if.




NATHAN READ:
HIS INVENTION OF THE MULTI-TUBULAR BOILER
AND PORTABLE HIGH-PRESSURE ENGINE, AND
DISCOVERY OF THE TRUE MODE OF
APPLYING STEAM-POWVER TO NAVIGATION AND RAILWAYS.
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE
STEAMBOAT AND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.
BY HIS FRIEND AND NEPHEW
DAVID READ.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
tanr lge, 31berse Ves1870.
1870.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
DAVID READ,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of
Vermont.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.




PREFACE.
THE successful application of steam-power to boats
and locomotives forms a most important era in the
history of this world's progress; and the men who
took a part in accomplishing that great work, are entitled to the remembrance of all such as respect human genius, and look upon the advance of knowledge
and civilization as a blessing.  The subject of this
memoir was one of those men, and the interesting
incidents relating to his inventions were liable to be
lost to history by the lapse of time, and with them
his just claims for the essential part he took both in
the invention of the steamboat and locomotive engine.
To preserve these facts, was indeed the motive that
led to the preparation of this little volume.
The facts relating to the inventions of Nathan Read,
so far as they were spread on paper, were preserved
by him during his lifetime, and by his family after
his decease; and the reasons why they were not published by himself, will appear in the closing chapter of
this book. He having, however, failed to accomplish
this end, which is much to be regretted, the question




Vi                   PREFA CE.
arose, should the evidence of his labors pass off forever, or be presented to the public?
This was a matter that upon every consideration
both of a private and public character scarcely allowed hesitation; the truth of history, the dictates of
friendship and justice, and the claims of Science to a
knowledge of all who have been devoted to her service, seemed to require the publication; and under
this aspect of the case the labor of collecting the evidence and preparing it for the press was undertaken
by the subscriber, without expectation of fee or reward. And it may be added, that a desire to contribute to the early history of the steamboat and locomotive this additional testimony of the talent and
genius of our own native citizens, will also, it is believed, be appreciated by a generous public.
In prosecuting our inquiries we have found it necessary to compare the respective claims of inventors;
but this occupies no distinct portion of the narrative,
and is drawn from the facts here presented, and from
the published accounts of various authors; and such
extracts as have been deemed proper to elucidate the
subject, or to give interest to the reader, have been
duly credited, by reference to the authorities.
It will be seen that different projectors, supported
by different countries, come in as contestants for the
honor of these inventions: England, Scotland, France,




PREFA CE.                 vii
and Spain, claim the invention of the steamboat; and
Fra:ice and England the locomotive engine; when,
in truth, they were both inventions of our own country; and it will be left for the reader to decide who
among us contributed most toward the invention of
that machinery, which resulted in their success.
The original descriptions, plans, and drawings of
Judge Read, so far as they relate to the subject, have
been carefully copied into this volume; and, on inspection, no one will doubt the genuineness of the
papers. His manuscripts, in the mean time, contain
numerous plans, drawings, and descriptions, of other
inventions and experiments in the mechanic arts, made
by him. These, and many other matters, would properly come within the scope of a biography, but not
within the plan of this work.
To show the necessity of a complete revolution in
the steam-engine to prepare it for navigation, even
after Watt had made his great improvements upon
it, a brief account of its invention as it progressed
from one step to another, from its earliest history up
to the close of Watt's improvements, has been given.
The engine of Savary, Newcomen, or Watt, could not
be successfully applied to boats; and all attempts
made with them utterly failed; which in itself shows
the fallacy of all the claims to the invention of the
steamboat, before the discovery and existence of ma



viii                 PREFA CE.
chinery necessary to give it success. In order to show
this, it became important to notice the numerous experiments, both in this country and Europe, with the
old form of engine, whether of Newcomen or Watt,
or those tried by Rumsey and Fitch; and, to show
wherein their failure consisted, to compare their engines with that afterwards invented by Read, which
it is claimed was the engine applied by Fulton on
his first boat upon the Hudson, and led to the final
success of navigation by steam.
The same may be said of the numerous experiments
with the locomotive engine. All proved unsatisfactory
or wholly failed until the multi-tubular boiler and
high-pressure engine, which had been invented by
Read to fit Watt's engine to the purposes of locomotion, gave triumphant success to the locomotive, as
applied by George Stevenson.
These various inquiries make up an interesting portion of the volume; and although they may be felt
at first to be inapplicable to its general purpose, yet,
as the reader progresses, he will see both the necessity
and importance of this portion of the narrative; more
especially as the design of the work is purely historical.
DAVID READ.
BURLINGTON, VT., October, 1860.




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Steam-engine. — Watt's  Improvement. - Early  Discovery of
Steam Force. - Hero of Alexandria. - Cardan and others. -
Progress of the Invention. - Fulton. — Watt's Engine not
adapted to Boats and Locomotives. - Nathan Read and his
Improvements. - His Papers, Drawings, etc....1
CHAPTER II.
Nathan Read. - Biographical Notice. - Parentage, Birth, etc. -
Enters Harvard University. - Graduates. - Tutor in College.
- Study of Medicine. - Mechanic Arts. - Invention of
Steamboat and Land Carriage. - Marriage.- Member of
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. - Salem Iron
Foundry. - Invention and Patent of the Nail Machine. -
Member of Congress. - Judge in Essex and Hancock County
Courts. -Member of the Linnxan Society.- Removal to Belfast. - Invention of Agricultural Implements. - Farm. -
Social and Educational Improvements. - Death. - Personal
Attainments. - Purpose of introducing Steam-power to
Navigation, and Land Transport                            5
CHAPTER III.
Watt's Rotary Engine. - Blasco de Garay. - Account of his Experiment. - Mr. Marsh's Translation and Note. - Credibility
of the Account considered. — Early History of the Steamengine. - Hero's Experiments. - The  fEolipile. - Jack of
Hilton. - Difficulty of de Garay's reputed Invention. - Cardan's Discovery. - Battista Porta. - Solomen de Caus. -
Marquis of Worcester. - Galileo. - Torricelli. - De Guericke. -  Pascal. - Boyle. - Denys Papin. -  Savary. -
Newcomen and C awley. - Humphrey Potter. - De Garay's




X                         CONTENTS.
PAGE
reputed Experiment reviewed. -  Smeaton. — Atmospheric
Engine. -Watt's Improvements. - His Copartnership with
Boulton. -- Parallel Motion. - Throttle-valve. - Governor,
etc. - His first Double-acting Rotary Engine. - De Garay's
Claims further considered and concluded.... 10
CHAPTER  IV.
Idea of applying Steam  to Boats. - Paddle-wheels. - Animal
Power. -Steam Power proposed. - Jonathan Hulls. - Belidor.- Daniel Bornouilli - Genevois. - Comte de Auxiron. -
Earl of Stanhope. - Perrier. - Marquis de Jouffroy - Patrick Miller - Symington. - Lord Dundas. - Henry Bell. -
British Writers. - Woolhouse. - "London Journal" of the
Society of Arts.- " London Quarterly." - Miller's Book. -
Washington.- Bell's Plans. - Fulton. - Symington's Plans
and Boat. -The Steamboat an American Invention.. 27
CHAPTER V.
Progress of the Invention in the United States. - James Rumsey
and John Fitch. - Rumsey's Pole Boat. - His first Steamboat. - Dr. Franklin. - Rumsey goes to England. - His
Death. - His Pipe-boile. - Fitch's Experiments. - Controversy with Rumsey. - His Ignorance of the Steam-engine. -
Henry Voight. - Fitch's first Engine and Skiff-boat. - His
second Boat with Oars at the Sides. - His third Boat with
Paddles at the Stern.- His fourth Boat. - Tried Seven different Condensers without Success. - The Eighth does better.
- His Boat run for Passengers three Months. - Given up.
- Attempted a fifth Boat. - Abandoned. - His Poverty. -
Genius. - Perplexities. - Goes to Kentucky. - Death.. 37
CHAPTER VI.
Read's Invention of new Machinery. - His Modification of Watt's
Engine. - His Portable Furnace Boiler. - Its Multi-tubes.His Patent and Specification. — First Multi-tLubular Boiler
invented. - Its Importance. - Letter to Mr. Jefferson. - Its
necessity for Locomotives. - Rocket Engine. - M. Seguin.Robert Stephenson. - His Description of the Rocket Boiler.
- Stevens. - Henry Booth. - Trial of Locomotive Engines




CONTEN TS.                         xi
PAGE
at Rainhill.- The Rocket takes the Prize, owing to the
Multi-tubular Boiler and Steam-blast.- Claims to these Inventions.... 46
CHAPTER  VII.
Read's Boiler may be used Vertical or Horizontal. - With the
Water or the Flame passing through the Tubes. - Number
of Tubes. - Size. - Description of Boiler. -Its Application
by George Stephenson. - Smiles' Remarks. - American Inventors.                                                64
CIAPTER  VIII.
Railroad Invention. - Railway Track. - Beaumont. - Plank
and Timber. -Parallel Rails. -Wheels.-Benjamin Ontram.- Cast-iron Wheels. - Tram-roads. - Duke of Norfolk. - Iron Rails. - Worked by Horses. - Sails proposed.
- Steam proposed. - Chapman. - His Chain and Barrel
Wheel. - Bronton. - His " Mechanical Traveller." - Blockett. - Toothed Wheels unnecessary. - Stationary Engines.
— Tredgold and Horse-power. - Stockton and Darlington
Railway. - Prejudice of the Laboring Classes. -Progress
notwithstanding. -Dr. Cotton. - Read's Purpose and Inventions. -His High-pressure Engine. -Leopold. - Oliver
Evans. - Trevethick & Vivian. -  Their Engine and first Experiment. - Coleridge's Account of it. -Their Tram-road
Engine at Merthyr Tydvil. - Blenkinsop. - Evans's Dredglug Machine. - Read's Boiler with the Flame passing through
the Tubes. - Description of it...                68
CHAPTER IX.
Read's Steam Cylinder. - His Patent and Specification of it. -
Land Carriages. - Compalison with Trevethick's Cylinder. -
Letter to Timothy Pickering. -Watt. - Murdock.- Evans's
Machine, or Mud Scow. - Professor Renwick's Remarks. -
Evans's Boiler and Engine. - His Experiment. - His Machinery for moving his Scow to the River. - HigFhl-pressure
Engine. - Joseph Sampson and Evans's Plans and Drawings.
- Read's Specification of his Land Carriage and Engine. -
Murdock's Experiment. - Petition to Congress withdrawn.




Xii                      CONTENTS.
PAGE
-Mr. Remsen's Letter.-Took no Patent for his Land
Carriage.                                               79
CHAPTER X.
Read's Steamboat. - His Experiment at Danvers. - Paddlewheels. - Certificate of William S. Gray. - Rev. Dr. Prince.
- Colonel Pickering's Letters. - Read's Combination of Machinery. - Fulton. - American Academy of Arts and Sciences. - Its Recommendation to Congress. - Others do. -
Petition to Congress. - Read exhibits his Plans, Drawings,
and Models, in New York.- John Stevens. - His Recommendation to Fitch. - He afterwards applies to the New York
Legislature. - Then to Congress. - Read's Specification of
his Boat.- Patent Laws. -Commissioners of Patents.- Discovers Experiments in France. - Substitutes by Reason theieof the Chain-wheel for Paddle-wheels. — Specification of the
Chain-wheel. - Fulton afterwards patents Paddle-wheels. -
Rack and Pinion. - Cranks.- Continuous Rotary Motion. -
Pickard. - Fly-wheel..92
CHAPTER XI.
John Stevens. - Fitch.- Petitions to Congress. -Act to promote the Progress of the Useful Arts. - Rumsey's Petition.
- Mi. Remsen's second Letter. -  His third Letter.Read's Petitidn before the Commissioners.- The several
Projectors prosecute their Claims. -Discrimination of their
Claims. - Remsen's fourth Letter. -Issuing of Patents. -
Description of Each.                                    109
CHAPTER XII.
Fitch, Rumsey, and Stevens's former Petitions to the New York
Legislature. - Stevens's Petition rejected by the Committee.
- Was like Rumsey's. - Pipe-boiler. - Description of it. -
Wholly different from Read's Boiler. - Comparison. - Pipeboiler Useless. - Fitch rejected it. - Power, and Utility of
the Multi-tubular Boiler.- Read the first Inventor of it. -
Its Invention imputed to Stevens. - The Impression Erroneous. - Probable Cause of the Error.- Professor Renwick's
Remarks. - His Source of Information.- Stevens's first




CONTENTS.                         xiii
PAGE
Boat. -The Chain-wheel used.- Its Invention also imputed to Stevens. - Why Stevens first tried the Chain-wheel
instead of Paddle-wheels. 119
CHAPTER XIII.
Read's Inventions used by Fulton.- Who invented the Steamboat. —Difference between Invention and Application.Cause of Fulton's Success. - Some Account of Him. - His
Birth and Education. - Passion for Painting.- Goes to
England. - Enters the Office of West. - Turns his Attention
to Mechanics.- Goes to France.- Torpedo Machine. -
Forms an Acquaintance with Livingston. - Turns his Attention to Steam Navigation by Advice of Livingston. - Livingston's previous Experiments at New York. - Nesbit.Brunel.- New York Grant. -- Unites with Stevens and Rosevelt.- Livingston sent Minister to France. - Rosevelt.- His
first Boat down the Ohio and Mississippi.     130
CHAPTER XIV.
Livingston and Fulton's Experiments in France. -First tried the
Chain-wheel. - Plombieres' Boat. - Fulton's Plans and Diagrams. - Experiment upon the Seine with Paddle-wheels.Paddle-wheels preferred. - Fulton orders his Engine of Boulton & Watt. - Livingston obtains a new Grant to him and
Fulton. - Fulton directs how to build his Engine. -His
Visit and Stay in England. - Renews his Torpedo Experiments there. - Policy of the British Government. — Blows up
a Danish Brig. - Returns to New York. - Pursues his Torpedo Plans here. -- His Book " Torpedo War." - Commodore Rogers. — Report of Committee of Congress. - Torpedo War exploded..139
CHAPTER XV.
Fulton commences his Steamboat. - Stevens, his Boat Phonix.John C. Stevens. - Robert L. Stevens. - Fulton's Boat, the
Clermont, completed. - First Trip to Albany. - Terms of
Grant complied with. - The Clermont runs as a Passenger
Boat. - They build more Boats. -New Jersey. - Validity
of the New York Statutes disputed. - Monopoly. - Opposi



xiv                      CONTENTS.
PAGE
tion Steamers built at Albany.- Legal Proceedings. - Constitutional Powers of Congress. -  Livingston & Fulton
alarmed, and secure a Patent for Paddle-wheels. - They bring
the Albany Company to Terms. - Additional Act of the
New York Legislature.- Its Arbitrary Character. - New Jersey Opposition. -- Colonel Ogden.- William Duer. — Report
of Committee. - Connecticut.- Thomas Gibbons. -- Decision of United States Court. - Monopoly broken up. 147
CHAPTER XVI.
Read's Machinery and Fulton's compared.-Read's Paddle-wheels.
-- Cylinder.-Boiler. - Floats. — Axis. -Working-beam dispensed with, and Closs-head Substituted. - Parallel Motion
dispensed with. - Rotary Motion. — Fly-wheel. -Cold-water
Cistern dispensed with, and Water injected from under the
Boat. - Fulton's Machinery. - Working-beam suppressed,
and Cross-head substituted. - Axis. - Fly-wheel. -  Coldwater Cistern dispensed with, and Water injected from under
the Boat. -Condenser. - Paddle-wheels. - Car of Nepltune.
-Stevens's Machinery.- Fulton's Letter to Boulton &
Watt. -  Summary of Comparison. - Machinery substantially alike. —Letter to Colonel Pickering.... 157
CHAPTER XVII.
How did Fulton get his Plans of Machinery. — Fitch. - Symington. -Bell. - Aaron Vail. - Fitch's Plans. - Fulton
used no Part of Fitch's Inventions.- Symington's Boat Charlotte Dutndas. - Fulton's Machinery wholly different fiom
Symington's. - " Encyclopmdia Britannica." - Its Pretensions. -Fulton's Visit to the Charlotte Dutndas.-Symington's
Account of it. - Fulton's Sketch. -British and American
Experiments.-Professor Renwick's View of Symington's and
Fulton's Boats. -- Modification of Watt's Engine. - Fulton's
Directions to Boulton & Watt. - His Engine a new thing to
them. — Description of Symington's Boat. —Bell's Plans
and Boat Comet. — Its Machinery copied after Fulton's. 166
CHAPTER  XVIII.
Fulton's Claims to Invention examined. — Colden's Views.Royou's Memoir. - Remarks of Westcott. - Henry Howe.



