104 ON THE STEAM BOATS OF 



Three steam boats were constructed by Fulton for the navigation of the Hudson. These 

 were all flat bottomed. He also constructed a vessel intended for the navigation of Long 

 Island Sound. This had a keel, and although of little depth of hold, approached in figure, in 

 other respects, to the usual form of a fast sailing ship. He also drew the plan of another, 

 which was left unfinished at his death, and which was intended for the navigation of the 

 ocean. 



The success which attended the vessel intended for the navigation of the Sound, but which, 

 in consequence of the presence of an enemy's fleet, had been restricted to the Hudson, seems 

 to have caused Fulton to doubt the propriety of the first model which he had adopted ; and, 

 in consequence, the last vessel which he planned for the navigation of the Hudson, and which 

 was also left unfinished at his death, had a keel. It is, however, a remarkable fact, that after 

 innumerable trials, the present model of the most rapid steam boats has returned nearly to 

 the proportions originally adopted by Fulton. They have a keel indeed, but the floor timbers 

 have but a few inches of dead rise, and thus the bottom is nearly flat. Besides vessels intended 

 for the conveyance of travellers upon the Sound and the Hudson, Fulton constructed several 

 ferry boats, intended for the transportation of loaded carriages, and a formidable ship of war. 

 He also furnished plans for vessels intended for the mixed purposes of carrying freight and 

 passengers upon the Mississipi. 



The elder Stevens of Hoboken, whom we have mentioned as having made experiments on 

 steam navigation, resumed his attempts at the very moment that Fulton was about to put his 

 plan in operation ; and it was only a few weeks after the first successful voyage of the latter, 

 that he also had a steam boat in motion. The speed of this was at least equal to that of the 

 first steam boat of Fulton. It plied for a time as a ferry boat from New York to Hoboken, 

 and, when excluded from the navigation of the Hudson by the exclusive grant to Fulton, 

 Stevens sent this boat round to the Delaware by sea, and was in consequence the first to 

 navigate the ocean by steam. 



The form of engine adopted by Stevens differed less from the original form of that of Watt, 

 than the form chosen by Fulton. The parallel motion and working beam were both retained 

 in their usual form and proportions ; the connecting rod was increased somewhat in length, 

 and the axle of the crank produced on both sides, in order to form the axle of the paddle 

 wheels ; the enlarged conductor, as a substitute for the cold water cistern, was also used 

 by him. 



These forms of engines, thus brought into use by Fulton and Stevens, have directed the 

 practice of American engineers. The fly wheel used by Fulton has been laid aside as 

 unnecessary at high speeds ; the parallel motion has been superseded even in the engine with 

 a lever beam by a cross head and slides. Upon the Mississipi, and in a few instances in 

 the Atlantic States, horizontal engines have been employed ; and the description of engine 

 called high pressure, in contradistinction to condensing, is much used in the Western waters. 



New York and its vicinity may still be considered as furnishing the most successful instances 

 of steam navigation. WTien the monopoly granted to Fulton by the state of New York was 

 decided to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, the navigation of 

 the Hudson was thrown open to competition. The number of passengers then conveyed upon 

 that river had already become enormous, and presented inducements of the most powerful 

 kind to the proprietors of steam boats. The boats of Fulton's Company had performed the 



