USA > Connecticut > Tercentenary pamphlet series, v. 3 The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Connecticut > Part 30
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II
with iron, bent and forged to shape by a blacksmith. Much of the work taxed the skill of the workmen to the utmost, and the mere fact that they were able at last to complete it was considered noteworthy by their con- temporaries.
V
THE difficulties, however, were by no means all of a technical nature. From the inception of the steamboat project in 1785 until its final abandonment almost ten years later, a large share of Fitch's energy was devoted to attempting to raise funds to carry on the experi- ments. Again and again he appealed for help to the public, to the state and national legislatures, to his friends, and to the financial leaders of Philadelphia and the South. Most of the original stockholders in the enter- prise soon tired of the repeated assessments, and for months at a time the work was suspended while Fitch argued and cajoled a few dollars here and there from unwilling contributors. It has been estimated that altogether some eight thousand dollars were expended, probably the largest amount sunk up to that time in America on a single technical experiment.
In order to raise such a sum in poverty-stricken post- Revolutionary America, much more than an inventor's enthusiasm was necessary. Steps had to be taken to secure a monopoly, the anticipated profits of which would accrue to the backers of the experimental work. The federal patent system was not yet in existence, but the individual states could still grant exclusive rights within their own borders. Securing these state monopolies was a long and troublesome process, but Fitch nego- tiated for them with tireless patience and skill. He seems to have interviewed almost every man of political
I2
prominence in the country, from General Washington down, with the result that after many delays and disap- pointments, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia were induced to grant the desired exclusive rights in the years 1786 and 1787. Repeated attempts to secure a federal monopoly were ineffectual until after the passage of the first federal patent law in 1790.
More serious in its effect upon Fitch than the diffi- culties in developing, financing, and protecting his own conception was the protracted quarrel with James Rum- sey over priority of invention. Rumsey, like Fitch, had been attracted by the problem of power navigation. Whether he had even so much as thought of steam for the purpose, until long after Fitch had made the idea a commonplace, is doubtful, but he was fortunate in securing a number of prominent patrons and for a time was influential in opposing Fitch's claims before the various legislative bodies. The contest absorbed an inordinate amount of Fitch's attention and seems to have embittered him to such an extent as to interfere seriously with the prosecution of his own constructive plans.
The attitude of the public toward inventions and inventors in general was one of skepticism tinged with scorn. The comparatively low state of development of the technical arts made the successful reduction to prac- tice of new ideas an extremely difficult-often an impos- sible-task. Many a perfectly sound conception had failed for lack of adequate technical facilities by which alone it could be demonstrated and brought into practi- cal use. The inventor was above all concerned with prac- tical problems, and his repeated failures to overcome the handicaps of an undeveloped productive technique
I3
made him, in the eyes of his contemporaries, a visionary, a pursuer of will-o'-the-wisps and a fit subject for deri- sion. Nowhere has this attitude been better described than in the words of James Rumsey when writing in 1788 of his own efforts to construct a steamboat:
Those who have had the good fortune to discover a new machine ... must arm themselves with patience to abide disappointments; to correct a thousand imperfections (which the trying hand of experience alone can point out) to endure the smarting shafts of wit, and, what is perhaps more intoler- able than all the rest put together (on the least failure of any experiments) to bear up against the heavy abuse and bitter scoffs of ill-natured ignorance. These never fail to represent the undertaker as an imposter, and his motives most knavish: Happy for him if he escape with so gentle an appellative as that of a madman.
VI
IN the face of such obstacles Fitch and his associates in the steamboat company began early in May, 1786, the developments which were to lead to the first successful steamboat in history. Recognizing the handicap of his own limited technical knowledge, Fitch's initial step was to secure the assistance of a technician better quali- fied to design and construct the all-important steam engine. John Nancarrow, proprietor of a foundry in Philadelphia and one of the leading American mechanics of his day, was the first choice, but after working for a few weeks over the problem he had nothing better to offer than a modified Newcomen engine which Fitch refused to approve. Consideration was then given to Josiah Hornblower who, in 1753, had installed the pump- ing engine at the Schuyler copper mine at Passaic, New Jersey; and to Christopher Colles of New York, an ingenious and scientifically trained Irishman, who was recognized as an outstanding authority on steam.