CONTENTS.                        xv
PAGE
"New York Review." -- Of " Encyclopsdia Britannica." -
Professor Renwick.- Fulton's Machinery traceable to Read
alone.- Read's Inventions regarded as Original by American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.- His Exhibition of his
Plans and Models to Stevens and others. -- Stevens & Livingston's Copartnership. - Livingston informed Fulton, etc.
- Coincidence of the Chain-wnheel. - Combination of Machinery. - Fulton not the Author of it. -- Judge Read's Account
of his Inventions. —- Article in the "Philosophical Transactions"......176
CHAPTER XIX.
Why Read's Inventions have not before been published. -- His
own Purpose. -Letter of Rev. J. WV. Hanson. -- Reply. --
Commences his Autobiography. -- Death. -- His Papers left
for others to publish. - Additional Considerations. - His
Boat and Machinery the Type of present Steamers.- The
Great Eastern. - His Multi-thbular Boiler and High-pressure
Engine the same in Principle as our present Locomotives. -
Concluding Remarks....                 86




ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Likeness of Nathan Read.Frontispiece.
Hero's Inventions. Nos. 1 and 2.....       14
The AJolipile. No. 3.....14
Battista Porta's Invention. No. 4.....       14
Solomen de Cans' Invention. No. 5.....             14
James Rumsey's Steamboat. No. 7                           38
John Fitch's first Steamboat. No. 8.38
Nathan Read's Multi-tubular Boiler; perspective view. Plate
1, Fig. 1.........    50
Nathan Read's Multi-tubular Boiler; vertical section of. Plate
1, Fig. 2.........          50
Nathan Read's Multi-tubular Boiler; horizontal section of
lower part. Plate 1, Fig. 3....           50
Nathan Read's Multi-tubular Boiler; horizontal section of
upper part. Plate 1, Fig. 4.50
Read's Improved Steam Cylinder. Plate 3, Fig. 3..  9
Read's Improved Steam Cylinder, as applied to his Land Carriage. Plate 3, Fig. 6.79
Read's Land Carriage, or Locomotive; View of the running
part. Plate 5, Fig. 1..                              86
Read's Steamboat; View of the hulk, paddle-wheels, etc.
Plate 3, Fig. 5......... 102
Rumsey's Pipe-boiler and Furnace. No. 11..        124
Read's Steamboat; perspective view, drawn from his general
description and plans. No. 12.                    157
Fulton's Steamboat, from " Appleton's Cyclopeadia of Biography." No. 13..159
Symington's Steamboat, from" Young's Natural Philosophy,"
Vol. 1. No. 14.                                     174




NATHAN  READ AND THE STEA3I-ENGINE.
CHAPTER I.
THE invention of the steam-engine prepared the
way for a series of experiments, with a view to apply
it to navigation, and at length to land transport.  The
great improvements of Watt had changed its character from a machine of comparatively small importance,
and limited in its application and use to the single purpose of pumping water and lifting ore from the mines,
to an instrument applicable to the use of mills and factories, and most kinds of mechanical industry, where
a stationary motive power was required. This essential
change in the utility of the steam-engine, was effected,
not only by reducing the expense of working it, but
by converting the rectilinear motion of the old Newcomen engine into a rotary motion, uniform and continuous; which improvement not only made it possible,
but a convenient motive power, to turn the wheels of
mills and factories.
It is very proper here to notice, that the invention of
the steam-engine, which in its operative power at this
day far exceeds the whole amount of hand labor upon
the habitable globe,1 was not the work of one man, or
one generation of men; indeed, we may well imagine
1 London Q{uarterly Review, vol. civ. p. 411, 1858.
1




2     NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
that the force of steam must have been known to some
extent, as early as man had the power of observation
and fire and water were brought in contact before him.
From the time Hero of Alexandria amused himself by
the use of steam as a mechanical force to move the simple machinery he had invented, up to the time Watt
perfected his improvements and set his double-acting
rotary-engine at work, was nearly two thousand years.
And although no sensible improvement was made with
steam force, before Cardan discovered the effect of
condensation, — for the aeolipile used by the Greeks
and Romans, and Jack of Hilton, of feudal notoriety,
were no improvement upon Hero's invention,- yet
from Cardan's day to the time of Watt, a period of
some two hundred and ten years, scientific men and
men of genius were successively engaged in the work,
and adding something towards the invention of the
steam-engine. Battista della Porta, Solomen De Caus,
the Marquis of Worcester, Torricelli, Pascal, De Garricke, Papin, Savary, Newcomen, and others, not forgetting little Humphrey Potter, each one made some
important addition to it. Notwithstanding this, when
it went into the hands of Watt it was at best but a very
imperfect thing, compared with engines of the present
day. To suppose that the steam-engine, steamboat,
or locomotive, could be invented by one man, would
be contrary to the truth of history. Indeed, inventions
in steam-power, and in most cases of like complication
and importance, have been progressive. It would be
absurd to suppose, that one single mind would be able
to acquire, in the first place, so perfect a knowledge of
all those intricate principles of natural and mechanical




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMl-ENGINE.    3
science, as it must needs understand, to construct a
steam-engine; and in the second place, conceive and
put together the several parts of a machine so complex
and extensive. Facts show that these inventions are
brought about by successive improvements, first by
one and then by another. How often do we hear the
remark, "Fulton invented the steamboat," as if everything connected with it, keelson, hulk, wheels, and the
engine it carries, were new discoveries by him alone.
Indeed, to Watt himself, who never had any settled
purpose or intention of applying steam power to boats
or land carriages,1 and made no special improvements
in the engine directed to those purposes, there is due a
large item of credit, in both cases, for his inventions.
The steam-engine, however, as improved by him, was
but partially prepared for navigation and land transport. He gave it the rotary principle,2 without which
it would have been useless; but his massive boilers,
and great weight of fuel and machinery, were not
suited to the capacity of boats and land carriages,
nor was the form of his engines adapted to those purposes. His double-acting cylinder and separate condenser, would both apply to boats; but in the case of
land carriages it became necessary to dispense with the
condenser, the working beam, and some other parts of
the machinery, for the want of water fori condensation,
as well as the want of space; and a new sort of engine,
constructed upon different principles, became necessary
for that particular use.3
It is believed that Nathan Read, as early as 1788-89,
1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 330.  2 Ibid. p. 227.
3 Woolhouse On the Steam-enqgine, vol. i. p. 42.




4     NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
while a resident of Salem, Massachusetts, invented the
necessary machinery to adapt Watt's engine to boats
and land carriages, with the avowed and special purpose of applying it to both of those objects.  That he
constructed a model of a steamboat, with paddle-wheels
and his improved engine to drive it, being the same
machinery, substantially, that Fulton used eighteen
years after, in his first experiment upon the Hudson;
and being also the first combination of that machinery
which gave Fulton his success, and success to the application of steam-power to navigation. That he at
the same time constructed a model of a land carriage,
to run on common roads (and equally applicable to a
railroad-track), and fitted his engine, with special reference to that purpose, upon the high-pressure principle, dispensing with the condenser and working-beam;
which machinery was substantially upon the principle
as that which gave Stevenson his success, and which
is now in use for locomotive engines.
The evidence relating to these inventions of Read
is mainly derived from the papers he left behind him
at his decease, the originals of which are open to the
inspection of any who may have the curiosity to examine them, from which the extracts and drawings
contained in this publication have been taken. It is
proposed to examine this evidence, and compare it
with the claims of other projectors.




CHAPTER II.
NATHAN READ 1 was a native of Warren (formerly
Western), Worcester County, Mass., born July 2,
1759.   His ancestors originally  came  from  Newcastle-upon-Tyne; they then settled in the County of
Kent, where they lived for several generations. From
thence they emigrated to America at an early day,
about 1632, and settled in the vicinity of Boston, where
they resided for many years. His grandfather - when
the country was new, and but few settlements in that
section of the State-  purchased a large tract of land
in Warren, upon which he settled, and where he spent
the remainder of his life in the improvement of his
lands. His father, Major Reuben Read, was an officer
in the Revolutionary service; and his mother, whose
maiden name was Tamison Eastman, was first cousin
to Major-General Nathaniel Greene, of Rhode Island.
His father was an only son, and resided upon the
homestead during his life. At the age of fifteen years,
Nathan commenced his preparatory studies for College,
and at the close of the summer vacation of 1777, entered Harvard University. His parents were desirous
that he should qualify himself for the ministry, and he
1 The likeness of Judge Read faces the title-page. It was engraved at
Philadelphia during his attendance there as a member of the House of
Representatives in Congress, in 1801-2, at which time, he was in the fortysecond or third year of his age. The likeness is a very perfect one, and
is struck from the original plate, which has been preserved in the faimilv.




6     NATRAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
attended Professor Sewall's Lectures on the Hebrew.
Language. He acquired a good knowledge of the language, and by appointment, gave a Hebrew Oration at
a public exhibition of the University; and during the
interval between the death of Professor Sewall and
the appointment of his successor, Mr. Parsons, he was
engaged to instruct the class in Hebrew. He graduated in 1781, on which occasion he was selected to deliver the valedictory address. He was distinguished as
a scholar, and left College with the respect of officers
and students.  After graduating he was engaged in
teaching in Beverly and Salem, until 1783, at which
time he was elected a Tutor in Harvard University,
where he continued his labors as such until the commencement of 1787. He then resigned his place as
Tutor, and entered upon the study of medicine with
Dr. Edward A. Holyoke of Salem, until October, 1788,
when lie gave up the idea of following medicine as
a profession, relinquished its study, and opened an
apothecary store in Salem.
While engaged in the study of medicine with Dr.
Holyoke, and also while in his store, he devoted himself, more or less, to study and experiment in the mechanic arts, which indeed held a higher place in his
mind than his medical studies or merchandise. It was
during this period of time that he invented and constructed his models of a steamboat and locomotive
carriage, before noticed.
In October, 1790, lhe was married to Miss Elizabeth
Jeffirey, daughter of William Jeffrey, Esq., Clerk of the
County of Essex, and granddaughter of Joseph Bowdish —August 24th, 17'l1, he was elected a member of




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    7
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - April
4th, 1795, he removed to his farm in Danvers, and
built a permanent structure across Water's River,
which served the double purpose of a dam and bridge.
In 1796, he and his associates erected and put in operation the Salem Iron Factory, for the manufacture of
chain-cables, anchors, and other materials of iron, for
ship-building, he having the chief superintendence of
the work. While thus engaged, he invented and put
in operation in the factory, designed for its own special
use and benefit, with a view to the saving of labor and
other economical purposes, a nail machine, since extensively used for cutting and heading nails at one operation, for which he received a patent, as the original
inventor, from the United States Government, on the
8th of January, A. D. 1798. This highly important invention obviated the very great labor and expense of
the manufacture of those articles by hand.1
In October 1800, he was appointed a member of
Congress for Essex South District, to fill the vacancy
occasioned by the death of Judge Sewall, then late
member from that district; and in November 1800, he
was elected by the people of the district, a member of
the succeeding Congress, for two years from and after
March 4th, 1801; and was a member during the severe
contest in the House of Representatives for the Presidency, between Jefferson and Burr.
In February 1802, while a resident of Danvers, he
was appointed by Governor Strong a special Justice
of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Essex; and after his removal from Danvers to Belfast in
1 For his specification and patent of the Nail Machine, see Appendix,
No. 1.




8     NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Maine, which was in 1807, he presided as Chief Justice of the Court in Hancock County for many successive years. In 1815, he was elected an honorary
member of the Linnman Society of New England.
After removing to Belfast, Judge Read gave most of
his time to agricultural pursuits; but he often indulged
himself in new inventions in the mechanic arts and
trying experiments therein; and during his whole life
these and the natural sciences were his favorite study.
He invented several useful agricultural implements, for
some of which he took a patent; but constructed them
mainly because he had use for them on his farm.
His farm consisted of some four hundred acres of land,
finely situated near the head of Belfast Bay, lying
upon the shore just south of the City of Belfast.
His residence overlooked the bay, with its attractive
scenery; and here he spent the remainder of his life,
ever taking a lively interest in all matters of a public character, especially such as were designed to improve the moral condition, and advance the intellectual and social improvement of the people among
whom  he lived.  He regarded the cause of education as involving one of his highest duties; and at
an early day, when the town was comparatively new,
he was instrumental in establishing a high school in
Belfast, that the youth of the place might be educated at home -the beneficial effects of which have
long been appreciated.
He died at his residence in Belfast, January 20th,
1849, in the ninetieth year of his age, and in the full possession of his intellectual powers, except a few days at
the close of his last sickness. He possessed a strong




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    9
constitution, and a strong and highly cultivated mind;
his aims were high, and he soared above the sordid
interests of the world.  He never sought to make
himself conspicuous, or to give publicity to his attainments or labors, but chose rather unobtrusive retirement. His deportment was always gentlemanly;
his form fine, and his countenance highly intellectual.
His conversation was ever interesting and instructive;
and he lived and died with the respect and esteem of
all who knew him. He was the last surviving member
of his College class; and with two exceptions, - Judge
Farrar and James Lovell, - the oldest living graduate
of Harvard University.
As early as 1788, as already noticed, while a resident of Salem, he became especially interested in the
purpose of applying steam-power to the practical end
of propelling boats and land carriages.  He foresaw
the importance of attaining such a purpose, and set
himself to work to contrive the necessary machinery
to effect it, which at that time was felt by all intelligent men who had given their attention to the subject, to be a desideratuzm, -a work yet to be accomplished. The idea as applied to boats was not new;
various experiments had been tried, but were mainly
directed to the mode of propulsion, without so much
attention to the motive power; and all the experiments hitherto tried had proved a failure. To show
the nature of those experiments, I will briefly notice
them in their order, that the reader may judge of the
cause of their failure, and of the necessity that then
existed of great improvements in the steam-engine, in
order to make the application of steam-power to boats
and land carriages successful.




CHAPTER III.
IT has been seen that Watt's double-acting condensing engine, containing the continuous rotary principle,
was not introduced to public use in a working form
until 1787, which principle, though not so designed by
Watt, was one of the necessary prerequisites to a
successful application of steam-power to navigation.
Hence the inference is beyond dispute, that success
in the invention of the steamboat before that time had
not been effected. Indeed it will appear, that whatever had been done, both in speculation and experiment, proved that there was no lack of the idea, or
want of faith, in navigating boats by steam; but the
faith was without the appropriate works.
The earliest pretension we have on the subject of
steam navigation, has been dug up from the national
archives at Simancas in Spain, and purports to be a
paper discovered in the year 1825, long after steam navigation went into effect both in America and Europe.
The following is a translation 1 of the account, from
1"Navarrete's Coleccion de los Viages," etc., Madrid,
1825:2
" Senior Don Thomas Gonzales has sent me from Simancas the following notice: —
1 Credit is due to the Hon. George P. Marsh for the original account,
and the translation of it.
2 Vol. i. p. cxxvii.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    11
"'Blasco de Garay, a sea-captain, proposed to the Emperor and King, Charles Y., in the year 1543, an engine to
move vessels and large ships, even in a calm, without oars or
sails.
"' In spite of the obstacles and opposition which the project met, the Emperor ordered trial to be made, and this in
fact took place in the port of Barcelona, on the 17th of June
in the year 1543.
"'Garay never publicly exhibited his machinery, but at
the time of the trial, it was observed that it consisted of a
large caldron of boiling water, and wheels of propulsion
attached to the two sides of the ship.
"' The experiment was tried with a vessel of 200 tons -
which had lately arrived from Colibre with a cargo of wheat,
- called The Trinity, and commanded by Captain Pedro de
Scarza.
"' As commissioners on the part of Charles V. and the
Prince Philip, his son, there were present on this occasion,
Don Henry of Toledo, the governor, Don Pedro Cardona, the
treasurer Ranago, the vice-chancellor, the master accountant of Catalonia, ID. Francisco Gralla, and several other
persons of condition both Castilians arid Catalans, and
among them several sea-captains, who were present at the
experiment, some on board, others on the beach.
"'In the report made to the Emperor and the Prince,
they all agreed in praising the machinery, and particularly
the facility of steerage of the ship. The treasurer Ranago,
who was unfriendly to the project, states that the vessel would
malke but two leagues in three hours; that the machinery
was complicated and expensive, and that there was much
danger of the frequent bursting of the caldron.  The other
commissioners declared, that the vessel would put about
twice as quick as a galley by ordinary navigation, and that
she made at least a league an hour.




12    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
"''The experiment being concluded, Garay took out the
engine which he had set up in the vessel, and having deposited the wood-work of it in the arsenal at Barcelona, kept
the rest in his own possession.
"'Notwithstanding the objections raised by Ra:nago, the
plan of Garay was approved, and if the expedition in which
Charles was then engaged had not prevented it, he would
no doubt have encouraged its prosecution.  However he
promoted the inventor one grade, gave him a compensation
of 200,000 maravedis, ordered all his expenses to be paid
out of the general treasury, and conferred other favors upon
him.
"'All this appears from the original records and proceedings deposited in the royal archives of Simancas, among the
state papers belonging to the affairs of Catalonia, and of the
department of war, both military and naval, for the year
1543.                         "'TI THOMAs GONZAIES.
"SIMANCAS, 17th of August, 1825."
Mr. Marsh adds the following note to his translation: -
"BURLINGTON, March 26, 1860.
"DEAR SIR, - The above is the translation I mentioned.
Navarrete is a man of very high authority.  He may have
been imposed upon, but as Gonzales must have been officially connected with the office of the archives, it seems improbable, that be would have fabricated the story, though it
looks a little incredible upon the face of it.
"Yours truly,
"' GEORGE P. MARSH.
"IHon. D. READ."
It would not be regarded as proper to treat the
above account as a fabrication without firther information on the subject. It purports to be a matter of




NATHANREAD AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    13
public record, and is detailed by Navarrete (who is reputed to be a faithful historian), no doubt as he received it from Gonzales. Under those circumstances
the account must be taken as true, unless there is good
reason to suppose that it found its way into the archives
as a hoax, or what would be more likely, as a fraudulent mode of attaching to Spain the credit of inventing both the steam-engine and the steamboat. As we
trace the connected history of the invention of the
steam-engine, it is, however, extremely difficult to
arrive at any conclusion favorable to the authenticity
of the account.
The experiment of De Garay is stated to have been
made in 1543. This was one hundred and fifty years
before the steam-engine was so far invented as to be
applied to any working purpose, and two hundred and
forty years before Watt made it capable of turning a
crank, and long before we have any reliable history
that steam was ever thought of as a motive power.
In 1543, and from that time back to Hero of Alexandria, who lived some one hundred and thirty years
before the Christian era, and who was the first to notice
the expansive force of steam, of whom we have any
account,1. it had never been applied to any mechanical
use of moment. Hero, to gratify his curiosity and
love of science, conducted steam from an iron pot into
a small hollow ball or sphere, with two pipes passing
out of it at opposite sides and bent at the ends in
opposite directions, through which the steam would
escape, and by its reacting force, give to the ball
1 Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam-engine.




14    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
a rapid rotary motion, to the delight of the inventor.
(See figures Nos. 1 and 2.) These simple toys, with
another more simple still, called the molipile,1 or ball
of IEolus, used by the Greeks and Romans, - and we
have one account of its being used by the Normans in
Staffordshire after the Norman Conquest,2 - constituted
all there was of the steam-engine, not only at the time,
but for a long time after the reputed experiment of
De Garay at Barcelona.
The meolipile consisted of a hollow ball of the size
of a common pot, made of cast-iron, with a small open
pipe connected with the top, and passing off in a horizontal direction. (See No. 3.) By filling the ball
partly with water and placing it over a fire, the steam,
as it was forced through the pipe, produced a lateral
current of air, and thus served for the bellows of that
day, for blowing up flame and producing combustion,3
like the blacksmith's bellows of the present day.  It
being a windy little instrument, was named after LEolus, the god of the winds. The molipile referred to
in Staffordshire, was somewhat different in its construction, and used for a different purpose. It was
connected with one of the old feudal customs of England, and was called Jack of Hilton.  For the amusement of the reader I will give the description of it as
related in Plot's "History of Staffordshire." 4
"Yet there are many old customs in use within memory,
1 Vitravius, lib. i. chap. vi.
2 Plot's History of Staffordshire, p. 433.
8 Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 202.
4 Natural History of Stafcordshire, by Robert Plot, LL. D., p. 433. Oxford edition, A. D. 1686.




