1847.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



117 



In ]802, Fulton, wl o had been some time in England, hearing of Sym- 

 ington's attempts, went to Scotland, visited him on boma his boat, and 

 requested to see it tried. Sjminglon accordingly got up the steam, made 

 several trips up (inii down the canal, and fully e^piained to Fulton every 

 part of the boat, steam engine, and apparatus. Fulton made notes of 

 everything, observing at the same time, that the objection of injuring the 

 banks of the canals and small rivers might apply in England, but that in 

 America, where they were upon a murh larger scale, this inconvenience 

 could not be fell, end he thought the application of steam boats in that 

 country would be of immense public and private advantage, and staled 

 his intention of introducing them there. Afier this visit to Symington, 

 Fulton proceeded to France, where he constructed his first steam boat, and 

 tried it on the Seine, at Paris, in 1803, and proceeded to America soon 

 afterwards. It is rather singular that Napoleon, who was then First Con- 

 sul, and who usually was alive to all great improvements, and carried 

 them through with a degree of energy and talent which overcame all op- 

 position, should not have appreciated the merits of the steam boat, and 

 should have allowed such a line opportunity of benefiting France to have 

 slipped through his hands; but perhaps the same may be said of England, 

 as being still more extraordinary, for Ihe advantages of the steam engine 

 and machinery had then become universally acknowledged. Fulton, how- 

 ever, impressed with the importance of the invention, and being thoroughly 

 convinced of its ultimate success, pursued it with unremitting perseverance 

 and energy, and in ISUa he applied to Messrs. Boulton and Watt to make 

 a steam engine for a boat which he was about to construct in America : 

 this boat was accordingly built in 1807. Watt's steam engine reached 

 America in 1800. The vessel was named 'The Clermont,' from his friend 

 Livingstone's residence; the wheels and machinery were on Symington's 

 plan, propelled by Watt's engine; the boat was tried on the Hudson river, 

 and only attained a speed of 5 miles per hour. This was the first steam 

 boat used in America, and Fulton and Livingstone then took out patents 

 for introducing steam boats in various places in America, and built several 

 others upon a larger scale, for carrying goods and passengers, employing 

 Messrs. Boulton and Watt to make the steam engines, which were sent 

 from England, each succeeding engine being larger than its predecessor. 

 Although it was generally known that the steam boats had succeeded per- 

 fectly in America, and that their employment was daily increasing, jet 

 little or no attention was paid to the subject in England. The idea of 

 employing steam boats on the ocean had never been conceived, and the 

 objections raised to the agitation of the water by the paddle-wheels on the 

 Forth and Clyde canal were considered so strong, that doubts were gene- 

 rally entertained as to the success of the system anywhere but in large 

 rivers, such as those of America. In 1812, however, Henry Bell, of 

 Glasgow, who was well acquainted with, and had deeply considered all 

 that had been done by Symington, determined to try once more whether 

 the invention could not be applied on the Clyde; he accordingly caused a 

 small boat of 25 tons burthen to be built at Port Glasgow, by John Wood, 

 who has since become so well knoHU as a ship-builder ; it was 40 leet 

 long, with 10 feet beam, and in it was placed a steam engine of 4 h.p., on 

 what was termed the bell-crank principle, introduced by M'att ; the boiler 

 was placed on one side of the vessel and the engine on the other, with 

 four paddle-wheels worked by the intervention of spur gear ; the wheels 

 consisted of detached arms, with paddles or floats at the end, which, how- 

 ever did not answer, and the complete wheel, according to Symington's 

 plan, was subsequently adopted. This steam boat, which was called the 

 ' Comet,' began to ply for goods and passengers on the Clyde, between 

 Glasgow and Helensburgh (Bell's native place), in January, 1812, and 

 attained the speed of 5 miles an hour. The ' Comet' succeeded so well, 

 that Bell determined to build another vessel of larger dimensions and 

 power. Numerous other parties, seeing the success which had attended 

 Bell's exertions, determined to follow his example, and several other boats 

 were built during the succeeding years of 1813 and 1814 ; they were how- 

 ever, still very imperfect, until Cook, of Glasgow, in 1814, constructed 

 the fourth vessel, the 'Glasgow,' with an engine of 1(5 h.p. The machinery 

 of this vessel was so much more perfect and powerful than any which bad 

 been previously constructed, that it served as a model for many others ; 

 and from this period steam boats for river navigation were completely 

 established. 