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While negotiations were pending with these men Fitch discussed the project with Henry Voight, a German mechanician who had settled in Philadelphia, had worked for some years as an assistant to David Ritten- house, and in 1786 was in business as a clockmaker. Voight's talents seem to have made an immediate impression upon the members of the company, and he was persuaded to become associated with Fitch in the work of developing the steamboat. A happier choice could not have been made, for there is no question but that a generous share of credit for the ultimately success- ful operation of Fitch's boat belongs to Voight. Fitch, who was not a man to overestimate his contemporaries, wrote of him :
Mr. Voight is a Plain Dutchman, who fears no man, and will always speak his sentiments, which has given offence to some members of our Co., and some of them have effected to have a contemptable an opinion of his Philosophic abilities. It is true he is not a man of Letters, nor mathematical Knowl- edge, but for my part, I would depend on him more than a Franklin, a Rittenhouse, an Ellicot, a Nancarrow, and Mat- lack, all combined, as he is a man of superior Mechanical abilities, and Very considerable Natural Philosophy; and as we have many of the first Geniuses in our Co., perhaps nearly equal to those I have mentioned, it is certain that he has pointed out more defects than them all, and pointed out ways to remedy those defects, when consternation sat silent in every brest for the disaster.
In his famous pamphlet, The original steam-boat supported (Philadelphia, 1788), Fitch recorded:
It is proper I should not pass over this part of my work without acknowledging, that I have been greatly indebted to the assistance of my ingenious friend Mr. Henry Voight of this city: who has uniformly, from my first undertaking to build a boat, afforded me valuable hints; and has united with
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me in perfecting my plans. To his inventive genius alone, I am indebted for the improvement in our mode of creating steam.
At Voight's suggestion a small model engine with a cylinder one inch in diameter was first constructed. Although it cost but £3 Pennsylvania currency, and suffered from numerous defects, it seems to have con- vinced its makers of the correctness of their fundamental ideas, and much encouraged, they proceeded at once to build a double-acting engine with a three-inch cylin- der. A small skiff was also fitted up "in order to try the effect of the propelling apparatus by hand." Consider- able difficulty was experienced in devising a satisfactory method of propulsion. Various types of paddle wheels were tried with indifferent success, but eventually a series of crank-operated oars on each side of the boat was adopted and successfully tested on July 27, 1786. The engine alone cost the company about one hundred dollars. In a letter to Benjamin Franklin, Fitch remarked of it:
The principles upon which it operates are good, and will in every respect communicate a satisfactory Knowledge of a steam Engine, and in some measure of its power. Yet it has some defects, which are chiefly the following, viz .- Ist the stove and Boiler, being small, the steam is not sufficient to move the Piston, more than about twenty strokes per minut. 2nd The Piston, being worked both ways by steam, its rod soon becomes heated, that it cannot move home one way, by a space of from half an inch to Two inches, by its then creating steam. 3rd The Pumps which alternately inject water into the Cylinder causes too small friction; yet notwithstanding these Dificulties the Piston moves with considerable Velocity, when unloaded, and is supplied with steam.