No. 2L9                   No. I  
_.   ri\.  j, L I,.'
-'            3
No.    IL                      __
_b                                  No. 
_                            21~~~~~~~~~~P








NATHAN READ AND THE STEA1-ENGINE.    15
of whose originals I could find no tolerable account, that
possibly might commence as high as these times: such as
the service due from the Lord of Essington in this county
(Stafford) to the Lord of Hilton, about a mile distant,
namely, that the Lord of the Manor of Essington shall
bring a goose every New Year's Day, and drive it round
the fire in the hall at Hilton, at least three times (which he
is bound to do as mean lord), whilst Jack of Hilton is blowing the fire. Now, Jack of Hilton is a hollow little image
of brass, of about twelve inches high, kneeling upon his left
knee, and holding his right hand upon his head,.
having a little hole in the place of the mouth about the bigness of a great pin's head, and another on the back about
two thirds of an inch in diameter, at which last hole it is
filled with water, it holding about four pints and a quarter,
which, when set to a strong fire, evaporates after the same
manner as in an molipile, and vents itself at the smaller hole
at the mouth in a constant blast, blowing the fire so strongly
that it is very audible, and makes a sensible impression in
that part of the fire where the blast lights."
With these two simple things, representing all there
was of the steam-engine at that day, had De Garay
suddenly brought one into existence, of sufficient magnitude and power to propel a ship of two hundred
tons burden about the Bay of Barcelona, it would
seem  that an achievement so wonderful before the
world would have had some historical mention of it
aside from  the record which for the first time came to
light in 1825. Moreover, with what propriety can we
suppose that any single mind, "in the year 1543," a
mere twelvemonth, at a period too when the dark ages
still cast their shadows over the intellect of man, and




16   lNATHAN REIAD AND THE STEAM-E-NGINE.
the arts and sciences were but little known, was capable of grasping the invention, both of the steam-engine and steamboat, and that without any previous
invention of the kind to lead the thought to such a
conception, or rule or formula, to give direction, in the
construction of its complicated machinery?
As we look forward from the reputed experiment of
De Garay we are still more struck with the difficulties that come in the way of credit and belief in the
account. Cardan was the first modern author who
makes any allusion to the subject of steam.1  He
seems to have had some knowledge of its expansive
force; and in the course of some experiments in chemistry he was making he discovered that steam might be
condensed and a vacuum thus produced. He gave
an account of his experiments in 1576, in a work he
then published, - being some thirty-three years after
De Garay's reputed experiment.  This was the first
known step, after Hero's invention of the vaolipile,
that led to the invention of the steam-engine, and it
was an important step.
Battista Porta published a work in 1601, in which
he gives some account of experiments made by him
in steam; wherein he showed the effects of condensation, and the vacuum thereby produced, by forcing up
water to fill the vacuum  by atmospheric pressure.
He also invented a machine fobr raising water by the
expansive force of steam alone; causing it to press
downward upon the surface of the water in a cistern,
1 Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 203; Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steamengine, p. 19.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   17
and thus force it up through a pipe passing down
into the water; I and he in the mean time, determined
the relative bulk of steam  and water.2  His experiments both in mechanism and chemistry, effected
another important step in the invention of the steamengine.
Solomen de Caus, about forty years after Porta, was
the next to make any experiments in steam. In 1641,
he constructed a machine to raise water by means of
a boiler and pipe, and the downward pressure of steam
upon the surface of the water.3  His machine was
similar in principle and construction to Porta's, and
it does not appear that he made any very great improvements upon it. He sought the patronage of the
French government to aid him in his steam projects;
and to get rid of his importunities, it is related of him
that they declared him a crazy man, and confined
him in the Bicetre, the insane hospital at Paris. This
was near a hundred years after the reputed experiment of De Garay under the very eyes of the French
nation.
About twenty years after De Caus, the Marquis of
Worcester constructed a steam-engine, worked by the
expansive force of steam, and set it to pumping up
water in Vauxhall Garden in London.4 This was
the first working experiment, ever tried by steam,
above the  aeolipile, and has given to the Marquis
of Worcester the reputation of being the first who
invented the steam-engine.  It was rude in its con1 See No. 4.    2 Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 204.
3 See No. 5. Muirhead's Life of' Watt, p. 91.
4 Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam-engine, vol. i. 1829.
2




18   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
struction, and not put to any steady use, but only to
show by experiment that steam might be made to fling
water into the air some thirty or forty feet, to the astonishment of the London public; and in 1663, - one
hundred and twenty years after De Garay's account,he obtained an act of Parliament for his " Water-commanding Engine." 1  Afterwards, when the steamengine became so far improved as to make it a valuable
motive power, English and French writers entered
into a controversy upon the subject, the former claiming the Marquis of Worcester, and the latter De Caus,
as the inventor of the steam-engine - each class
of writers prompted by national pride. They seemed
to have no knowledge of De Garay's experiment, as
no allusion was made by them to the subject.
During the very time the Marquis of Worcester
was trying his experiments, and following thereafter,
a school of illustrious men in Europe were engaged
in scientific study and experiment. Galileo, who was
by the Inquisition and the rack forced to renounce
those truths in natural science which he had discovered, conceived the true nature of a vacuum, and
communicated his ideas to his pupil Torricelli; who
after the death of Galileo carried out the suggestion
by a series of experiments, in which he succeeded
in producing a more perfect vacuum,2 and in the
mean time invented the barometer. De Guericke 3
meanwhile invented the air-pump, and also the cylinder
and piston; he exhausted his cylinder with the air1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 93.
2 Ibid. p. 101; Cyclopcedia of Biography, p. 312.
8 De Arte Mechanicd Hydraulicopneunmaticd, 1657.




NATHAN READ AND TIE STEAM-ENGINE.   19
pump, and established the principle of atmospheric
pressure by means of the piston. Pascal determined
the weight of the atmosphere by its pressure upon the
piston, and the variation in its weight at different altitudes.1 Boyle also invented an air-pump, and assisted
Torricelli in making his experiments at Florence.
They together constructed a machine to raise weights
by atmospheric pressure alone, which was the origin of
the atmospheric engine.2 But it does not appear that
any of these distinguished men attempted to produce
a vacuum by condensation, which idea all this time
rested with the suggestions of Cardan and the experiments of Porta. Yet the discoveries they severally
made were not only necessary, but furnished important
steps in the invention of the steam-engine.
The danger of explosion from the expansive force of
steam, during these experiments had been discovered;
and Denys Papin,3 in 1688, to remedy the difficulty,
invented the safety-valve, one step more in the invention of the steam-engine.  He also attempted tc
produce a vacuum by rarefying the air in the cylin
der by heat, then to raise the piston by the explo
sive force of gunpowder.  These failing, he built a
fire under the cylinder, which he partly filled with
water, and found the steam would lift the piston to
the top, and by removing the fire, as the steam cooled,
the piston would fall. But the idea of applying and
removing his fire from under the cylinder, every time
he gave an upward and downward motion to the
1 Nouvelli's Exp&riences touchanst le inde.
2 Muirhead's Life of' Watt, p. 101.
s Arta Eruditorum, 16S 3 and 1690.




20   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
piston, presented a practical difficulty that discouraged
him; and he gave up the subject for the time being.
Some ten or twelve years after, Savary 1 happened
to think that Papin's difficulty might be overcome
by having a boiler separate from the cylinder, and
by applying cold water outside the cylinder to cool
the steam  within it more rapidly.  This worked
better, but gave no practical importance to the engine
*as a working power, but plainly disclosed the fact
that its utility depended on some contrivance to pro-'duce a sudden condensation, which would give to the
piston a motion upward and downward equally sudden. Savary, however, did not succeed in effecting
this grand purpose; but his experiments were highly
important in the progress of the invention, for which
he obtained a patent by act of Parliament, in 1698;2
and drawings were made of his engine - being the
first known time the steam-engine was represented
on paper.
The next advance in the progress of this invention
was made by Newcomen and Cawley, in 1705. They
inclosed the cylinder with another of larger size, with
a space between of eight or ten inches for cold water
for condensation - an improvement upon Savary's plan
of affusing cold water on the surface; - they also applied leather packing to tighten the piston, and covered the top of it with water resting upon it for the
same purpose, and improved the engine by attaching eduction-pipes, valves, cocks, and a variety of small
1 Phil. Trans. Abr. vol. iv. 198, A. D. 1699.
2 Woolhouse On the Steam-engine, pp. 5, 6, 7.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   21
and ingenious work, to give the machinery a more perfect action. They also invented the working-beam,
and by a mere accidentl discovered the process of
injecting cold water into the cylinder for condensation, without which the condensing engine must have
remained comparatively useless.  Noticing that the
piston moved with more rapidity and force than usual,
they searched for the cause, and discovered a hole
through the piston where a plug had worked out and
let the cold water into the cylinder.  A sudden condensation of the steam and more rapid motion of the
piston was the result. This opened to their minds the
idea of injecting cold water into the cylinder - which
plan was thereupon adopted. They invented and applied for that purpose the injection-pipe, with its ingenious apparatus, through which a jet of water was flung
directly into the cylinder, and the steam almost instantaneously condensed. This gave a corresponding movemnent to the piston, and the steam-engine, for the first
time, if I am allowed the expression, had the breath of
life breathed into it and became a living soul.
This invention made way for another, equally curious and of much importance. The injection-pipe and
apparatus above mentioned, were controlled by two
valves, the one opening and the other closing alternately, and controlling the action of the engine.
These valves were worked by hand brakes, and being
easily done, they usually employed a boy to tend them.
A lad of the name of Humphrey Potter,2 getting tired
1 Deragulier's Ex. Phil., vol. ii. p. 533.
2 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 119. Renwick On the Steam-engine, p.
220.




22   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
of his work, took it into his head to attach the brakes
or handles that worked the valves to the working
beam, and leave them to be moved by its alternating
motion, while he could rest his weary self and enjoy
his play. This incident resulted in the invention of
the scoggin (and afterwards the governor), which not
only gave a more regular and uniform motion to the
piston, but increased its upward and downward movements from about eight to sixteen times in a minute,
thus doubling the effective power of the engine. It
thus became, with the exception of fire to feed it, a
self-governing machine, settling at once upon that
degree of motion which the most free injection of
steam, and sudden condensation, could give to it.
It was now thought that the steam-engine was perfected; and the young Hercules, though rough and
clumsy in its workmanship, and awkward in its movements, was. for the first time, of which we have any
knowledge, set to work in good earnest pumping water
and raising ore from the mines.
The engine of Newcomen, however, was far from
being perfect, either in the principles of its construction, or in its workmanship. It was yet incapable of
propelling a boat or locomotive engine, yet it labored
away in the mines and nowhere else, for the next eighty
years, without any essential improvement.1 Smeaton,
however, improved the finish and proportions of the
machinery and constructed an engine, from which he
made a table of proportions for the use and benefit of
mechanics engaged in their construction.2  It may be
1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, chap. xix.
2 Smeaton's Reports, vol. i. p. 223, and vol. ii. p. 338.




NATHAN READ AND TEIE STEAM-ENGINE.   23
well to observe that the engine of Newcomen was
moved by atmospheric pressure alone, and steam was
used for no other purpose than as a means of producing
a vacuum, not even to force up the piston, which was
raised by a counterpoise or weight; it is hence called
the atmospheric engine. Such was the condition of the
steam-engine, when it came into the hands of Watt,
its great improver.
The first step taken by Watt 1 was directed to a more
economical use of steam, and to that end he entered
upon a series of experiments to determine whether the
estimated densities of steam and water were correct.
He found that water when changed into steam expanded
from seventeen to eighteen hundred times its bulk;
and on this calculation ascertained that six times as
much steam as was necessary was used at each movement of the piston. He invented the condenser, a
vessel separate and distinct from the cylinder, to remedy this great waste of steam. The steam was conducted into the condenser before it was cooled, and he
thus kept the cylinder hot; at the same time he closed
the upper end of the cylinder, and added another induction-pipe, making one above as well as below the
piston, by which the steam was alternately let into the
cylinder, as the piston rose and fell; and substituted
steam force, instead of atmospheric pressure, for forcing
the piston down, and in lieu of the weight for forcing
it up. These improvements gave twice the power at
less than half the cost of the Newcomen engine. In
1769 a working-engine was constructed after this plan'.
1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, recently published, we regard as the best
authority in relation to Watt's improvements.




24    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Soon after this, Watt entered into copartnership with
Mr. Boulton of Birmingham, and the distinguished firm
of Boulton and Watt was thereupon established.
Boulton was a man of fortune, and liberal withal,
and Watt now had every facility to give free play to his
inventive powers; and he handled the steam-engine as
a half-finished thing. He readily saw, if it could be
so constructed as to be used in mills and factories as
well as in the mines, it would vastly extend its usefulness and increase its demand. This could only be done
by giving it a continuous rotary motion, and thus enabling it to turn a shaft or wheel with uniformity, and
to overcome the dead points of the piston, or momentary state of rest at each end of the cylinder, in reversing its movements.
To accomplish this desirable end, he constructed an
engine with two cylinders instead of one; and applied
his steam force to two cranks on the same shaft set at
an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees from each
other, with a fly-wheel and weight on the periphery
of the wheel, at an angle of one hundred and twenty
degrees from each crank. But since the above invention of the double engine, it has been found that
the double-acting cylinder, and single crank, with the
fly-wheel, are all that are requisite to give this
motion.
He also invented the parallel motion, by which the
angular motion of the piston-rod, hitherto worked by
a rack and chain attached to the end of the working
beam, was changed to a direct rectilineal motion.
This was looked upon by other engineers as a curious
"mechanical puzzle," and Watt himself said, " that he




NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   25
was more proud of his parallel motion than of any
other invention he ever made." 1
He also invented the throttle-valve, by which, from
the action of the engine itself. the same amount of
steam always entered the cylinder, and gave a steady,
uniform motion to the spindles used in the manufacture of cotton and other fibrous substances; and to
regulate those valves without personal attention, he
invented that elegant and ingenious part of the steamengine, the governor, by which the steam is cut off
from the cylinder as the engine increases in motion, or
is let in as it decreases, until their action and the action
of the engine are balanced.  He also invented the
counter, gauge, and indicator, all useful in their place.
It was a slow process to construct the first engine,
after these inventions were completed, embracing as it
did these new, curious, and complex additions to its
machinery, without any rules, plans, or drafts for
them, other than such as lay in Watt's own head, -
his marvelous, unrivaled, inventive brain, - and they
were four years constructing the first engine designed
for sale. This was completed in 1786, and put at work
in the Albion Mills in 1787. Thus Watt, who, to use
the words of Sir James Mackintosh, "stood at the
head of all inventors in all ages and nations," by one
invention after another at length succeeded in completing his double-acting rotary condensing engine, but
far, even yet from being fitted for propelling boats or
land carriages.
I have thus gone through with a concise account of
the invention of the steam-engine, from the experi1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 242.




26     NATHAN READ AND TEE STEAM-EATGINE.
ments of Hero to the time Watt completed his improvements, for the purpose of showing how difficult
it would have been for De Garay or any one individual
to have conceived this whole invention, and so far
perfected it in the short time of five or six months (as
the account shows) as to have brought it to a practical
working condition, for any purpose; much more to
have applied it also in the same space of time to the
propulsion of a vessel of the size spoken of in De
Garay's experiment.
In addition to the above it is proper here to notice,
that the account of De Garay presents the only instance in which Spain pretends to have taken any
part either in the invention of the steam-engine or
steamboat. After the reputed experiment of De Garay,
and during that period of time when these inventions
were in progress, embracing some two hundred and
sixty years, and while France, Italy, Germany, Great
Britain, and the United States were all more or less
engaged in the work, and making their contributions
to it, Spain, for aught that appears, was wholly insensible to the subject. This surely does not look as
though she had at a former day interested herself in
the matter: if so, her genius had departed.'
1 Since the above was written, I have been informed that the paper
referred to, purporting to be found in the archives at Simancas, has been
proved a forgery. - AUTHOR.




CHAPTER IV.
As we proceed with the invention of the steamboat,
we find that the thought of applying steam to navigation was entertained by nearly all the principal projectors of the steam-engine. De Caus,' the Marquis of
Worcester, Sir Samuel Morland, Papin, Savary, Newcomen, Watt, and others, entertained the idea that it
might be so applied, but no one of these individuals
ever made the attempt to try it. Paddle-wheels had
occasionally been used from an early period to propel
boats by animal power, even by the Egyptians, and
afterwards by the Greeks and Romans; and the latter
in one of the Punic wars are said to have transported
their troops to Sicily on boats with wheels turned by
oxen. Valturius in his " Science of War," published
in 1472, speaks of this mode of transportation. They
were also mentioned by William Bourne in 1578.2
And Prince Rupert, after retiring from his military
life, turned his attention to scientific pursuits, and
about 1680, constructed a boat upon the Thames, propelled by paddle-wheels, which were moved by horses,3
and others used them in like way. So it is quite
evident that the use of wheels of some sort, moved by
1 See De Caus' Book, Les Raisons des Forces Mouvantes, etc. Paris,
1615.
2 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 330.
8 Papin's account from Acta Evuditorum, Leipsic, for 1690, pp. 410414.