Many of the engines employed for the above-mentioned vessels were 

 upon the bell-crank principle; which, from their simplicity and portability, 

 standing upon an independent frame, with the condenser forming part of 

 it, were well wdapted for steam boats, and were consequently generally 

 used. The bell-crank levers, receiving the motion direct from the piston, 

 communicated it by means of a connecting rod and crank to the main 

 shaft, turning the paddle-wheels on each side of the vessel ; the engine 

 was placed on one side of the vessel and the boiler on the other. The 

 boilers generally used were upon the principle proposed by Allen in 1730, 

 and by Smeaton in 1765, having an internal furnace and flue, surrounded 

 by the water. This form of boiler was first brought into use by Trevilh- 

 ick in 1803, for high-pressure engines, and for low-pressure engines, also, 

 in one of the earliest steam-dredging boats, employed at Portsmouth dock- 

 yard, under Bentliam ; but the exterior shell of this boiler was of wood, 

 »s proposed by Brindiey in 1758; in steam vessels Ihe external shell of 

 Ihe boiler was made of wrought iron. All the steam vessels above men- 

 tioned were worked by one engine only. In 1814, Boulton and Walt first 

 applied two engines, connected together, for working a small boat on the 

 Clyde. 



Id 181S, a small vessel, with a side-lever engine of 14 b.p., by Cook of 



Glasgow, made a voyage from Glasgow to Dublin, and round the Land's 

 End to London ; it then ran between London and Margate with passengers 

 with considerable sucess, and this led to others being established in various 

 places; the Scotch boat serving as a model. 



In 1816, Waudslay made a pair of combined engines, each 14 h.p., ap- 

 plying the power to the paddle-wheel shaft by the crank, instead of by 

 cogwheels, according to the previous mode. 



In the same year, the late Mr. Baiid constructed a steam boat at St. 

 Petersburgh, with a boiler set iu brickwork ; this boat worked for soma 

 lime on the Neva. 



In 1817, Boulton and Watt purchased a small steam boat called the 

 ' Caledonia,' which had been built in the Clyde, with very defective en- 

 gines. James M att, jun., having constructed a new pair of combined 

 engines on the side-lever principle, of 14 h.p. each, made a great number 

 of experiments with Ihe ' Caledonia,' and went with it to the Scheldt and 

 other piaces ; the arrangement of the engines, as improved by Walt, 

 served as a model for several other vessels. 



In 1818, David Napier caused the 'Rob Roy,' of 90 tons burthen, to 

 be built by Denny at Dumbarton, wilh an engine of 30 h.p., with which 

 he successfully established a regular communication between Greenock 

 and Belfast: this may be said to be the first time that a regular communica- 

 tion by steam boats, between two dislant sea-ports, was established, and it 

 set the example to every other place. Boulton and Watt, after the success 

 of the 'Caledonia,' made a great number of marine engines of increased 

 power, and wilh various new improvements, such as introducing wrought 

 iron instead of cast iron for several of the moving parts; and in I82I,a 

 great step was made, by establishing steam boats between London and 

 Leilh. Two of these vessels, the 'James Watt' and the 'Soho,'witU 

 engines of 120 h.p., by Boulton and Watt, were the largest which had 

 been made, and answered very well. 