This engine was apparently not actually installed in the skiff but served its purpose in demonstrating the
16
soundness of the double-acting principle and in establish- ing many of the practical features of a satisfactory engine. The experience gained with the skiff and experimental engines encouraged Fitch and the members of the com- pany to make immediate preparations for building a boat of sufficient size to be useful in carrying passengers and freight. By the end of the year 1786 the work had so far progressed that the following description of this boat appeared in the Columbian magazine (Philadelphia, December, 1786) :
It is to be propelled through the water by the force of steam; the steam-engine is to be similar to the late improved steam- engines in Europe, those alterations excepted; the cylinder is to be horizontal, and the steam to work with equal force at each end thereof .- The mode of forming a vacuum is believed to be entirely new; also of letting the water into it, and throw- ing it off against the atmosphere, without any friction. The undertakers are also of opinion that their engine will work with an equal force to those late improved engines, it being a twelve inch cylinder; they expect it will move with a clear force, after deducting the friction, of between eleven and twelve hundred pounds weight-which force is to be applied to the turning of an axle-tree on a wheel of 18 inches diameter. The piston is to move about three feet; and each vibration of the piston turns the axle-tree about two thirds round. They propose to make the piston to strike thirty strokes in a minute, which will give the axle-tree about forty revolutions. Each revolution of the axle-tree moves twelve oars five and a half feet; as six oars come out of the water, six more enter the water, which makes a stroke of about eleven feet each revolu- tion. The oars work perpendicular, and make a stroke similar to the paddle of a canoe. The cranks of the axle-tree act upon the oar about one third of their length from their lower end, on which part of the oar, the whole force' of the axle-tree is applied. The engine is placed in about the thirds of the boat, and both the action and re-action of the piston operate to turn the axle-tree the same way.
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The new engine was not completed until May, 1787, and when installed in the boat it developed seemingly endless defects. The wooden caps of the cylinder leaked, the piston was loose, the condenser was useless and had to be replaced, the steam valves were imperfect, and the boiler was too small. It was necessary to rebuild much of the machinery. The difficulties were not due to failure in understanding the underlying principles but rather to lack of practical experience in proportioning the various parts. Each component presented individual problems which could be solved only empirically by trial and error, and the correct relationships of these components one with another were necessarily matters for experi- mental determination. Fitch and Voight were, in the words of Westcott, "forced to grope in the dark, as it were, feeling their way, and being painfully instructed by the comparative failure of the different parts of the engine ... only making experiments where they had hoped for triumphant success."
The records of this work indicate very clearly that Fitch was fully aware of the latest developments achieved by Boulton and Watt. His engine was essentially Watt's double-acting engine with steam introduced alternately on both sides of the piston, jet condensation in a separate condenser, and an air pump to draw off the condensing water and exhaust the condenser. Many of the details of Watt's design were modified or independently dis- covered and put into practice. Voight designed a tubular boiler for rapid steam generation of which Fitch wrote:
A fear of departing from old established plans, made me fearful of adopting it, until I found by his invention of creat- ing steam, that a condenser might be constructed on the same principles (viz a spiral pipe or worm) only by reversing the agent, for the best way of applying fire to evaporate water
18
into steam, must also be the best way of applying cold water to condense steam, that is the bringing the greatest quantity of fire into action upon the greatest surface of water-or the contrary-And we had an additional inducement to study this subject, because the common way of fixing boilers, required so great a load of brick work, that it over-loaded our boat. Therefore, the first thought that must occur to every man, attempting to raise steam on board a boat, must be to acquire that method which would require the least weight.
VII
THE changes were finally completed, and on August 22, 1787, the boat was successfully tried on the Delaware river in the presence of most of the members of the Con- stitutional Convention. On August 27, 1787, President Ezra Stiles of Yale College noted in his diary: "Judge Ellsworth, a member of the Federal Convention, just returned from Philadelphia visited me, and tells me the Convention will not rise under three weeks. He there saw a Steam-Engine for rowing boats against the stream, invented by Mr. Fitch, of Windsor, in Connecticut. He was on board the boat, and saw the experiment suc- ceed." Somewhat later in the year David Rittenhouse recorded that he had "frequently seen Mr. Fitch's steam- boat, which he has at length compleated, and has like- wise been on board when the boat was worked against both wind and tide, with a very considerable degree of velocity, by the force of steam only."
Although successful, in that it had demonstrated for the first time the practicability of steam as applied to navigation, the boat of 1787 did not satisfy its promoters. The comparatively small power developed by the engine resulted in a speed not much greater than four miles an hour, which was substantially less than that optimisti- cally promised by Fitch. The boat itself was too small
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to be commercially profitable as a packet and the propel- ling machinery was too unreliable and occupied far too much valuable space. It was therefore decided to begin again, construct a new and improved engine with an eighteen-inch cylinder, build a larger hull, and place the propelling paddles at the stern of the vessel.