28   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
animals to propel boats, was an old matter, but the
application of steam-power to paddle-wheels was of
more recent origin.
It is claimed in England, " that one Jon. Hulls,1 on
the 21st of December, 1736 (the same year Watt was
born), obtained a patent from  Parliament for what may
strictly be considered a steamboat." Hull's theory -
for it appears he never tried any experiment - was certainly a very ingenious one.2  He published a pamphlet
which he entitled, " A Description and Draught of a
new invented Machine for carrying Vessels and Ships
out of or into any Harbour, Port, or River, against Wind
and Tide, or in a Calm."   He made a drawing of his
proposed boat, from which it appears that he intended
to use one paddle-wheel in the centre of the stern of
the boat, to be turned by means of ropes and pulleys, so arranged as to give his wheel a continuous
rotary motion.3 The plan of his boat has but little
resemblance to a steamboat; and his machinery would
lack the two essential qualities of strength  and durability. He intended it only for towing other vessels
out of or into harbors, and designed to move it by the
Newcomen engine, the only engine then in use, and
that so imperfect as to be in no way adequate to the
1 Woolhouse On the Steam-engine, vol. i. p. 14.  Wooderoft's History
of Early Steam N2avigation.
2 Hulls' engine: Let a, b, c, be three wheels on one axis, and d, e, two
wheels bore on another axis. A with ratchets so as to move the axis only
when they move forward; f, g, h, are three ropes, and P is the piston of the
engine. When the piston descends, the wheels a, b, c, move forward, and
the ropes g, h, cause the wheels c, d, to move the wheel e forward and the
wheel d backwards, and the latter raises the weight G, which moves the
wheel d forward during the ascent of the piston; consequently the axis A,
B, with the paddle-wheel, would be constantly moved round in the same
direction and be an equable force. (See No. 6.)
8 See plan, in Woolhouse On the Steam-engine, p. 15.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   29
purpose designed. It is evident Hulls never built a
boat or tried to put his theory into practice; had such
been the case, English writers, in their zeal to prove him
the inventor of the steamboat, would not have failed
to mention it. His plan was no doubt found impracticable and abandoned; yet it showed that not only the
idea of applying steam to boats was entertained by
Hulls, but that he drew a plan on paper, of such
machinery as he had invented for that purpose. Belidor, an eminent writer and engineer, who gave an
account of the steam-engine in 1739, two years after
Hulls published his pamphlet, makes no mention of
him.1
In 1753, sixteen years after Hulls published his
pamphlet, Daniel Bornouilli, who sought to propel
boats by ejecting water from the stern, gained a prize
from the French Academy of Sciences, for demonstrating to the Academy the point that steam-power, as
then understood, could not be successfully applied to
navigation, without a continuous rotary motion,2 which
it did not possess. This looks as though Hulls' rotary
mechanism could not have been regarded of much if
any importance. This, however, was not the only
difficulty, the enormous amount of fuel required to
run the Newcomen engine for any length of time, was
beyond the capacity of a boat to hold or carry. Yet
others, not seeing these fatal difficulties in their way,
still persisted in trying their experiments with it.
Genevois, in 1759, tried a boat with the Newcomen
engine and paddles, constructed after the fashion of a
1 Arch. Hydr., tom ii. pp. 300, 331.
2 Remwick On the Steam- engine, p. 279.




30    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
duck's foot, opening in its backward and closing in its
forward motion through the water.1 But he soon found
that art would not construct from inert lifeless matter,
a paddle that would work with the elasticity of the
living sinews, joints, and filaments constructed by
nature. The Comte de Auxiron in 1774, and the Earl
of Stanhope afterwards, made similar trials, but with no
better success.2 Perrier in 1775, it is said, tried paddle-wheels, but he copld not make engine and wheels
go together, and ascribed his failure of success to the
wheels, which he flung aside, and tried other modes
of propulsion, but discovered no plan of success.3
The Marquis de Jouffroy, in 1782, constructed a boat
at Lyons, one hundred and forty feet long, fifteen feet
beam, and drawing three and a half feet of water;
and launched it upon the Soane, where he experimented
with it for more than a year.4 He used paddles, which
together with the defects in the prime mover, could
not be made to work to his satisfaction; and the boat,
after a long and thorough trial, was given up. But
Jouffroy was entitled to great credit for his energetic experiments, and failed because the right sort of
engine and propelling machinery were wanting.
The next experiment in Europe, worthy of notice,
was tried by Patrick Miller of Dalswinton in Scotland, in 1787.5  He put three small boats or skiffs
together, side by side, making a triple boat, and placed
paddle-wheels between them, to be turned by cranks,
worked by men. This craft was built for a little pleas1 Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 279.    2 ibid.    3 Ibid.
4 Dictionnaire de Physique, Art. "Chaloupe a Vapeur."
5 Woodcroft's History of Early Steam Navigation.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   31
ure boat upon Loch Dalswinton, a small lake upon his
estate. It was moved about the lake with safety, but
its slow movements were somewhat monotonous. One
James Taylor suggested to Miller the idea of putting
a steam-engine into the boat, and in 1788, he employed
William Symington to construct a small engine for
that purpose, which he put into the boat in the autumn
of that year. He succeeded in moving the craft about
the lake much faster than by hand, and more to his
amusement and satisfaction.  This induced him to employ Symington to put an engine into a larger boat,
on the Forth and Clyde Canal. This craft was constructed by putting two boats side by side, and having
but one wheel placed between them, thus forming
a double boat instead of triple.1  The next year,
December 26, 1789 (the year after Read commenced
his improvements,'it will be noticed), Miller tried his
boat upon the canal. They applied their steam force
to it, and it is related, succeeded in driving it at the
rate of seven miles per hour, a speed not before
attained.2 This, however, must have been the result
of a short and violent effort, beyond the capacity of
the boat and machinery, for we learn that both kept
breaking and coming to pieces, until the boat was in
danger of sinking, and they run her ashore. Miller
quarreled with his engineer respecting it, took out the
machinery, and gave up any further experiments in
steam navigation. It does not appear how his engine
was constructed; but it is evident, if Symington had
invented such new machinery as to adapt the steam1 Wooderoft's History of Early Steam Navication. Woolhouse, p. 31.
2 Woodcroft.




32   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
engine to boats, he would have made it a prominent
point in the account of his experiment. Let his engine
be what it may, the very form of his boats, and mode of
applying his propelling force, were fatal to a successful
navigation.  Instead of moving one boat with two
wheels, he substantially undertook to move two boats
with one wheel; and when we consider the obstruction
his double boat would meet with, from the dead water
to be dragged along between the hulks, it is evident it
could not possess much power or speed; nor did it
possess that combination of machinery in any respect
necessary to success. To show the correctness of this
position, Symington afterwards,1 with ten or twelve
years' experience added to his profession, was employed
by Lord Dundas (in 1801) to build a steam towboat
on the same Forth and Clyde Canal, which he called the
Charlotte -Dundas; and this boat did not exceed on the
average three and a half miles per hour; and the experiment was given up.
Indeed steam navigation was not introduced into
Europe for several years after it had been invented
and put in successful operation in the United States.
The first boat built outside of this country, which can
properly claim the name and character of a steamboat,
was built in Great Britain by one of Fulton's workmen, Henry Bell, at his own cost and risk, and put in
operation on the Clyde at Glasgow, in 1812.2  This
boat called the Comet, was only forty feet long, and
carried twenty-five tons, with a four-horse engine, and
run as a passenger boat between Glasgow and Green1 Life of Watt, p. 332. Woodcroft On Steam Navigation, p. 55. 1848
2 Woolhouse, vol. i. p. 470.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   33
ock. British writers attempt to lionize Bell, and make
him  the true inventor of the steamboat.  Woolhouse
says  1"Bell sent a description of the method of applying steam
in propelling vessels against wind and tide, to all the em.
perors and crowned heads of Europe, and also to America,
which last government put it in practice in the year 1806."
The above paragraph is recorded in an English work
designed as a standard authority, and as the author
himself styles it, " a splendid national work." But most
surely the United States government was never indebted to Bell for its steamboats; it had not then been
much of a steamboat-builder; and we must be allowed
to question its'" practice " of building them after Bell's
plans, or the plans of any one else, as early as 1806,
before they came into use at all. The learned author,
however, has the candor to remark, that"British genius and industry have not been extinguished
by transplanting to another climate. The projects of the
Americans are seldom founded on the sober reasoning of
science. Time will, however, check this evil, and he may
expect them to hold that rank in the new world, which
Britain has held with so much honor for centuries in the
older portion."
And he adds, -
" Considering the importance to America of navigating
her immense rivers, it is not surprising that the application
of the power of steam to propelling vessels, should by persevering efforts have been first carried into successful practice in that continent."
1 Renwick On the Steanz-engine, p. 277.
3




34    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Woolhouse, however, does not proceed to attribute
to any special cause our invention of the cotton gin,
nail machine, card machine, block machine, and machine for turning irregular forms, and other inventions
and discoveries too numerous to mention, -saying
nothing of the great discoveries in electricity by Franklin, and of the magnetic telegraph by Morse, inventions
that place this above all other countries for its inventive genius and improvement in the mechanic arts.
As we descend from Woolhouse's " National Work,"
to the current literature of England, we find repeated
instances of British writers, in attempting to attach to
their countrymen the credit of this invention.
An article in the " London Journal of the Society
of Arts" will suffice as a sample. It was published
in that leading English journal of art as late as 1853.
It says, "The steamboat was Watt's invention, and
about a score of years ago (which would be 1833 1)
it was first put in practice in Scotland, whence it
spread over the world."   Thus, with very little ceremony, the invention of the steamboat, and the vast
spread of steam navigation throughout the world, is,
by a single paragraph in the " London Journal,"
added to the laurels of Great Britain. The paragraph
lacks nothing but truth to entitle it to credit and make
it complete upon the face of it; but the assumption is
so notoriously extravagant as to be innocent of harm.
It is also claimed in England, that Robert Fulton, in
1 The writer of the above article was unfortunate in placing his invention
and first experiment with a steamboat, twenty-six years after Fulton put
his boat upon the Hudson, and long after boats were introduced the world
over!




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   35
1804, inspected Symington's boat, Charlotte Dundas,
and got his ideas of river navigation, with plans and
drawings, from him.' Symington's and Fulton's boats
and machinery scarcely resembled each other; and
Fulton had ordered his machinery of Boulton & Watt,
and gave them draughts, long before he ever saw
Symington's boat.2
The " London Quarterly Review " (vol. xix. po 353),
to make it appear that Great Britain should have the
credit of inventing the steamboat, says,' "Miller, of
Dalswinton, in 1787, published a book on applying
paddle-wheels with cranks to move boats on canals,
and suggested using a steam-engine to turn the cranks;
and that Miller transmitted a copy of this book to General Washington."
Miller's triple-boat, built of three skiffs placed side
by side, with wheels between them, and cranks turned
by the hands of his servants, was used to amuse his
children in a safe way, on a small lake or pond.3 It
appears that he made a drawing of this boat and published a description of it,4 with his men tugging away
at the cranks. His description of this thing, is the
book referred to in the " London Quarterly," as proof
that a steamboat had been built at that date in Great
Britain. Neither steam nor the steam-engine had anything to do with this craft when Miller published his
book or description of it. It does not appear from the
" Review" that he published any book after his disastrous experiments with steam. That he sent a copy
I Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 285.
2 On this subject see post.
3 Ante.   4 Muirheacl's Life of Watt, p. 332.




36    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
of his book to Washington, might have been true: as
the war between the two countries had closed, and the
animosity which the British people and government
had entertained against us had partially ceased. If Miller ever sent a copy of his book to Washington, containing a scientific description and drawing of his craft!
it would seem that the latter would have suggested the
subject to Rumsey or Fitch, both of whom at that
time were soliciting his aid and advice in their steamboat projects.
It is also said that Bell furnished Fulton with plans
and drawings in 1806; 1 this is disproved also by the
fact, that Fulton had closed his experiments at Paris in
1803, and ordered his engine in 1804, with drawings
and directions as to the manner of constructing it.2
In fact, Symington's boat differed from Fulton's so
essentially as to bear no comparison; while Bell, instead of furnishing a pattern to Fulton, built his own
boat in 1812, after Fulton's.
The zeal of English writers to attach the honor of
this invention to their own country, is very natural;
but they fail to produce any decisive impression on
the intelligent public. That many experiments were
made in England as well as in France, tending to
accomplish that end, is very certain; but that it was
finally accomplished by American genius, and in American waters, is allowed by universal consent.
1 Renwick, p. 288.    2 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 334.




CHAPTER V.
WE will now change the scene of these experiments from the opposite side of the Atlantic to our
own shores, and trace the progress of this invention in
the United States.
James Rumsey, a native of Maryland, and John Fitch
of Windsor, Connecticut, were the first in America
who made the attempt to propel boats by steam. They
were sharp competitors in the project of applying steam
to river navigation; and were engaged simultaneously
in their experiments.  Their machinery, however,
with which they proposed to propel their boats, was
very different both in plan and construction from each
other. The first effort made by Rumsey, he did not
apply steam as the motive power. His boat was constructed with two keels, having a wheel between them,
which he designed to move by the force of the current
alone, and to which he attached setting poles by means
of a shaft, and cranks to work them; hence he calculated
his boat would go best against a pretty swift current;
and as may be seen where there was no current it
would not move at all.1 This curious theory, however, was soon abandoned, after his attempt to reduce
it to practice; but in justice to Rumsey it is proper
to say that he intended the boat to run against the
currents of rapid rivers only.2  This experiment was
in 1784.  He afterwards constructed a boat to be
1 Documentary History of New York, vol. ii. p. 1014.  2 ]bid.




38    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMLI-ENGINE.
propelled by steam; and in December 1787, tried
it upon the Potomac, at Bath, Berkeley County, Virginia.' He had but very indifferent success, moved
his boat but a short distance, and the season closing
the river, his boat was laid up, and he made no further
experiment with it.  The next year he went to England to prosecute his steam projects there; and suddenly died with apoplexy, as he was about to address
a crowded audience at Liverpool on the subject.2
Rumsey's steamboat was constructed essentially after
the plan of Bournelli, being a mode of propelling a
vessel by forcing water out at the stern by the power
of steam, through a trunk which extended aft from
near the bow.3  Rumsey probably obtained the idea
from  Dr. Franklin, who was his friend and patron.
Franklin, during his residence in France, had taken
the opportunity to look into scientific matters of this
sort as well as others, and became acquainted with
Bournelli's plan.4   He returned  from  France in
August 1785, and in December following laid a plan
of a steamboat before the Philosophical Society at
Philadelphia, substantially after that plan, and similar
to that which Rumsey afterwards constructed.   The
water was drawn into the forward end of the trunk
from under the boat by means of a pump or cylinder,
with the piston worked by the engine - the pump containing a valve that opened and closed to draw in the
water and force it into the trunk and out at the stern.5
John Fitch, as early as 1785, commenced his steam1 Documentary History of New York, vol. ii. p. 1020.
2 Hows' History of Virginia. Life of Fitch, p. 374.
3 See Fig. No. 7.   4 Sparks' Life of Franklin, vol. vi. p. 479.
5 Documentary History of New York, vol. ii. p. 1018.




__                        A.
_
fr   fLr   
 
)   J4LJI                         LI
4








NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-.ENGINE.   39
boat projects,1 being the next year after Rumsey
made the attempt to navigate the Potomac against its
current, with his water-propelling boat. He thus became a rival of Rumsey in the purpose of river navigation - the object they both then had in view. They
entered into a bitter controversy on the question of
priority, each claiming to be the first to propose steam
power to the propulsion of boats.2  They not only
claimed priority as it- respected each other, but as
to the whole world. Fitch says "he never heard of
such a thing as a steam-engine before he had conceived
the idea of one," which was in the spring of that
year in which he commenced his steamboat projects,
— 1785,3   And he says moreover, "The propelling
of a boat with steam is as new as the rowing of a boat
with angels, and I claim the first thought and invention of it." 4
With these two confessions of Fitch, showing his entire ignorance of the mechanism of the steam-engine,
or of any attempt by others to apply it to boats, when
he began, it is certainly remarkable that he succeeded
as well as he did in. his experiments.  He says moreover, in a petition to Congress, as late as July, 1790,
in referring to his former experiments, -" That his loss
of time and money was occasioned by his total ignorance of the improved state of the steam-engine, for not
a person could be found who was acquainted with the
minutiae of Boulton & Watt's new engines; and whether
your petitioner's engine is similar or not to those in
England, he is at this moment totally ignorant."5
1 Westcott's Life of Fitch, p. 119.
2 Documentary History of New York, p. 1012, and post.
8 Westcott's Life of Fitch, p. 119.
4 lbid. p. 172.     5 Ibid. p. 299.




40    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
From the above statements of Fitch, it is evident,
he knew little or nothing of the great improvements
of Watt upon the steam-engine, or of any just method
of adapting it to steam navigation.
Fitch first proposed to build his boat after the plan
of Bournelli, as presented by Franklin to the Philosophical Society; and ordered the hull to be built
on that plan,' - of course with a double kelson. But
Henry Voight, whom he had employed to assist him in
building his engine, persuaded him to give up that plan
for some other mode of propulsion; but proposed as
the first object to build their engine.
Fitch & Voight accordingly went to work and constructed a small engine for a model, of only one-inch
cylinder.2  But it had not sufficient force to overcome
the friction, and give it self motion.  They then made
one with a three-inch cylinder, and tried a small skiff
by hand with paddles, and one or two other modes,
none of which gave them satisfaction. This experiment
was in July, 1786.3 Soon after the above trial he applied cranks to his oars or paddles, and found that they
worked better. They then put the engine into the skiff,
and the experiment was sufficiently satisfactory to induce
a part of the company who were aiding Fitch, to believe
that a boat of larger size might be safely built.
There is no very definite means of knowing the nature of the engine they used. It however appears that
it had a double-acting cylinder and cranks; that " each
stroke of the piston turned the axle-tree about two
thirds round, and each revolution of the axle-tree moved
twelve oars, six on a side, with three up and three
1 Life of Fitch, p. 157.  2 ibid. p. 158.  3 Ibid. p. 159.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   41
down, rising and falling about five and a half feet." 1
The oars worked perpendicularly and made a stroke
downward into the water like the paddles of a canoe." 2
It does not appear that they used the fly-wheel to
carry the motion beyond the dead points of the crank,
or that the several parts of the engine were properly
proportioned to each other - which, as they worked
without any formula, could not by anything other than
accident, have been the case. The caps of the cylinders were made of wood, and neither these nor the
piston could be made air-tight. They used a condenser invented by Voight, which he called the " pipe condenser." Several other forms of condensers were tried
and flung aside; the steam valves worked badly;3
the boiler was of very large size compared with the
rest of the engine; said to hold five hundred gallons
of water, while the engine and boiler occupied
about two thirds the length and size of the boat.
It was calculated  the boiler and  other machinery
would weigh from five to seven tons, beside fuel;
while the boat was but forty-five feet long and twelve
feet beam.4 Yet they succeeded in moving this craft
when under full way, from three to four miles per
hour, but frequent stoppages were made to accumulate fresh supplies of steam and repair the engine:
" for as one defect was remedied another became apparent."5 All this makes it quite evident that they
had not hit very near Watt, in the construction of their
1 See Fig. No. 8.     2 Life of Fitch, p. 177.
3 Westcott's Life of Fitch, p. 185, and2post.
4 See affidavits of William Askew and Henry Bedinger, Documentary
History of New York, vol. ii. pp. 1024, 1025.  5 Life of Fitch, p. 186.




