine must have been 

 the old atmospheric engine of Newcommen. The 

 paddles were situated behind the boat. It would 

 appear that, from want of encouragement, the 

 steam-boat of Jonathan Hull was never actually 

 constructed. Two Americans, James Ramsey oi 

 Virginia, and John Fitch of Philadelphia, claimed 

 the honour of inventing steam-boats, about 1785, 

 BO also did Thomas Paine, but none of their plans 

 were ever brought into practice. Robert Fulton, 



an American engineer, claimed the honour of being 

 the inventor and constructor of the first steam-boat 

 actually brought into use ; but the following state- 

 ments will show that his claims are unfounded. 



The real inventors of the steam-boat were Mr 

 Miller of Dalswinton, and the tutor of his family, 

 Mr James Taylor. The former was the first to 

 suggest the application of paddle-wheel in the pro- 

 pelling of vessels, and the latter to suggest the em- 

 ployment of steam as the moving-power of these 

 wheels. So far back as the year 1788, they con- 

 structed a boat on this principle, the engine of 

 which was made by Mr Symington, then a young 

 engineer in Edinburgh. Experiments were made 

 with this boat on the lake of Dalswinton, Dumfries- 

 shire, which proved highly satisfactory, the vessel 

 being driven at the rate of five miles an hour. The 

 same gentleman, in the following year, constructed, 

 at the Carron foundry, a larger vessel, which was 

 1 ried on the Forth and Clyde canal in November and 

 December, 1789, and went at the rate of seven miles 

 an hour. Soon after this, a misunderstanding arose 

 between Messrs Miller and Taylor, and the prosecu- 

 tion of the invention was by them for some time 

 neglected. Mr Symington, the engineer, meanwhile, 

 did not abandon the project. Having commenced 

 business at Falkirk, he, in 1801, built another ex- 

 perimental steam vessel, which was also tried with 

 success on the Forth and Clyde canal, but was in- 

 terdicted by the canal company, on account of its 

 motion destroying the banks. This vessel, which 

 lay at Lock Sixteen, was inspected by Mr Fulton, 

 accompanied by Mr Henry Bell of Glasgow, when 

 on a visit to the Carron works ; and the conse- 

 quence was, that, in 1807, Mr Fulton launched a 

 steam vessel on the Hudson, and, in 1812, Mr Bell 

 another upon the Clyde, being respectively the first 

 vessels of the kind used for the service of the public 

 in the new and old hemispheres. Before, however, 

 carrying the discovery to America, Mr Fulton, in 

 company with Robert R. Livingston, American 

 minister to France, made several experiments on the 

 subject. After some trials on a small scale, they 

 built a boat upon the Seine, in 1803, which was 

 completely successful. On Mr Fulton's arrival at 

 New York, in 1806, they immediately engaged in 

 building a boat of what was then deemed very con- 

 siderable dimensions. This boat began to navigate 

 the Hudson river in 1807 : its progress through the 

 water was at the rate of five miles an hour. Feb- 

 ruary 11, 1809, Mr Fulton took out his first patent 

 for navigation by steam ; and, February 9, 1811, he 

 obtained a second patent for some improvements 

 in his boats and machinery. In 1811 and 1812, two 

 steam-boats were built under Mr Fulton's directions, 

 as ferry-boats for crossing the Hudson river, and 

 soon after, one of the same description for the East 

 river. Of the former Mr Fulton wrote and pub- 

 lished a description, in the American Medical and 

 Philosophical Register, for October, 1812. These 

 boats were what are called twin-boats ; each of them 

 being two complete hulls, united by a deck or 

 bridge ; sharp at both ends, and moving equally well 

 with either end foremost ; so that they cross and 

 re-cross without losing any time in turning. 



After the minute account that has been given of 

 the steam engine, little need be said here more than 

 to point out the peculiarities of the arrangement of 

 its parts as adapted to navigation. The chief dif- 

 ference in form arises from the necessity of keeping 

 the centre of gravity of the vessel as low as possible, 

 in order that she may maintain her stability, and 