This new boat was first tried with the old engine early in the summer of 1788, making a trip from Philadelphia to Burlington, a distance of twenty miles. A boiler explo- sion at the conclusion of the trip failed to discourage the company, and after repairs and minor improvements to the machinery, a number of similar trips were made. During the winter and spring of 1788-89 the new engine was completed and installed. Immediately fresh difficul- ties arose. To meet them new types of condensers were tried and discarded, a new air pump was built, and the boiler was altered. Finally, on April 12, 1790, the machin- ery was put in motion and operated so powerfully that a pulley was snapped. This was quickly repaired, and with high hopes a second trial was made of which Fitch wrote in his journal:
On the 16th of April, got our work compleated, and tried our Boat again; and altho the wind blew very fresh at the north east, we reigned Lord High Admirals of the Deleware, and no boat in the River could hold its way with us, but all fell astern, although several sail boats, which were very light, and heavy sails, that brought their gunwales well down in the water, came out to try us. We also passed many boats with oars, and strong manned, and no loading, and [they] seemed to stand still when we passed them. We also run round a vessel that was beating to windward in about two miles, which had half a mile start of us, and came in without any of our works failing. ... Thus has been effected, by little Johnny Fitch and Harry Voight, one of the greatest and most useful arts that has ever been introduced into the world; and although the
20
world and my country does not thank me for it, yet it gives me heartfelt satisfaction.
The problem of steam navigation had been solved. Five years to a day from Fitch's first conception of a steamboat as the instrument for opening up the com- merce of the continent, he was guiding such a vessel up and down the Delaware river. Judged in the light of a later day the little boat was crude beyond belief. Viewed from the standpoint of the year 1790 it was close to a miracle. Fitch himself, with that rare insight which so often characterized him, modestly appraised the accom- plishment when he wrote: "If we never carry it to any greater degree of perfection, we have merited a generous reward for laying the foundations for future improve- ments."
The boat was immediately put into shape to receive passengers, and within six weeks was operating upon a regular commercial schedule. The first announcement of the service appeared in the Federal gazette of Phila- delphia for June 14, 1790:
The Steamboat is now ready to take passengers, and is intended to set off from Arch street Ferry, in Philadelphia, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, & Trenton, to return on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Price for passengers, 2/6 to Burlington and Bristol, 3/9 to Bordentown, 6s. to Trenton.
Throughout the summer twenty-three such adver- tisements appeared in the Philadelphia newspapers announcing the schedule of sailings. It is estimated that from June 14 to September 10 the boat covered between two and three thousand miles and carried many hun- dreds of passengers. No serious accidents occurred. The grate burned out. "The axle-trees broke twice; there was
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nothing but these accidents which could not be repaired in a single hour or two," wrote Fitch. "The boat ran five hundred miles between these accidents." A speed in excess of seven miles an hour was maintained, a record not to be equaled for over twenty years.
Something of the feeling of Fitch's friends was ex- pressed in an anonymous letter written from Philadel- phia on August 13, 1790, to the New York magazine:
Fitch's steamboat really performs to a charm. It is a pleas- ure, while one is on board of her in a contrary wind, to observe her superiority over the river shallops, sloops, ships, &c. who, to gain any thing, must make a zigzag course, while this, our new invented vessel, proceeds in a direct line. On Sunday morning she sets off for Chester, and engages to return in the evening-40 miles. God willing, I intend to be one of the pas- sengers, were it only to encourage American ingenuity and the fine arts. Fitch is certainly one of the most ingenious creatures alive, and will certainly make his fortune.
This prediction was not to be fulfilled, however, for at the very height of his triumph Fitch was already facing the total collapse of the enterprise.
