Inventor; born in
Little Britain,
Lancaster co., Pa., in 1765; received a common-school education; became a miniature painter; and, at the age of twenty, was practising that profession in
Philadelphia, by which he made
enough money to buy a small farm in
Washington county, on which he placed his mother.
Then he went to
England; studied painting under
Benjamin West; became a civil engineer; and made himself familiar with the steam engine, then just improved by
Watt.
He devised various machines, among them an excavator for scooping out the channels of aqueducts.
He wrote and published essays on canals and canal navigation in 1795-96.
He went to
Paris in 1797, and remained there seven years with
Joel Barlow, studying languages and sciences, and invented a torpedo.
This he offered to the
French and
English governments, but both rejected the invention, and in December, 1806, he arrived in New York.
He went to
Washington, where the models and drawings of his torpedo made a favorable impression.
In 1807 he perfected his steamboat for navigating the
Hudson, having been aided by
Robert R. Livingston, with whom he had been acquainted in
Paris.
Livingston had made experiments in steamboating as early as 1798, when he was granted the exclusive privilege of navigating the waters of the
State by steam.
Fulton was finally included in the provisions of the act, and in September, 1807, the
Clermont, the first steamboat that navigated the
Hudson, made a successful voyage from New York to
Albany and back.
She travelled at the rate of 5 miles an hour.
See
Livingston, R. R.
[
489]
At this time,
Fulton regarded his torpedo as the greater and more beneficial invention, as he believed it would establish the “liberty of the seas.”
The government, in 1810, appropriated $5,000 to enable him to try further experiments with his torpedo; but a commission decided against it, and he was compelled to abandon his scheme.
Steam navigation was a success.
He built ferry-boats to run across the
North (
Hudson) and East rivers, and built vessels for several steamboat companies in different parts of the
United States.
In 1814 he was appointed by the government engineer to superintend the construction of one or more floating batteries.
He built a war steamer (the first ever constructed), which he called the
Demologos.
She had a speed of 2 1/2 miles an hour, and was deemed a marvel; she was named
Fulton the First, taken to the
Brooklyn navy-yard, and there used as a receiving-ship until January, 1829, when she was accidentally blown up (see
torpedoes).
Fulton died in New York,
Feb, 24, 1815.
See
steamboat, invention of.