42    NATHAN READ AND TEE STEAM-ENGINE.
engine or made any improvement in the massive
boiler, to fit it for steam navigation. This experiment
was in July and August 1787.
No further experiments were made with the above
described boat, but it was abandoned and a new boat
built sixty feet long and eight feet beam, in 1788;
and the machinery of the old boat taken out and put
into this; at the same time the oars of the old boat
were dispensed with and substituted by three or four
paddles, much broader than the oars, and used at the
stern, instead of the sides of the boat.1  They went
from Philadelphia to Burlington, twenty miles, and
the boiler sprung a leak just as they arrived at the
latter place. This was the first trip of that distance
ever made by a steamboat known in history, which was
the last of July or 1st of August 1788.2 They repaired
up the boat and made three or four trips that fall to
Burlington, on an average speed of about four miles
per hour. This speed did not meet the expectations
of' the company, and most of them, with Voight, gave
up the project.3
Fitch however got up another company in the spring
of 1789, and began another boat with an eighteen-inch
cylinder.  A  condenser invented by Dr. Thornton
was put into it; they then tried Voight's pipe condenser with no better success. These changes occupied the summer, but in December they tried the new
boat, after enlarging the air-pump. Yet this boat succeeded no better than the old one, and it was laid up for
the winter.4 In the spring following, 1790, they tried
1 Life of Fitch, p. 248, and post.   2 Ibid. p. 250.
3 Ibid. p. 252.          4 Jbid, p. 270, and post.




NATHIAN READ AND TEI~ ST~EAM-ENGIVNE.   43
another sort of condenser, and wholly failed to work
the boat.  This was the seventh condenser they had
experimented with, all of different construction and of
their own getting up — clearly showing how they
worked in the dark, without any specific knowledge of
the steam-engine as improved by Watt.  Another condenser of Fitch's contrivance, however, was tried; and
on the 16th of April, as Fitch expressed himself, 66 They
reiglnedl Lord High Admirals of the Delaware."' The
boat run on the average about six miles per hour; and
now and then was brought up to the speed of seven or
eight miles.  It was run as a passenger boat between
Philadelphia and Trenton three months or so; 2 but
from the crude and imperfect character of the machinery, thl  ill adaptation of one part to the other, the
clumsy working of the paddles behind, the great expense of fuel, and the little space on the boat except
what the engine, boiler, and fuel occupied, the attention required to keep it in repair, as the machinery
kept continually getting out of order, and the expenses
of running the boat constantly accumulating beyond
its earnings, all together, made it a losing business,
and it was abandoned.3
The difficulties Fitch labored under, not only from
his owln lack of information, as to the true philosophical data and structure of the steam-engine, and the
perplexities he constantly met, while groping in the
dark to construct his machinery, were made apparent
in this experiment. Nevertheless, it is a fact that Fitch,
with machinery that never could be profitably or successfully applied to navigation, even upon the rivers, fo red
1 Life of Fitch, p. 281.   2 Ibid. 284, and post.   3 Ibid. p. 285.




44   iNATIAN READ AND THE STEA-ML-ENGIiNE.
his boat at a greater speed than did Fulton in his
first experimnent upon the Hudson; but Fulton had
got upon the right track, where his path was felicitous
and smooth; while Fitch rushed headlong against fatal
and unforeseen obstacles.
Fitch made some feeble attempts to renew his experiments, but without success.  He quarreled  with
Voight and his friends, who had now lost their confidence in him, and he could raise no funds but now
and then a few dollars out of pity to relieve him of his
extreme necessities. Thus far his career had been of a
remarkable character, just such as would be likely to
follow the efforts of such a man.  He combined w-ith a
rare and remarkable genius, qualities that were fatal
to his success.  His genius had to contend.yith his
ignorance, excitable temper, and intemperate habits, -
an array of difficulties that it could not overcome.
He was ever groping in  the dark, urged on by his
impulses, and thus subjected himself to a life of successive calamities.  He had conceived the idea of a
steam-engine, and of its results when applied to boats,
as he says; and set himself to work to build one and
make the application.  His plans and drawings, taken
from  his own crude  mind  for the most part, were
necessarily vague and imperfect; and the machinery
forged friom them would work badly or not at all, perplex him, and discourage his employers.
Had Fitch taken the same pains that George Stephenson did - who at the age of eighteen could neither
read nor write —to acquire an intimate knowledge of his
profession, and direct his genius by scientific principles,
his career no doubt would have been equally successful




NATHAN READ AND THE STEA-M-ENGINE.   45
and glorious. Success would have raised him above
himself, kept down his petulance and ill-temper,
and overcome the evils of dissipation; it would have
made a man of him, as he felt himself to be, when
he " reigned Lord High Admiral of the Delaware."
He had in the very character of the men who gave
him their patronage, a basis for all the material aid
he required: they were anxious to furnish the means,
but they wanted the assurance that they would not
be spent in vain.  Fitch was not the man to give
them this assurance. As it was, however, the honesthearted fellow labored not in vain; he accomplished
more in driving his boat, crude as it was, than had
ever been done before; but he fell far short of introducing to the world a practicable mode of navigation by steam.
This man of genius and misfortune, after spending
some years in poverty and distress, took up his residence at Bardstown, Kentucky, where by his own
hand he flung off this mortal coil, - closing a life of
perseverance, intermixed with bitter disappointment
and trouble. Before his death he made the request,
" that he should be buried on the banks of the Ohio,
that he might repose where the song of the boatman
would enliven the stillness of his resting-place, and
the music of the steam-engine soothe his spirit." 1
Truly prophetic words!
1 Hows' History of Virginia.




CHAPTER VI.
IT has been noticed that Read as early as 1788,
while a resident of Salem, devoted himself to the
purpose of applying steam-power to navigation and
land transport. Having learned the unsuccessful attempts made by Rumsey upon the. Potomac, and Fitch
upon the Delaware in 1787, and believing that their
failure was owing to their ill-constructed machinery,
and modes of propulsion, he sought to overcome the
difficulty, by the invention and combination of machinery of a different and more perfect kind. He believed
this could be done by so modifying Watt's improved
engine as to fit it for a portable as well as stationary
power. It had thus far been used in mills or fixed
localities, where it was expected to remain, and it had
been invented for no other purpose.  Thus its heft
and bulk hardly came into account in its construction.
Indeed, power and durability were the great objects,
without regard to size or weight in the stationary
engines; but not so in an engine to be used in a
boat or land carriage. In both of these cases they
must not only be of small size, but light, and so light
as to be carried in the craft or carriage they propel,
not only with convenience and ease, but with economy
and profit.  In short, the engine must be of small
size, comparatively light, without any loss of power,
and work with freedom and safety. He believed,




NATHANV READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  47
moreover, that the modes of propulsion used by Rumsey and Fitch - setting-poles, oars, paddles, or the
ejection of water from the stern of the boat — were
not only awkward in their operation but unreliable.
His first and great purpose was to invent a new
boiler, of such a character as to dispense with the
massive, old-fashioned  boilers, and  thus  reduce  the
engine several tons' weight. He succeeded in the
invention of a boiler, of which he made draughts and
constructed a model, differing entirely from any before
known or in use, which, from its characteristic principles, he denominated the " Portable Furnace Boiler."
To use his own words, " it occupied but little space,
was light and strong, and so constructed as to require
no other furnace than what itself constituted, and was
designed both for boats and land carriages." This
boiler was constructed of seventy-eight tubes, placed
within it, and hence has been generally denominated
the  tubular, or  more  properly, the  multi-tubular,
boiler.' The model of this boiler is not to be found,
and is supposed to have been consumed in 1836, when
1 The tubes were placed in a vertical position, as will be seen from the
following plan and specification of it. In the use of the multi-tubular boiler
placed in this position, the Encyclopcedia Biritannica (vol. xx. p. 651), revised
and republished the present year, 1860, speaks as follows: -
"The Americans have adopted a form of tubular boiler, in which the
tubes are disposed vertically, the smoke and flame passing round the outside of the tubes, and the water being contained in the inside. These vertical-tube boilers are very effective in generating steam, and partly for this
reason, that the flame reaches further amongst their tubes than in the case
of a horizontal boiler, in consequence of the greater space outside the tubes
in which the flame may develop itself. The importance of this, especially
while using the flaming bituminous coal, is very great. The absorbent
surface is greater, and the weight of water it is necessary to carry is much
less."




48    NrNATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
the Patent Office was destroyed by fire. The following copies of the patent, specification, and drawings of
the boiler will sufficiently describe its form and nature.
The patent also includes an improvement of the steam
cylinder and method of propelling boats by means of
the chain-wheel, which I shall notice hereafter.1
"THE UNITED STATES
" To all to whom these presents shall come
" GREETING:
"Whereas, Nathan Read, of Salem, in the State of Massachusetts, hath presented a petition to the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of the Department of War, and the
Attorney-General of the United States, alleging and suggesting that he hath discovered the following useful devices,
not before known neither used; that is to say, an improvement of the boiler of the steam-engine, by constructing it in
such a manner as to constitute of itself a complete furnace
that more effectually prevents the loss of heat than any
other furnace that is wholly or in part foreign to the boiler
itself, - by reducing its size, and rendering it very portable,
and at the same time increasing its force, by exposing within
a small space a very large surface directly to the fire, and by
connecting it with a reservoir in such a way as to be replenished with water with as much safety and convenience when
on board a vessel in motion as at rest. Also an improvement of the steam cylinder, by which it is rendered more
portable and convenient for working in an inclined or horizontal position, and which is in the piston, which has two
stems, or rods, one coming out at each end of the cylinder,
and alternately acting with equal force and in contrary directions. And also a practical mode of driving or impelling
1 The original papers in the family of Judge Read.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAJM-ENGINE.    49
boats or vessels of any kind in the water or against the current, by means of the chain-wheel, or rowing machine, constructed and operating upon the general principles of the
chain-pump, and moved by the force of steam or any other
power, in the same manner'the chain-pump is moved; and
praying that a patent may be granted therefor.  And
whereas, the said discovery hath been deemed sufficiently
useful and important: These are, therefore, in pursuance
of the Act entitled'An Act to promote the Progress of the
Useful Arts,' to grant to the said Nathan Read, his heirs,
administrators, or assigns, for the term of fourteen years, the
sole and exclusive right of making, using, and vending to
others to be used, the said discovery, so far as he, the said
Nathan Read was the discoverer, according to the allegations and suggestions of the said petition.
" In testimony whereof I have caused these Letters to be
made Patent, and the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.
" Given under my hand, at the City of Philadelphia, this
twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the sixteenth.
"' GEORGE WASHINGTON.
LL. S.]       "By the President,
"TEos. JEFFERSON.
"CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 26, 1791.
"I do hereby certify that the foregoing Letters-patent
were delivered to me in pursuance of an Act entitled'An
Act to promote the Progress of the Useful Arts;' that I
have examined the same, and find them conformable to said
Act.          "'EDT. RANDOLPH, Attorney- General."
4




50    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
"SPECIFICATION OF AN IMPROVED STEAM-BOILER.
" PLATE I.
" Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the boiler.
"Fig. 2 a vertical section of its parts.
" Fig. 3 a horizontal section through the mouth of the
furnace.
"Fig. 4 a horizontal section of the upper part of the
furnace.
" The letters of reference are made to answer to the same
parts in all the figures in this plate. A, the fuel door, covering the mouth of the furnace, which is represented by a
dotted circle.  BB, the reservoir from which the boiler is
replenished with water through the pipe D, which has a
stop-cock to close it after the' boiler is replenished.  C, a
tube, with a stop-cock, through which the reservoir is filled.
This tube should be shut while the tubes D and N are open.
To replenish the boiler, shut the tube C and open D and N.
E, the funnel which conveys the smoke from the furnace.
The funnel is conveyed through the reservoir, that the water
may be hot before it enters the boiler. F, the steam-pipe
that conveys off the steam from the boiler as fast as it is
generated.  G, Fig. 2, a cylindrical vessel forming the
external part of the boiler. HIH, a smaller cylindrical vessel forming the inner part of the boiler and external part of
the furnace. The cylindrical vessels are united at bottom,
as represented in Fig. 2 and in the model. Ifi, the top of
the furnace, perforated to receive the long tubes a a a, etc.,
which are open at both ends, and also to receive the short
tubes b6 6 b, etc., which are open at top and closed at bottom.
KK, the bottom of the filrnace, perforated to receive the
long tubes a a a, etc., represented by the dotted circles in
Fig. 3. L., that part of the furnace that contains the fuel.




PLATE 1
Fig. 1
A;  O
\',,,%%.L /








00>'o'- 0o'l ooo,
100000
D9 =; * s(   n C
V -! V /  V.I  x  ]     IN
3    -i2-'2r3
-  T T1Vad








NA THAN READ AND THE S TEAM-ENGINE.    51;, an opening on the bottom of the boiler, through which
the air passes up into the furnace and feeds the flame. The
grate is placed in this opening, as represented in Fig. 2.
The number of tubes and size of the boiler may be increased
or diminished at pleasure. The boiler should be made of
copper or iron, and all its parts well brazed or riveted together, in the same manner in which work of this kind is
commonly done. The, boiler, like all others, should have a
valve to give the steam vent should it be in danger of
bursting.
" To all to whom these presents shall come:
"6 I, NATHAN READ of Salem, in the State of Massachusetts, being the grantee of a Patent from the United States,
for several improvements by me discovered, not known or
used before such discovery, in applications of steam to
useful purposes; do by these presents deliver to the Secretary of State the specifications hereto annexed, of the discovery aforesaid, in pursuance of the Act entitled'An Act
to promote the progress of the Useful Arts.' Given under
my hand and seal in the office of the Secretary of State
this twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord one
thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.
"NATHAN READ." [L. S.]
The above specification with corresponding drawings
present a lucid and intelligent description of this remarkable invention; but no less remarkable in its conception than important in its results. The boiler alone
actually prepared the steam-engine for a utility that it
never before possessed. It rendered it portable, and
made it a practical agent for moving boats and land
carriages. It is claimed by the friends of Judge Read,
that this was the first multi-tubular boiler invented;
and this was what the inventor himself claimed, as




52    NATHAN READ AND TE STEAM-ENGINE.
will hereafter appear, and as shown not only by the foregoing patent which he received as the original inventor,
but by the following extract of a letter by him to Mr.
Jefferson, then Secretary of State, and by virtue of his
office one of the Commissioners of Patents: -
"SALEM, January 8th, 1791.
" SI: -- I forwarded last week to Mr. Remsen 1 models
of several machines, drafts and descriptions of which are inclosed. The model of the boiler which I have forwarded, is
an improvement upon one of those I exhibited last winter.
The model I refer to consists of several annular vessels
placed one above another within the furnace, in such a manner as to expose a very large surface directly to the fire.
For annular vessels, placed in a horizontal position, I have
substituted circular tubes, placed in a vertical position 2
within the furnace, which is formed by the boiler itself in the
same manner as the other was.  In the last boiler, which is
stronger, more simple and elegant in its construction, I have
paid less regard to the evaporating surface than in either of
the others — finding by experiment that the principle of
evaporation suggested by your Excellency is perfectly just,
when applied to close vessels. I am sensible that a pipe
was several years since made use of by Mr. Rumsey for
generating steam, and also perceive from the' Philosophical
Transactions,' that a tube in the form of the worm of a still
was used upwards of twenty years ago for the same purpose;
but do not know that any other person but myself hath ever
1 Mr. Remsen was the Secretary of the Board of Commissioners.
2 In the Scientific American, vol. iii. No. 11, new series, p. 174, September 8, 1860, the editors say, " The reason why we prefer a boiler with vertical tubes, is owing to the favorable results which have been obtained with
such a boiler on board the United States frigate San Jacinto in comparison with one having the old-fashioned tubes. We do not mean one that
has the fire returned through the tubes; but water tubes, as explained in
Isherwood's lEngineering Precedents."




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    53
constructed a tubular boiler, formed in such a manner as to
constitute of itself a complete furnace. It is about three
years since I first projected a boiler upon this plan. How
far my improvements merit an exclusive privilege, the Honorable Board will judge. Should a Patent be granted, I
suggest it may be delivered to Benjamin Goodhue, Esq.,
who will pay Mr. Remsen all charges that have arisen in
consequence of my application.
" I am, with the sincerest respect,
"Your Excellency's most obedient servant,
" NATHAN READ."
In Woolhouse's edition of " Tredgold," vol. i. p. 413,
he says: -
" The introduction of tubes into the boiler, is one of the
greatest improvements that has been made in the construction of locomotives, and was the cause of the superiority of
the Rocket engine to those that competed with it, and to
all the former engines.  The Rocket engine made by
Mr. R. Stephenson, which was the engine that gained the
prize for the best locomotive, at the opening of the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway, in 1829, was the first engine made
with tubes in this country."
And in a note on the same page he adds:'_
"It appears that the merit of the first invention of a
boiler with tubes is due to a French engineer, M. Seguin,
who had a patent for it in 1828; although the application
of the principle in the Rocket engine was undoubtedly
an independent invention."
The above allusions to the invention of the
"m rulti-tubular boiler " 2 were undoubtedly made without a knowledge of Read's invention and patent of it.
1 Woolhouse, vol. i. p. 413.
2 This is the proper name of the boiler.




54    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAiM-ENGINE.
But by comparison the general principles of this and
the boiler of the " Rocket " will be found to resemble
each other sufficiently to be the result of one and the
same invention; and Read's invention was more than
forty years anterior to either Seguin's or Stephenson's
experiments. The only perceptible difference lay in
the fact, that this boiler of Read was intended to carry
the water through the tubes and the fire through the
cavities between them; while Stephenson's boiler carried the fire through the tubes and the water through
the cavities —a change very simple and easily made,
and no doubt an improvement for locomotive engines;
and it will hereafter appear that Read proposed the
same thing —in short that he invented the multitubular boiler, to be used in either form, i. e., one
with the flame passing through the tubes, and the
other with the water.
To show the analogy between the boiler invented by
Read and that used upon the " Rocket" at the celebrated trial at Rainhill, the following description of the
boiler of the " Rocket " used on that occasion, prepared
by that eminent engineer, Robert Stephenson (son of
George Stephenson), who under the direction of his
father built the " Rocket " and obtained the prize, may
be regarded as the best evidence that can be obtained
on the subject.  He says:"At this stage of the locomotive engine, we have in the
multi-tubular boiler the only important principle of construction introduced, in addition to those which my father had
brought to bear at a very early age (between the years 1814
and 1821), on the Killingworth Colliery Railway.l In the
1 Stephenson built his first locomotive at Killingworth in 1814. " The




NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGI~NE.   55'Rocket' engine the power of generating steam  was prodigiously increased by the adoption of the multi-tubular boiler.
Its efficiency was further augmented by narrowing the-orifice
by which the waste steam escaped into the chimney; for by
this means the velocity of the air in the chimney, or in other
words the draught of the fire, was increased to an extent
that far surpassed the expectations even of those who had
been the authors of the combination. From the date of
running  the'Rocket' on the Liverpool and  Manchester
Railway, the locomotive engine has received many improvements in detail, and especially in accuracy of workmanship;
but in no essential particular does the existing locomotive
differ from that (the' Rocket') which obtained the prize in
the celebrated competition at Rainhill.
"In  this instance, as in every other important step in
science and art, various claimants have arisen for the merit
of having suggested the multi-tubular boiler as a means of
obtaining the necessary heating surface. Whatever may be
the value of their respective claims, the public, useful, and
extensive application of the invention must certainly date
from the experiments made at Rainhill. M. Seguin, for
whom engines had been made by my father some years previously, states that he patented a similar multi-tubular boiler
in France, several years before.1
boiler was cylindrical, eight feet in length and thirty-four inches in diameter,
with an internal flue-tube twenty inches wide passing through it. The
engine had two vertical cylinders of eight inches and two feet stroke let
into the boiler, working the propelling gear wi~th cross-heads and connecting rods." He used spur-wheels and had a chamber around the chimney
to heat the water before it entered the boiler. His car-wheels were all of
a smooth surface, which he found by experiment were sufficient for traction. Life of Stephenson, p. 90, post.
1 George Stephenson sent two engines to France in 1828 for the St.
Etienne Railway constructed in his usual form. Seguin took out Stephenson's boilers, and applied others with the flame passing through the tubes,
which greatly increased the power of the engines. This gave Stephenson
the idea of that form of boiler, which he afterwards applied to the "Rocket."