VIII
THE law under which Virginia had granted Fitch a monopoly of steam navigation within its jurisdiction (which included Kentucky, Ohio, and the Northwest) contained the provision that it would become void by November 7, 1790, unless "the said John Fitch shall then have in use, on some river of this commonwealth, boats, or craft of at least twenty tons burthen, constructed and navigated" according to his invention as described in the grant. To meet this requirement it was necessary to build another vessel. An attempt was made to complete it in time, but progress was slow, new difficulties of a
22
mechanical nature arose, and all hope of retaining the Virginia monopoly vanished when a storm blew the new boat upon Petty's island, opposite the northern end of Philadelphia. All but three or four members of the com- pany abandoned the undertaking, and Fitch, after a few desperate but unsuccessful attempts to raise further funds with which to carry on the work, turned his thoughts toward other occupations.
Abandonment of the enterprise occurred in the face of a wholly successful demonstration of its technical and commercial soundness. The expenses incurred had been modest in comparison with the positive accomplish- ment; the pressing need for better transportation throughout the West was yearly becoming more evident; and at the very moment when lack of support was forc- ing Fitch to give up his cherished schemes, Samuel Morey was starting work upon another steamboat on the Con- necticut river. Unfortunately, in spite of his technical success, Fitch had to a large extent lost the confidence and support of his associates. His constant appeals for financial aid; his endless public quarrels with rivals, especially with the powerfully supported Rumsey; his frequent lack of decision in the management of the affairs of the steamboat company; and such personal idiosyn- crasies as his active promulgation of unorthodox Uni- tarian views on religion and his outspoken Anti-Federal- ist stand in politics had alienated the conservative Philadelphians and made further financing of his work impossible.
Loss of the Virginia monopoly also entailed loss of the exclusive rights to navigate the Western waters by steam, removing much of the incentive to further effort, since the purpose of the undertaking had been from the very first to exploit the commerce of the Western waters.
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In one of his last reports to the members of the company, Fitch lamented:
That we have brought our scheme so far to perfection as to convince the World that a steam engine may be introduced into a Boat to advantage, is one of the greatest consolations. But that the time necessarily employed in the pursute has extended beyond the limit unfortunately assigned by the state of Virginia, is the cause of our greatest greiff. Our expec- tations of extensive profits, you well know, were built on exclusive rights to navigate the Western Waters.
Finally, it appears from the testimony of Dr. William Thornton, a member of the company and afterwards superintendent of the United States patent office, that in building the last boat "a spirit of innovation having seized some of the Company, and their attempts to simplify the machine having ruined it, their unsuccessful endeavors to make it work subjected them to debts, which obliged them to sacrifice both boats and all the machinery."
Although practical work on the steamboat had been abandoned in the fall of 1790, it was hoped that some- thing might still be salvaged by transferring operations to Europe. Fitch had entered into an agreement with Aaron Vail, United States consul at L'Orient, France, whereby the latter was authorized to take out patents in the leading European countries. Such a patent was actually secured in France on November 20, 1791. The United States patent had been issued on August 26, 1791, and with the encouragement afforded by these grants, some fitful attempts were made to renew the experimental work, but nothing of importance was accomplished. Fitch seems to have supported himself during this period by working at his old trade of silversmith in a shop on Second Street, Philadelphia, but much of his time was
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occupied in writing the history of his life and of the steamboat project. This he completed in the autumn of 1792 and then, under the patronage of John Nicholson, a wealthy land speculator, he turned his attention to the development of a boat to be operated by a horse-driven treadmill. This boat was an idea of Henry Voight's which had been patented in 1791, and Fitch seems to have been employed by Nicholson merely to supervise its construction. Difficulties over ownership of the patent caused the abandonment of the work in February, 1793.
A final attempt to revive the steamboat enterprise was made in 1793, when the remaining members of the old company decided to send Fitch to France. It was the intention that he should build a steamboat at L'Orient under the general supervision of Vail, but upon his arrival he found the country in the throes of revolution and was able to accomplish nothing. He spent some time in London, where he published a pamphlet on an original method of keeping a ship's traverse, and then returned to the United States, arriving destitute in Boston early in January, 1794.
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