In 1819, the ' Kob Roy' left the Belfast station, and was transferred lo 

 the English Channel, to run between Dover and Calais. About this time 

 Napier built the ' "Talbot' of 150 tons, with two engines of 30 h.p. each, 

 which ran regulaily between Dublin and Holyhead. In this year also, 

 the late Mr. Rennie, who had for some time previous watched the progress 

 of this great invention with considerable interest, foreseeing that it v\ould 

 ultimately supersede all others, proposed to the Admiralty to use steam 

 V essels for towing vessels of war into and out of harbour against wind and 

 tide; being perfectly satisfied that if once it was introduced inlo the navy, 

 it could not be long before steam vessels of war would follow; great 

 doubts, however, as toils success were enterlained and expressed bv many 

 of the official subordinates- Lord Melville and Sir George Cockburn, 

 however, overruled all objections, and, as a first experiment, they consented 

 to allow the ' Hastings,' a 74 line-of-batlle ship, to be towed from Wool- 

 wichby the ' Eclipse,' a Margate steam boat of 60 h.p. The 'Eclipse,' 

 however, proved too ^^eak, and after towing the ' Hastings' a few miles, it 

 returned, and the ' Hastings' went to Chatham with her sails alone; the 

 experiment was thus not quite so successful as could have been desired ; 

 nevertheless Rennie still determined to persevere. Oliver Lang, the mas- 

 ter-shipwright of Woolwich Dockyard, entered fully into Rennie's view?, 

 and warmly assisted by every means in his power the introduction of steam 

 vessels into the navy, contrary to the opinions of many of his superiors. 

 At length the Admiralty, at their recommendation, ordered the ' Comet' to 

 be built according to the draft and plan, and under the superintendence of 

 Mr. Lang; stie was 115 feet long and 21 feet wide, drawing 9 feet of 

 water, and a pair of engines of 40 h.p. each, were ordered for her from 

 Messrs. Boulton and Wall : this was the first steam vessel in the navy, and 

 It is still in use. By degrees several others were built. 



In 1820 a steam tug was built by Mauby, for Messrs. Smith, for the 

 purpose of towing their barges upon the Humber; and in the same year, 

 Maudslay and Field applied the expansive action of steam in the cylinder, 

 which was a great improvement ; also escape valves for the water, which 

 might boil over into the cylinders. In that year also, steam packets were 

 introduced on the post-office station between Holyhead and Howth ; and 

 the ' Britannia,' wilh oscillating engines, and several other steam packets, 

 were built by Manby for the Dover and Calais station. 



In 1825, the General Steam Navigation Company was established by 

 William Jollifie, who built two of the largest vessels which had yet been 

 tried, called the ' George the Fourth' and the ' Duke of York ;' they wer» 

 between 500 and 600 tons burthen, and had engines of 130 h.p., furnished 

 by Messrs. Jessop of the Butterley Iron Works: these two vessels were 

 intended to establish a regular communication between London and Cadiz 

 and London and St. Petersburg ; they accordingly started in September 

 1827, and answered extremely well, notwithstanding the heavy storms 

 which they encountered in the Bay of Biscay and in the Baltic. The 

 General Steam Navigation Company, considering the ideas of JoUiffe too 

 extended, parted with the two ves.^els (which were afterwards purchased 

 by the Government), and limited their views to the British Channel and 

 the German Ocean. Abuut this period, the ' Enterprise,' of 500 tons bur- 

 then, which was built by Gordon, and had a pair of combined engines of 

 120 h.p. constructed by Maudslay and Field, made the voyage from Lou- 

 don to Calcutta, by the Cape of Good Hope, The advantage and supe- 

 riority of steam vessels, in every respect, for both river and sea navigation, 

 having been now thoroughly established, their employment became univer- 

 sal; and the size, power, and number of the vessels increased daily ia 

 every part of the empire. 



From this period nothing remarkable appears to have occurred, until tha 

 construction of the ' United Kiugdum,' which wag by far the largest in 