56     NATHAN READ AND  THE STEAM-ENGINE.
"A  still prior claim  is made by Mr. Stevens of New
York, who was all but the rival of Mr. Fulton in the introduction of steamboats on the American rivers. It is stated
as early as 1807 he used the multi-tubular boiler. These
claimants may all be entitled to great and independent merit;
but certain it is that the perfect establishment of the success
of the multi-tubular boiler is more immediately due to the
suggestion of Mr. Henry Booth, and to my father's practical
knowledge in carrying it out.'
"The boiler of the' Rocket' was cylindrical with flat ends,
six feet in length and three feet four inches in diameter.
The upper half of the boiler was used as a reservoir for the
steam, the lower half being filled with water. Through the
lower part, twenty-five copper tubes of three inches diameter
extended, which were opened to the fire-box at one end, and
to the chimney at the other.  The fire-box or furnace, two
feet wide and three feet high, was attached immediately behind the boiler, and was also surrounded with water.  The
cylinders were placed on each side of the boiler, in an oblique position, one end being nearly level with the top of
the boiler at its after end, and the other pointing towards the
centre of the foremost or driving pair of wheels; with which
the connection was directly made from the piston-rod to a
pin on the outside of the wheel. The engine and water
weighed four and a quarter tons, and was supported on
four wheels not coupled. The tender was four wheeled,
And from this circumstance its invention was imputed to Seguin. Life of
Stephenson, p. 262.
1 Life of George Stephenson, by Smiles, p 263.
Henry Booth, secretary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, proposed to Stephenson to apply the boiler of Seguin to the " Rocket " engine,
and the multi-tubular boiler, as they called it, was thereupon adopted.
Booth was interested with Stephenson in the construction of the "Rocket."
ibid.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   57
and similar in shape to a wagon; the foremost part holding
the fuel and the hind part a water cask."1
The priority and rights of -the respective claimants
to the invention of the multi-tubular boiler, will be more
particularly noticed hereafter; for the present the
reader is invited to compare the above description of
the boiler of the " Rocket " with the specification and
drawings of Read of his boiler, which he patented in
1791 (ante, p. 48); from which it will appear that the
principles of their construction were essentially the
same. In the mean time, to show the advantage of
the multi-tubular boiler over every other mode proposed, we will here give a brief account of the trial at
Rainhill of the several engines entered for the prize.
The prize offered by the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway Company was ~500 to the most successful
locomotive, the speed not to average less than ten
miles an hour, the engine to consume its own smoke,
not to be of more than six tons weight, and be able to
draw twenty tons day by day; the boiler to have two
safety-valves, one out of the control of the engineer;
the engine and boiler to be supported on springs, the
engines to be at the Liverpool end of the line ready
for trial on the 1st of October, 1829. Each engine
was to run two miles (the track being level), and
make twenty trips in a day, and each to run on
different days. The engines entered were as follows:
the "Novelty," constructed by Messrs. Braithwaite
& Ericsson; the " Sans-pariel," by Timothy Harkworths; the " Rocket," by Messrs. Stephenson &
Booth; the "Perseverance," by Mr. Burstalls.2
1 Life of Stephenson, p. 265.  2 Ibid. pp. 266, 267.




58    NA THAN READ AND THEf STEAM-ENGINE.
Stephenson was the first ready and the first to open
the course; which, however, was not until the 6th of
October.  On that day the multitude assembled to
witness the strength and speed of the young giants; a
scene of intense curiosity, and of far greater interest
in the view of all intelligent people, than any exhibition of the mechanic arts which had appeared before
the world since the successful opening of steam navigation upon the Hudson. It was not a test of speed
resulting from the mechanism of nature, like the tension and force of the muscle and bone and sinew of the
horse, but from a force the work of human hands, and
owing its creation and existence to human contrivance.
A stud of animals about to exhibit their speed upon
the race-course would excite but little interest, but
for machines constructed by mortal artisans, self-moving and put in motion by fire and water, to enter the
race, to speed their way through smoke and flame,
upon limbs and joints of steel, was a novel affair. The
interest produced by the occasion, most surely, was not
greater than the result of the experiment foreboded; a
decision was to be made whether the anticipations in
this behalf, of men of science and genius, were to
triumph, or whether all their deductions and labors
were to end in a capital failure, and the actors irretrievably set down as a knot of visionary, delusive men.
Moreover, whether the vast ends of trade and commerce and public travel, of the speedy centralization
of distant lands and communities into one people and
one social position, one neighborhood, one knowledge,
one faith, who before knew not each other, were to be
realized, or, on the other hand, whether all these high




NATHAN READ AND THE S TEAM-ENGINE.   59
hopes were to be given up as impossible, and lost
forever?
It is hardly necessary to add that all the country
around, its commonalty, beauty, and fashion, men of
learning, nobility, and most eminent engineers and inventors, one and all, with their hopes and fears, stood
by to witness the novel exhibition. What had been
practically accomplished by Stephenson in the collieries
at Killingworth, and upon the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which he had previously constructed with
a degree of success far beyond the expectations of his
employers, had partially opened the eyes of the public, and the world of gazers now looked upon the
subject, not as a positive delusion of some cracked
brain, but with a timid yet wavering sort of faith that
seemed hardly to know what it was about, or how to
believe its own eyes.
The "Rocket" made its first trial by running six
times back and forth over the two-mile track; and it
performed this run, being twelve miles, in fifty-three
minutes. It then gave the track to the "Novelty,"
which was next called out; and on this first day it ran
at the rate of twenty-four miles per hour, nearly
doubling the speed of the " Rocket."  The "Novelty" had a bellows attached to its engine to produce
combustion, and used an engine and boiler of the ordinary form as constructed by Boulton & Watt. The
" Sans-pariel " was next called out, but the day was
so far spent that it did not enter upon the track until
the next day, when its boiler became defective, and it
withdrew from the contest to make amends. On the
second day, the bellows of the " Novelty " also gave




60    NATHAN READ AiYD THE STEAM-ENGINE.
out, and it hahuled off for repairs. The boiler of the
" Sans-pariel " was like that of the "' Novelty," but it
used the steam-blast instead of a bellows to produce
combustion.  The "Perseverance" came upon the
track, but was not able to go beyond six miles per
hour, and was withdrawn from the contest. On this
day, the " Rocket " was again put to the test. Stephenson hitched an omnibus to it containing thirty persons,
and ran with his car-load of passengers at the rate of
twenty-four to thirty miles per hour.'
The third day, the " Rocket " ran, as its maximum
speed, twenty-nine miles per hour, with about thirteen
tons' weight attached to the engine, — its speed exceeding so far any previous calculation on the subject,
and being so far beyond anything the eyes of the world
had ever before seen passing in tractile force before
them, that it made the exhibition a matter of wonder
and astonishment, as well as enthusiastic admiration.
The fourth day, the " Novelty " again appeared upon
the track. It passed down well, and indicated a close
run with the " Rocket "; but on its return the pipe of
its forcing-pump burst, and it was again withdrawn for
repairs. It was afterwards placed upon the track, and
pressed to its maximum speed; but did not exceed from
twenty-four to twenty-eight miles per hour.2
On the 13th, the " Sans-pariel," having been placed
in repair, once more took the course, oiled up its joints,
and fed its fires for a more hopeful showing. It passed
up and down the track, but was not able to exceed
fourteen miles per hour on the average. At length
its pump got out of order, and it was obliged to stop
1 Life of Stephenson, p. 268.  2 Ibid, p. 269.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    61
and give up the controversy. The next day, the
"' Novelty " made another attempt to run; but it broke
down, and gave up any further trial. The " Rocket,"
having in all respects fulfilled, and, indeed, far surpassed
the conditions stipulated in the promised reward, received the prize; and after the award Stephenson,
with a view to test the actual speed of the' Rocket,"
and show that he had not yet done what he might
do, again put it on the course, disencumbered of any
load. To the astonishment of all beholders, he now
ran, without accident or delay, at the rate of thirtyfive miles per hour; and he publicly declared that a
mile a minute, with proper improvements upon the
engine, was attainable. It was now, to use the words
of Mr. Smiles, that both  " foul weather and fair
weather friends " joined in eulogizing Stephenson for
his success —a success attained by the adoption of
the multi-tubular boiler.1
It is proper here to notice, that the "6 Rocket " alone
on this occasion, used the multi-tubular boiler. The
boilers of the " Novelty " and " Sans-pariel" were both
of the same construction, and were of two tubes, or
flues, in the form  of the letter U, and presented a
far less amount of heating surface than that of the
"Rocket," which, with the steam-blast, gave to the
"Rocket" its superior capacity and advantage, and
secured to it the prize.2  Mr. Smiles, in his "Life
of George Stephenson," remarks on this subject: -
1 Life of Stephenson, p. 271.
2 The steam-blast was produced by conducting the waste steam by a pipe
into the chimney, thus increasing the draught and effecting a more intense
combustion in the furnace. It was supposed that the power of the engine
would diminish as the velocity increased; but Stephenson maintained and




62    VNATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
" It was the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam,
blast, and its combination with the multi-tubular boiler, with
its large heating surface, that at once gave the high-pressure
locomotive its vigorous life, and secured the triumph of the
railway system. As has been well observed, this wonderful
ability to increase and multiply its powers of performance
with the emergency that demands them, has made this giant
engine the noblest creation of human wit — the very lion
among machines." I
Smiles does not attribute the invention of the multitubular boiler to Stephenson, but concedes that it was
invented by some one else.2  He seems to have had no
other information respecting it than the account of
Seguin's experiment, to whom, from  the simple fact
that he was known to use it, he would accede the
invention, but without any definite knowledge that he
(Seguin) was in truth the. actual inventor. It does
not appear that Seguin claimed the invention, — he
gave Stephenson no such information - although he
took out a patent for it in France, which he had the
right to do, and applied it to Stephenson's engines,
on the St. Etienne Railway. It is certainly a most
remarkable fact, in its relations to the history of that
invention, that none of our writers have hitherto been
able to put their finger upon the man whom  they presumed to say was the actual inventor. It is barely
mentioned by some American authors, and referred
proved by experiment that the reverse was the fact - that the more rapid
the motion of the engine, the more intense was the combustion. The current of air produced and drawn through the tubes by the current of steam
through the chimney (the steam-blast) more than doubled the power of the
engine.
1 Life of Stephenson, p. 288.     2 Ibid. p. 261.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   63
to by writers abroad, that Stevens of New York was
supposed to be the inventor; but no writer has ever
given any facts to support such an assumption. And
as the matter now stands before the world, the invention, from the above mere assumptions, without any
evidence of that positive kind which the case demands,
and which from its very nature it is susceptible of furnishing, is carelessly attributed to Stevens or Seguin
— to the former because some one said he claimed it,
and to the latter because he used it. By a reference
to Read's patent, specification, and drawings, the evidence becomes written and positive, instead of circumstantial and presumptive. The absurdity of Stevens's
claims to this invention will more particularly appear
when we come to consider the nature of his application to the New York Legislature and the Commissioners of Patents, in his controversy with Rumsey &
Fitch. And how it probably came to Seguin's knowledge, will also appear hereafter.




CHAPTER  VII.
THE boiler of Read was constructed with special
reference to boats and land carriages, and was placed
in a vertical position for both; and, as appears from the
foregoing notel from the'" Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
it is a mode very effective, and coming more into use,
and may be applied to locomotives as well as boats.
The boiler of the locomotive engine, however, has for
the most part been used in a horizontal position, with
the flame instead of the water passing through the
tubes. But the mode of using these boilers, whether
vertical or horizontal, is regulated by utility or convenience, as the builder may decide for himself, and is
not regarded as any part of the invention. Indeed
they may be used in any position, and with the water
or flame passing through the tubes at pleasure.
The length and size of the boiler, moreover, is no
part of the invention, as it is designed to be longer or
shorter, and of greater or less diameter, according to
the position in which you intend to place it, and the
amount of work you aim to have it perform. So, too,
the number of tubes that pass through the boiler is not
specifically fixed, but may be more or less as desired.
Read's boiler, as appears from the plan (see Plate I.,
Fig. 4), had seventy-eight. The "Rocket" had but
twenty-four, and Stephenson's first locomotive on the
1 See p. 47.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    65
London and Birmingham Railway, a hundred and
twenty-four;1 and at this day, usually, many more
than that are used.2  The size of the tubes was smaller
than those in the "Rocket" (these last being three
inches), and larger than those generally used at this
day, the inner diameter being, ordinarily, about one
and seven-eighths inches, the diameter of the tubes
depending, in a great measure, upon the number used
and the size of the boiler. It will be seen by the plate
(Fig. 2) that the tubes were straight, and fitted into
the tube-plates in the same manner as in the "Rocket,"3 and open at each end, except the short ones
over the fire-grate, which were closed at the lower
end. That there was also a method of heating the water
before it passed into the boiler, - an idea carried out in
the boiler of the " Rocket," but in a somewhat different form; the one by conducting the steam-pipe and
funnel through the reservoir, and the -other by conducting the water along the side of the fire chamber,
or box. The boiler was cylindrical in its form, as now
used, being the best form  for strength;  and it had
an external and internal cylinder, the latter forming
the external part of the furnace, heating, in addition
to the tubes, a large surface of water contained between the two cylinders. It was also furnished with
pipes to replenish the boiler, and conduct the steam to
the cylinder, with suitable cocks and valves to regulate
them, and a safety-valve; and the boiler to be made
1 Woolhouse, vol. i. pp. 412, 413.
2 Of the main boilers of the Great Eastern Steamship, ten in all, four have
four hundred tubes, and six have four hundred and twenty each, three
inches in diameter.
8 Woolhouse, vol. i. p. 412, plate xce.  4 ibid, p. 126.
5




66   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
of copper or iron, and all its parts properly brazed or
riveted together.
Indeed, it will readily be seen, that by placing Read's
boiler in a horizontal position, and conducting the fire
through the tubes instead of the small apartments between them, with suitable arrangements to conform
to this change, it will in every aspect of it be the
same thing as that used in the "Rocket."  George
Stephenson, the father of Robert, commenced his railroad experiments as early as 1814, and from that time
up to 1829, fifteen years, he was unable to run his
locomotive beyond seven or eight miles an hour. But
in 1829, after introducing the multi-tubular boiler,
and the steam-blast, as before noted, he at once increased its speed to thirty-five miles per hour; I and by
one slight improvement after another, mostly in the
workmanship of the machinery, he afterwards brought
it up to a maximum speed of sixty miles per hour.2
The steam-blast, and application of the multi-tubular
boiler, are also spoken of "as the two grand inventions of Stephenson's life; and as forming the very
soul of the locomotive." s
In Smiles's " Life of Stephenson,"- page five of the
preface, -he remarks, " The invention of the locomotive engine and its application to the working of railways, is one of the most remarkable events of the
present century." And he proceeds to consider, "What
manner of men were they by whom this great work
was accomplished?   How did the conception first
1 Smiles's Life of George Stephenson, p. 285.
2 Westminster Review, July, 1857, p. 128.
3 Ibid.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   67
dawn upon their minds? By what means did railways
grow and quicken into such vigorous life? By what
moral and material agencies did the inventors and
founders of the system work out the ideas whose results have been so prodigious? "
In this excellent work, however, the subject of this
memoir finds no place. His great labors upon the
steam-engine to prepare it for locomotion, which in
point of fact opened the way for Stephenson's subsequent success and triumph, were not known to this
apparently impartial author. Had he before him the
evidences of Read's inventions and improvements, no
doubt he would have given him his proper place in
his history of railroad invention; and awarded to him
his just claims for the early part he took in working out
" the ideas whose results have been so prodigious."
And although the distinguished author wrote as a true
and loyal subject of a foreign country, there is no reason
for imputing to him any wish or desire to conceal the
labors or genius of American inventors, - in this respect he seems to take a position far above the fretful
prejudice of other English writers on the subject. He
does not claim for Stephenson that he was the inventor
of the multi-tubular boiler; but on the other hand,
frankly admits that he was not; and speaks of Seguin's
experiments with it as the first within his knowledge,
yet does not claim to assert that Seguin was the inventor of it.




CHAPTER  VIII.
IT may not be improper here to illustrate the subject, to give some account of the progress of railroad
invention, which, like the steam-engine and steamboat, was effected by a succession of inventions and
improvements to cheapen labor, and meet the everextending demands of trade and commerce.
The first account we have of any attempt towards a
railway-track, was made by Master Beaumont, who, as
early as 1630, laid down wooden rails to haul his coal
from near Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the river. The rails
were laid in the ground for the wagon-wheels to run
on, and thus overcome the friction produced by the
yielding surface of common roads. By the embedding
of plank or rails, it was found that one horse would
draw a loaded wagon ordinarily requiring two; and
that the expense of transporting the coal for shipment was thereby reduced about one half.  These
were used some forty or fifty years, before the idea of
laying parallel rails was entertained; when, in 1676,
a track was laid with parallel rails, and the wagon
wheels so fitted as to be guided by and run upon them.l
These roads were in use a hundred years or more,
without any essential improvement; were run in the
same old way, and were, for aught that appears, confined
to the hauling of coal on the banks of the Tyne. -The
1 Life of George Stephenson, p. 68.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   69
coal was transported from the mines, a distance varying
from three to ten miles.
In 1791, one Benjamin Outram made an improvement upon these roads, by making the upper surface
of the wooden rails convex, and applying cast-iron
wheels with a concave periphery, so that the wheel
and rail closely fitted each other. These roads were
called Outram roads, and afterwards, by a contraction
of the name, 1" tram-roads." 1  Before this, as early
as 1738, iron rails were used at Whitehaven.  We
find them also in Scotland, in 1767. In 1776 we
have an account that the Duke of Norfolk laid iron
rails upon cross timbers, and spiked them to the timbers, for the use of his colliery at Sheffield; and in
1789, one William Jessup built a railway in Leicestershire and used cast-iron edged rails, with flanges upon
the tire of his wagons.2 In 1800, Benjamin Outram
used stone in lieu of timbers for supporting his rails;
but experience has shown that stone, from its nonelastic character, is not so suitable for cross-ties as
timber.
It will be noticed that these "tram-roads" were
entirely worked by horses.; and various schemes were
proposed, meanwhile, by these projectors to save the
expense if possible of horse-power. One genius proposed sails as the cheapest and best way of running the
" tram-roads; " but he found his motive power so unsteady and fluctuating, that he abandoned the idea of
its utility. Steam-power seemed to them, after all, to
be the only thing that could be successfully employed
1 Westminster Review, July, 1857, p. 121.
2 Life of Stephenson, p. 70.




70   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENGINE.
as a substitute for animal power.  Much speculation
had been indulged in by one and another, as to what
steam might do if applied to land carriages; but no
one could contrive any mode of making the application.
The notions of men differed essentially on the subject, and each one who took the matter into thought
seemed to have a theory of his own. One Chapman
tried an experiment, by stretching a chain from one
end to the other along the centre of his track, with
the chain passingonce round a grooved barrel wheel,
which turned under the centre of the engine, and as
the wheel turned the engine moved along slowly;'
but this proved a tiresome and profitless business.
Another man of the name of Bronton, of Derbyshire,
rendered himself famous by the invention of what he
called his "Mechanical Traveller," for which he took
out a patent. It was constructed to travel upon legs,
" working alternately like those of a horse."  But it
blew up in one of his experiments, and killed several
persons, and thus the anticipations of the inventor were
brought to a sudden close.2
It was not discovered until 1813 (then by Mr.
Blockett), that smooth wheels would adhere sufficiently
to the rails, to draw any number of wagons attached
behind; and the absurd idea, that the wheels must be
cogged or toothed, was exploded.8 Before this a track
containing four rails was used; two for a set of cogwheels running on the outside, and two for a set of
smooth wheels on the inside, to sustain the weight
I Life of Stephenson, p. 81.
2 Lardner On the Steam-engine, 7th edition, p. 338.
8 Life of Stephenson, p. 85.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    71
of the load.   Stationary engines were proposed and
strongly advocated for the transportation of coal and
other heavy loads on " tram " ways; but this was found
more expensive than horse-power, and given up. Indeed,
so strongly was the prejudice fixed in favor of the great
utility of c" tram-roads " worked by horses, that but few
persons could persuade themselves that steam could be
used with as much economy or profit as horse-power.
Even Tredgold, that distinguished railroad engineer,
then supported the opinion that locomotives could not
be driven so fast as horses, and that stationary engines,
if any were used, would be most economical and
safest - and, moreover, that any velocity beyond ten
miles per hour, could in no case be expected.'
Previous to 1829 no locomotive had exceeded six or
eight miles per hour.2  Even the Killingworth railway,
which Stephenson first constructed (in 1814), using
the ordinary steam-engine, worked but four miles per
hour, and was the most successful of any then constructed; yet it worked clumsily, and was found not
to be so economical as horse-power. The prejudice
against railways, in the mean time, on account of the
competition they created with the laboring classes, was
very great; and tended to check improvement in the
system. Even up to the time of constructing the
Liverpool and M/ianchester Railway, it met with such
opposition on the line of it, among the people, that
1 Tredgold On Railroads, 2d edition, p. 119.
2 The Stockton and Darlington Railroad, constructed by George Stephenson, was opened on the 27th of September, 1825; and was the first rail-;road ever opened for freight and passengers; yet the speed of the engines
did not exceed six miles per hour; - a speed that passengers of the present
day would hardly have the patience to endure.




72   NATRAN READ AND THE STEAMf-ENGINE.
they drove off the surveyors with guns, and pitchforks, and other deadly weapons; pelted them with
stones and missiles, and insulted them in all manner of
ways.1 Meanwhile political economists were divided
on the subject of their utility; some strongly advocatingthe cause of the laboring classes, and supporting
them in their ill-founded belief, that their work,. and
with it their bread, was in danger of being taken from
them.
But no human effort can check the progress of art,
any more than it can check the progress of freedom.
Both will work their way in spite of opposition, and
achieve new triumphs, to a more glorious consummation in the future. Step by step this great work went
on, and various were the experiments to construct a
railroad track and car in such a way as to adapt them
to the old steam-engine of Watt, which engine they
seemed to look upon as a fixed thing, admitting of
no alteration or improvement.  Thus, in the words of
the venerable Dr. Cotton, " they sought to fashioneth
the house to the hangings, instead of the hangings to
the house."
Not so with Read.  His great purpose had been to
reconstruct the steam-engine, knowing that it could
not be successfully applied to locomotion, without very
extensive modifications; in short, he had labored to
" fashioneth his hangings to his house."   To this
end, he had invented the multi-tubular boiler, as a
substitute for the old one; had dispensed with the condenser; and by his own calculation, which seems not
to have entered before into the mind of any one, he
applied the steam force of two atmospheres, instead of
1 Life of Stephenson, p. 168.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM~-ENGINE.    73
one, to his piston, and thus converted the condensing
engine of Watt into a complete working portable highpressure engine, — the only engine that can be properly
used on railways. The steam-engine, thus modified
by him, reached the point of being light and portable.
It not only dispensed with the weight of the condenser,1 but of the water to be used to produce condensation, - the air-pump, working-beam, and other portions
of the machinery, as well as the brick work and extra
weight of the boilers of the old stationary engines.
This was twelve years before the steam-engine was
known to be used in the form of a high-pressure engine; and the invention actually produced that change
in the use of steam as a locomotive power, that it remained only to be applied, to open that railroad system  which has since assumed such vast proportions.
Read, though the inventor in 1788, and patentee in
1791, of this high-pressure  portable engine, never
himself succeeded in securing the necessary means to
apply it to practical use; but that part of the work, in
obedience to a stern necessity, he was obliged to leave
to others to accomplish; and it has been applied by
one and another, until it has become the chief motive
power, not only for land transport, but for inland navigation to a very great extent, wherever industrial
labor, commerce, and civilization have found their
way.
1 Leopold, a German, gave an account, in 1718, of two engines, the invention of which he imputed to Papin. One was like the engine of Savary, the other was an engine in which steam, by means of a four-way cock,
and two cylinders and pistons, without the aid of the atmosphere, was
made to work the engine without condensation; but it does not appear.that any very definite notion was entertained as to the tension of steam:equired to work it.




74     NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Oliver Evans, in 1801, was the first person known
to introduce high-pressure steam to practical use,
which he applied for grinding plaster and sawing marble, in Philadelphia.   Trevethick & Vivian were the
next, in 1802, who are known to have used an engine
of similar constructions which was many years after
Read's invention.2   Neither Evans or Trevethick &
Vivian, however, introduced the multi-tubular boiler,
but each used a boiler with a single cylinder, with
the fire made within it.
s" Richard Trevethick, a captain in a Cornish tin-mine, and
a pupil of William Murdock, determined to build a steamcarriage, adapted for use on common roads.  He took out a
patent in 1802, and Andrew Vivian, his cousin, joined him
in his patent, Vivian finding the money, and Trevethick
the brains. The steam-carriage built by Trevethick presented the appearance of an ordinary stage-coach on four
wheels. It had one horizontal cylinder, which, together
with the boiler and furnace-box, was placed in the rear of
the hind axle, and the motion of the piston was transmitted to a separate crank-axle, from which, through the
medium of a spur gear, the axle of the driving wheel (which
was mounted with a fly-wheel) derived its motion. It is also
worthy of note, that the steam-cocks and the forcing-pump,
as also a bellows, which he used for quickening combustion
in the furnace, were worked off the same crank-axle; and
that the piston was not only raised but depressed by the
1 Woolhouse, vol. i. pp. 41, 141; Rep. of Arts, vol. iv. p. 241, New Series; Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 254, post.
2 " High-pressure engines usually work with a tension of five to six atmospheres; and may, with proper construction and care, be used with equal
safety, as condensing engines; and are far more economical, where the
saving of weight, room, and cost is an olject; as in case of locomotives,
and boats for river navigation." -Renwick, pp. 180, 183.




NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   75
action of the steam, being in this respect (erroneously says
Mlr. Smiles)'an entirely original invention, and of great
merit.'  This was the first locomotive put into practice.
Trevethick & Vivian determined to exhibit their machine in
the capital. They set out with the locomotive from near
Land's-End, where it was built, for Plymouth, to be conveyed from thence to London on a vessel. Coleridge relates,
that while the vehicle was on the way to Plymouth at the
top of its speed, it tore away a gentleman's garden fence;
and on approaching a toll-gate Vivian called out to Trevethick to slacken speed. He immediately shut off the steam;
but the momentum was so great that the carriage came dead
upon the right side of the gate, which was quickly opened
by the toll-keeper.'What have we got to pay here,' asked
Vivian?  The poor toll-man, trembling in every limb, and
teeth chattering, essayed a reply.' Na, na, na, na'- -' What have we got to pay, I say?'' Na - nothing to pay!
My de- dear Mr. Devil, do drive on as fast as you can, -
nothing to pay.' The carriage safely reached London and
was there exhibited; and it dragged behind it a wheel carriage filled with passengers.  It was impossible from the
badness of English roads to introduce it into practical use;
and after exhibiting it as a curiosity, it was abandoned by
Trevethick as a practical failure." 1
In 1804 Trevethick & Vivian constructed a locomotive, to run on tram-ways, for mining purposes.
The first trial it dragged several wagons, carrying
about ten tons of iron, five miles per hour.'" Yet it
proved like the first steam-carriage, a practical failure.
It was never employed to do regular work, but was
abandoned after a few experiments, as the rails were:little calculated to sustain so heavy a weight; and the
1 Life of Stephenson, pp. 76, 77, 78.




76    NATHAN READ AND THE S TEAJM-ENAGINE.
engine was taken from the wheels and put to work at
one of the pumps in the mine.1  The periphery of
the wheels of Trevethick & Vivian's locomotive was
made rough by bolt-heads, to keep the wheels from
slipping; and afterwards in 1811, racked or toothed
wheels and rails were used for the same purpose, by
Blenkinsop  of Leeds, who for several years transported coal with them  from  Middletown to Leeds, a
distance of three and a half miles, dragging some thirty
coal cars, at a speed of three or four miles per hour.
These were really the first earnest working experiments of the locomotive used and continued for practical purposes.  These engines were worked with two
cylinders.2
The boiler of the above locomotive of Trevethick
& Vivian, was of cast iron, and unsafe; and although
it contained but one tube, yet it was in the form of
the letter U, passing in a curve through the boiler with
one end used for a grate and furnace, and the other
connected with the smoke-pipe, to emit the smoke and
heated air. The engine had no condenser, and was
worked by high-pressure steam; and was used on a
tram-road at Merthyr Tydvil in South Wales, to transport heavy materials in mining operations.3 The same
year, 1804, that Trevethick  &  Vivian tried  their
engine, Oliver Evans also put an engine of the high1 Life of Stephenson, p. 79.        2 bicl. p. 80.
3 Cyclopeica of Useful Arts, p. 324. Mr. Trevethick, in his evidence before a Committee of Parliament in 1831, testified, " that his MIerthyr Tydvil
engine was a detached ingine, independent of all fixtures, without condensing water, and the fire enclosed in a boiler surrounded by water, and sa
forced draught to prevent a high chimney; it was independent from brickwork, light, safe from fire, and occupying but little room."




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENGINE.   77
pressure principle into his dredging-machine at Philadelphia.1 The engine of Evans, however, retained
the working-beam, which may be regarded as an advantage in propelling boats, but could not be used in
locomotives.  It is stated by Professor Renwick, in
his treatise upon the steam-engine, " Not the least
of the improvements of Evans lies in the form of his
boilers, which he was the first to make in the form of
a cylinder, -a form preferable to any other yet proposed." 2  As already seen, the boiler invented by
Read was in the form of a cylinder, and designed for
strength, as well as occupying but little space.
By returning to Judge Read's letter to Mr. Jefferson
of the date of January 8, 1791, it will be noticed, that
he speaks of two models of boilers he had exhibited
to the Commissioners the winter previous; but which
he withdrew, and substituted therefor the one on which
he received his patent.  A sketch of one of the boilers withdrawn is found among his papers, which will
show that he, as appears by this drawing and description of it, constructed the model of a boiler, in which
the flame and heated air passed through the tubes, and
consumed the smoke. A copy of the drawing, and
short memoranda upon the same paper, is all that
remains of his account of this invention. The paper
is filed in his own handwriting, " Steam Boiler 1790,"
and under the drawing is written, in his handwriting
lso, -
"Section of a steam-boiler which exposes a large surface;
is fbed from the top through the large tube a, and the hot
1 Miiller's Physics, p. 517. American edition.
2 Renwick On the Steam-enyine, p. 255.




78    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENGINE.
air and smoke passes up through the winding passages and
escapes at b b.
R"NV. B. - The boiler constitutes the whole furnace, except
the brick work at the bottom; and it consumes the smoke
-- o o, float."
This seems to establish the fact that he invented
a tubular boiler of each kind: one with the water
passing through the tubes, and the other with the
flame consuming the smoke. As seen from the plan,
this boiler also was cylindrical. His mode of feeding the
furnace with fuel down the large pipe a, is a matter
for the curious; this large tube a, added much to the
amount of surface exposed, and served as a part of
the fire chamber of the furnace; when closed at the
top, as was doubtless proposed, it would cause the
flame and heated air to pass through the tubes; and
his arrangement under the base of the tube a, or firechamber, to sustain the fuel by a thick plate of iron,
with open grates at each end to admit a current of air,
would produce a strong draught through the small
tubes, and increase the flame; while the float o o
would not only indicate the height of the water in the
boiler, but work a valve in the pipe that replenished
the boiler with water from the reservoir.  The water
in the reservoir would also be heated before entering
the boiler, by the smoke-pipes, and a section of the
fire chamber passing through it. As the plan does not
exhibit any other part of the machinery, it does not
show his mode of conducting the steam to the cylinder
and working the engine; which doubtless was designed
in the ordinary form.  We will now proceed to notice
improvements upon the steam-cylinder.








PLATE 3
F               1iD
Fig.  6         Fi  3
c:ct
CC 




CHAPTER IX.
HIs improvement upon the steam-cylinder, contained in his patent, will fully appear from the following draught and specification of it, filed with the Commissioner of Patents:
" Specification of an Improved Steam Cylinder, advantageously constructed to work in an horizontal position.
PLATE III.
" Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cylinder and working frame. A B, the cylinder which is closed at the end B
like the common cylinder; the other end, A, is also closed
by a cap or plate which can be occasionally taken off; 6,
the piston constructed in common form; the stem D moves
air tight in a collar of hemp, tightly compressed in a stuffing-box that is fixed to the centre of the plate or cap B;
the working frame c c is fixed to the stem of the piston, by
which it is moved back and forth; E, the steam-pipe coming from the boiler and dividing itself into two branches
which enter the ends of the cylinder; GC an eduction-pipe
leading to the condenser.  This pipe is formed by two
branches or pipes that convey off the steam alternately from
each end of the cylinder; a b c d, cocks or regulators.
These are alternately opened and shut by the pins e fg h
i k, in the working frame. As the working frame moves towa;rds D, the pin e opens the regulator a, and lets the steam
from the boiler into the end A of the cylinder, while the pin
g dloses the regulator d, and shuts off the steam from the end




80    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
B of the cylinder. Meanwhile the pin h closes the regulator c, and the pin f opens the regulator b, and the steam
will pass from the end B to the condenser, while the end A
will be replenished from the boiler; in consequence of which
the piston will move from A towards B, and the pins of the
working fiame will open the regulators that were closed, and
shut those that were before opened; then the end A of the
cylinder will be exhausted, and the end B replenished with
steam, and the piston will move back with equal force, and
the whole operation be again repeated.  NOTE, - Slidingplates or regulators, like those made use of for other engines
for letting in and shutting off steam from the cylinder, may
be substituted for the cocks or regulators a b c d."
The above invention was expressly designed to adapt
the steam-engine to land carriages. This was fifteen
years before Evans and Trevethick & Vivian tried
their first experiments with the locomotive. And although the machinery will not compare in its style with
the more elegant and finished machinery of the present
day, yet proper allowance will be made for this, as it
was the first essay, as is believed, to change the steamengine to the great purpose of locomotion. Notwithstanding the simplicity of its construction, it embraced
the principle, if it did not attain to the more elegant
and complex mechanism of our present locomotive
engines.
The above cylinder so nearly resembles the cylinder of Trevethick & Vivian, which they first used, it
would almost seem  that theirs was constructed after
Read's plan. The following description of their cyli.nder will be interesting to the curious on this point: -
"The cylinder was placed upon its side, and in one posi.




NAT-HAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    81
tion of the cock a communication was opened between the
boiler and one end of the cylinder, while another communication was opened between the other end of the cylinder
and a tube leading to the chimney (or the condenser, as the
case might be). Steam was thus admitted to act on one
side of the piston, and allowed to escape from the other
side to the chimney. When the piston attained the end
of the stroke the position of the cock was reversed, and
the steam, which had just driven the piston in one direction, was allowed to escape to the chimney, while steam
from the boiler was admitted on the other side of the piston,
to impel it in the contrary direction; and in this manner the
piston was continually driven backward and forward, in a
horizontal direction, and parallel to the direction of the load.
The piston-rod was moved through a hole, corresponding
with it in magnitude, in the cover of the cylinder, in which
it was rendered steam-tight by a stuffing-box properly lubricated." 1
The above description of Trevethick & Vivian's
cylinder is a good description of Read's, and indeed,
nearly an exact one. It is certainly a matter of interest to know how it happened, that in the first locomotive ever put in operation, for which Trevethick &
Vivian have the credit of the invention, the cylinder
admits of the same description precisely as that of
Read's, which he invented and patented fifteen years
before.
The following extract of a letter from Judge Read
to the Hon. Timothy Pickering, will throw some further
light on this subject: -
"  BELFAST, January 27, 1817.
" Meon. TIMOTHY PICKERING.
"SIR:....  On examining my papers at Belfast,
1 Vide Cyclopedia of the Useful Arts, p. 324.
6




82    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
I find that it is upwards of twenty-six years since I invented
the steam-engine, with horizontal arms, similar in principle
to the engine for which Mr.'Trevethick has recently received a patent in England. I have now in my possession
a drawing of the engine, and an accurate description of its
principles, construction, and operation, and of the manner
of connecting it with the boiler, copied in the year 1789,
from my original draught, by Mr. William Shepard Gray,
the cashier of Essex Bank.
"With assurances of my highest respect and esteem,
" N. READ."
The mere idea of applying steam to land carriages,
as before stated, was not new. Watt and his journeyman, Murdock, entertained the idea, and, in short,
tried to apply their condensing engine to a small
model; but they wholly failed in the experiment; and
Watt himself said that there was no use in attempting
to apply it.1 And in a letter to Mr. Boulton, September 12, 1786, in referring to Murdock's speculations
on the subject, he says: -
"In the mean time, I wish William (meaning William
Murdock) could be brought to do as we do, —to mind the
business in hand, and let such as Symington and Sadlier
throw away their time and money hunting shadows." 2
He regarded the thing as impracticable, from the
great heft of the engine, unless it could be so modified
as to make it portable.3 Read's improvements were
designed to reduce the weight of the engine, and make
it portable.  Hence he styled it the " Portable Steamlengine."  Watt did not seem  to discover any mode
1 Muirhead's Life of Watt, p. 343, post.  2 ibid. p. 349.
8 Ibid. p. 340.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   83
of doing it. He suggested the idea of applying a rotative reacting steam-wheel, of the form of Barker's centrifugal reacting water-wheel; but said of it, "This
would not abridge the size of the boiler; and I am not
sure that such engines are practicable." 1 Indeed, " the
impossibility of using the condensing engine was ascer-.
tained and admitted by Watt." 2
It is claimed for Oliver Evans that he was the first
to apply the steam-engine to a locomotive. It will be
remembered that his experiment was the same year as
that of Trevethick & Vivian, - 1804. They were contemporaries in the construction of their locomotives;
but which first " fired up " their engine does not appear, and is not very material for us to consider. Evans
did not, however, construct his machine for running
upon the land, but on the water; and only proposed to
convey it to water from the place of building, - being
about a mile and a half from the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia. His machine weighed about twenty-one tons,
and he designed it for dredging merely. He put a
steam-engine in it for the purpose of working it on the
river, and at the same time availed himself of the
power of his engine to convey the machine, or muldscow, to the river. To accomplish this purpose he
placed wheels under it, and turned the wheels with
the engine, which readily transported his dredge to
the water.3  Trevethick & Vivian's machine was designed to run upon a railroad track, or tram-road, as
then called, for the purpose of transportation upon the
1 Muirhead's Life of Watt p. 348.
2 Renwick, On the Steam-Engine, p. 297.
8 Lives of Eminent Mechanics, p. 76.




84    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
land. Hence to them is justly given the credit of running the first locomotive, properly so considered.
Prof. Renwick states that " Evans was the first who
entertained rational hopes of being able to move carriages by steam;" and "not only was the first to
entertain correct views, but was also the first to submit them to practice in the removal of his dredging
machine." 1 In view of what has been shown, these
conclusions are erroneous in point of fact, and not warranted by any just interpretation of the case; which
can be accounted for in no other way than that the
professor had not then been informed of what others
had done. In the first place, it is difficult to see why
he should give the preference to Evans, who had constructed no locomotive with a view to its use upon
the land; while Trevethick & Vivian had constructed
theirs and applied it expressly for that use. In the
second place, this experiment of Evans's was made fifteen years, as before noticed, after Read's invention of
the high-pressure steam-engine, and his improvements
to adapt it to land carriages, of which he constructed a
model. Evans's engine, moreover, though acting upon
the high-pressure principle, did not approach so near
the locomotive-engine of the present day as Read's.
Instead of the multi-tubular boiler, constructed with
numerous small tubes passing through it, as now used,
his boiler consisted of only one large tube, or flue,
passing through its centre.2  He also retained the old
Newcomen working-beam, with his cylinder standing
in an upright or vertical position; while Read int):o1 Renwick's Treatise on the Steam-Engine, p. 297.
2 Miiller's Physics, p. 518.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    85
duced the cross-head, and placed his cylinder in a
horizontal position. This arrangement of machinery
by Evans never has been used for locomotives, and in
point of fact is wholly impracticable for such a purpose.
Thus with an engine that never has or could be used
with success, it must be regarded as a great stretch of
credulity to believe that "Evans not only was the first
to entertain correct views, but was also the first to submit them to practice." 1
Evans's experiment was but a rude invention to convey his scow to the river; yet, like many others before
him, he doubtless had it in mind to show that he could
move a machine upon the land, as well as upon the
water, by the force of steam, - an idea he had long
entertained, and for which hle had been much ridiculed.
His machine was simply a large flat, or scow, and his
engine of five horse-power, designed for raising the
mud into the scow.  He made wooden axle-trees of
rough timber, of sufficient length for the scow to rest
upon, and used wheels constructed like common cartwheels.2 He had a wheel inside the scow, which he
turned with the engine, and this wheel gave motion to
the wheels below, by means of a chain or rope that
passed round the hub of this and one of the forward
wheels, which was also connected with one of the hind
wheels in a like manner.3 His load was a heavy one
I The Encyclopcedia Britannica, vol. xx. p. 581, 1860, expresses similar
views, taken, no doubt, from the above remarks of Prof. Renwick. It says,
"T'o him (Evans) may be attributed the rapid advancement of America in
all that relates to the introduction of the steam-engine, in its multifarious
applications, and especially in steam navigation." These contagious opinions are apt to be worth but little.
2 Hows' Memnoirs of American Mechanics, p. 76.  3 Ibid.




86    NATHBAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
for his engine to move on a common road, and it progressed very slow; but he succeeded in conveying it
to the river, where the scow was taken from the
wheels and launched into the water. This was the
only endeavor ever made by Evans to move a land
carriage by steam.
Evans, however, is entitled to great credit for his
improvements upon the steam-engine; but they were
many years subsequent to the inventions of Read,
whose engine was not only the first, but a more perfect and complete development, of the high-pressure
principle.
The following is a copy of the plan and specification
of the steam-carriage invented by Read, which he presented with his petition to Congress for a patent, in
1790: --
"PLATE V.
" Fig. 1. Description of a steam-carriage.
"A A A A, the wheels of the carriage. B B, the hubs of
the hind wheels, extending some way on the ends of the
axle-tree in the form of trundles, or pinions, which, with the
wheels, are moved round upon the axle-tree by racks with
flexible teeth, like those described in Plate III., Fig. 6.
C, the boiler. D D, two pipes constantly conveying steam
"from the boiler to the cylinders E E, which are in a horizontal position. Each pipe divides itself into two branches,
which, as in the engine before described, alternately convey
steam to each end of the cylinder. FF, the working frames.
G G, the racks with flexible teeth, which constantly tuirn
the wheels round the same way, whether the plunger moswes
backward or forward. HH,; the tongue turned back und!er




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NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    87
the body of the carriage. 11; a horizontal wheel between
the tongue and body of the carriage. K K, two pulleys fixed
on the hind part of the carriage. 1 K, I K, two strong ropes
or chains proceeding from opposite sides of the wheel 1 1,
and passing over the pulleys K K, and then made fast to the
end of the tongue i. L, the director, by which means the
wheel I 1, and consequently the tongue and carriage, are
turned one way or the other, as occasion requires. W IV, two
cocks to shut off the communication of steam between the
boiler and either or both of the cylinders, as circumstances
may dictate. a a a a, eduction-pipes, with cocks alternately
to convey off the steam from each end of the cylinder. The
cylinders are worked without a condenser, by letting the
steam vent itself against the atmosphere; in consequence of
which it is necessary that the condensation of steam in the
cylinders should be equal to the pressure of two atmospheres,
in order to produce the same effect it would with a condenser
when the condensation was equal to the pressure of one
atmosphere. The ends of the short pipes a a a a are turned
back, that the carriage may have an additional impulse forward.
"The carriage may be turned either way with great facility, by means of the cocks W Wand the director L. To turn
the carriage to the right, the right-hand cock W should be
closed more or less, according to the shortness of the turning, which will check the operation of the right cylinder, and
consequently retard the motion of the right wheel, and at
the same time tend to accelerate the motion of the left wheel;
which prepares the carriage to be turned with ease by moving the director to the left. After the carriage is turned,
the steam-pipe should be opened as before. To turn the,carriage to the left, a contrary operation is necessary. When
~you want to stop the carriage, close the steam-pipes D D, by'turning the cocks V W; and the steam in the boiler will vent




88    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENG1NE.
itself at the valve nigh the bottom of the boiler, without
endangering the engine.
" NOTE.- The whole of the machinery for moving and
directing the steam-carriage, except the top of the boiler, the
director, and two regulating cocks, are, for conveniency, placed
under the body of the carriage.
" NOTE. - The cylinders may be placed perpendicularly,
and impel the carriage forward by means of clicks and movable pinions; but experience alone will determine the best
method."
This steam-carriage, simple in its construction, will,
nevertheless, show important facts in relation to Read's
improvements, at that early day, upon the steam-engine,
to fit it for propelling land carriages. It shows that he
proposed to place the cylinders in a horizontal position,
and turn the wheels by applying the piston-rod directly
to them, without a working-beam; that he dispensed
with the condenser, and calculated that the density of
steam in the cylinders, on that account, should be equal
at least to the pressure of two atmospheres instead of
one, —an important fact,, as before noticed.1 This,
with the invention of the multi-tubular boiler to raise
high steam, changed Watt's condensing into a highpressure engine complete in all its parts, and dispensed
with a large share of the bulk and weight of the engine.
Watt, Murdock, Symington', Sadlier, and others had
speculated upon the same thing, without being able to
make such a change in the steam-engine as to apply it
to locomotion; and Watt, as before stated, admitted.
that the condensing engine could not be used for suck
a purpose.2
1 Ante, p. 72.
2 The following brief account of Murdock's experiment is quite amusing;:




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   89
Prior to 1790, when Read petitioned Congress1 to
secure a patent for his invention of land carriages to
be driven by steam, no successful application of steampower had ever been directed to such a purpose except
to meet with insurmountable difficulties, and be rejected
as a thing impracticable.2 The idea that it was capable
of giving wings to the traveller, and transporting overland, as it now does, the commerce of nations, was at
that time wholly new, and to the mass of mankind was
looked upon as a matter equally mysterious and visionary. Even the members of Congress, the congregated
assemblage of the wisdom  and intelligence of the country, were so skeptical on the subject that when Read's
petition for a patent for the application of steam to land
carriages was read by the clerk of the House, a general
smile was excited among the members, —a different
look entirely from that now seen, in the earnest debates
of Congress on the several projects for opening lines of
railway to the Pacific.
"Murdock constructed, in 1784, a diminutive steam locomotive, heated by
a spirit lamp, which ran off from him, in a dark evening, down a lane, in
Cornwall, where he was trying it, and was mistaken for the devil by the
poor clergyman of the parish, who chanced to be returning home that way
just as the fiery little object was in its mid-career." -Westminzster Review,
No. 33, p. 121.
1 This was before the passage of the " Act to promote the Progress of the
Useful Arts."
2 It is stated in the North American Review, July No., 1858, " that the
first actual model of a locomotive of which there is any written account was
made by a Frenchman named Cugnot, who exhibited it to the Marshal de
Saxe in 1763. A second one, which he made for the king, is now preserved
in the Conservatoire des Arts et Mdtiers. It was considered too dangerous
a monster to be trusted, as when set in motion it rushed forward and knocked
down a wall, after which it was shot up." This must have been tried by
th( old Newcomen engine, probably, as none other is known to have then
belen in existence.




90    NATHAN REA4D AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
The petitioner, who was present at the time his application was read by the clerk, felt stung by the indignity of the House, and he withdrew that part of his
petition relating to land carriages. He did this after
his papers came before the commissioners of patents, to
whom the subject was referred by Congress, on the
passage of the act organizing that board. After the
withdrawal, the commissioners, through their secretary, Mr. Remsen, requested the renewal of his application for his land carriage; 1 but the manner of the
reception of this part of his petition to Congress by
that body, was a matter with him not easily overcome. He saw that the members looked upon the
subject as visionary, which was quite too trying for his
sensibility and better knowledge; and he did not renew
this part of his petition, notwithstanding the request of
the commissioners, whose duty it was to decide upon
the merits of the application. He consequently took no
patent for moving land carriages by steam.2
There does not however appear to be any knowledge
or history before this, of any change of the old condensing engine of Watt, into the high-pressure engine
that prepared the steam-engine for land carriages or
locomotives. Can it be said, that Evans or any one
else before this, invented or applied the multi-tubular
boiler, the improved cylinder placed in a horizontal
position, with the piston worked both ways by a steam
force not less than two atmospheres, and with the crosshead and connecting rods, to a land carriage or locomotive? Did Watt discover this machinery, or Murdoc'k
1 See Mr. Remsen's Letter on p. 111.
2 See Appendix No. 3.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   91
apply it to his fiery little devil? And the experiments
of Evans, and Trevethick & Vivian, with the locomotive had yet many years to wait. In fact, the abovenamed inventions embrace the essential parts of the
machinery of the locomotive engines now in use.




CHAPTER X.
HAVING said thus much in reference to the adaptation of Read's engine to land carriages, we will now
return to the steamboat, and pursue his experiments in
relation to that subject. After his improvements upon
the steam-engine, he constructed a boat of sufficient
size to carry a man, with the view of determining the
best mode of propulsion. It appeared to him that paddlewheels were the most natural means, and by proper adjustment to the engine and boat would work with ease,
and impart a greater and more steady propelling force
to the boat than any other plan.  These had never
been tried in America nor in Europe, in the form he
proposed to apply them. Perrier had utterly condemned them; and the experiments of Hull and Miller,
as will be recollected, were upon different plans altogether; the former proposing but one wheel in the
stern of the boat, and the latter using but one between
the kelsons of his double craft. From the statement
of Read,l it appears that none of the above experiments had come to his knowledge when he applied
paddle-wheels to his boat. The silence of Dr. Franklin on the subject of paddle-wheels, while he proposed
the plan of Bournelli for ejecting water from the stern
of the boat, and the opinion expressed by the American.
Academy of Sciences, and other eminent men in Massa.,
1 Post.




N: ATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    93
chusetts, that they believed Read the original inventor
of paddle-wheels, as will appear hereafter, would seem
to confirm the idea, that neither he nor they had a
knowledge of those experiments.
His boat was constructed in 1789; he attached the
paddle-wheels to an axis extending across the gunwales
of the boat, turned by a crank; and designed to be
moved by his high-pressure engine, with the continuous rotative principle of Watt; which he (Watt) had
invented and put in operation in factories some four
or five years previous.  Watt, as before noticed, had
applied this motion to his steam-engine to make it available for turning the wheels of mills 1 and factories, without any thought or purpose of applying it to the wheels
of a steamboat.2  By means of the crank worked by
hand, Read propelled himself across an arm of the
sea (called Porter's River) in Danvers; his boat went
with great rapidity and worked to his entire satisfaction.  He then satisfied himself by his experiment
that paddle-wheels would drive a boat with great ease
and speed, when turned by the power of the steamengine, and controlled by its steady rotative principle.
He at once determined to use paddle-wheels as the
mode of propelling his boat, and constructed the model
of it accordingly with a view to a patent.
Several gentlemen were present and saw the above
experiment with the boat, among whom was Rev. John
Prince, D. D., of Salem; as the following certificates
of Dr. Prince and William Shepard Gray, in their
own handwriting, among the papers left by Judge
Stead, will more fully show. The paper is filed in
1 Ante.          2 Muirhead's Life of fWatt, p. 330.




94    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
the handwriting of Read, " Memorandum of William
S. Gray and Rev. John Prince." The following is a
copy: -
"MEMO. - In the summer of 1788 I went to assist Mr.
Nathan Read in keeping his apothecary shop; the following
winter and in the summer of 1789, he was much engaged on
mechanical and philosophical subjects; particularly in the
construction of a steam-engine, whose power might be advantageously applied to the propelling of boats and carriages;
and in order to ascertain by experiment the effect that floatwheels would have upon the boat, I very well remember that
he had a light boat built by a Mr. Pierce, to which was attached a pair of float-wheels to be moved by hand - the experiment was tried in Porter's River in Danvers. I was not
a witness to it, but was told that it succeeded to his fullest expectations. The boat was afterwards brought back and remained for some time in the back part of the shop; why
steam was not applied I then did not make inquiries, and
soon after leaving his shop for other pursuits, I made no
further inquiries about it, but have since understood it was
for the want of a sufficient capital to put it in operation.
"' W. SHEPARD GRAY."
" SALEM-, December, 1816."
"I recollect ye above facts stated by Mr. Gray, and remember to have seen Mr. Read row about ye river in ye
boat; but could not ascertain ye time when ye boat was
made and used.                      JOHN PRINCE."
Colonel Pickering, of Wenham, Massachusetts, who
was Secretary of State under the administration of
John Adams, and a friend and acquaintance of Judge
Read during his residence in Salem, and supposed ito
be familiar with his inventions, speaks of his inventicn




NATHAN READ AIND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    95
of paddle-wheels as original with him, as late as 1817;
which will appear from the following letters of introduction to Miers Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia, and
Richard Stockton of New Jersey, given him on the
occasion of his going to Washington that year, on
business connected with the patent-office —
" WENHAI (near SALEM), December 4, 1817.
"DEAR SIR: — Allow me to introduce to you my much
esteemed friend, Nathan Read, Esquire, the ingenious inventor and improver of several useful machines, on account
of which he is now on his way to Washington.
"I believe you were engaged as counsel for your friend,
Colonel Ogden, in relation to his controversy with the Fultonites, before the Legislature of New Jersey. At any rate,
I presume you are acquainted with the merits of the case.
Mr. Read was the real inventor of the essential part of
Fulton's machinery-the water-wheels as applied to propel
boats by steam. Of this he can produce satisfactory evidence, which he will show you if your leisure admits.
"I pray that Mr. Read, as a gentleman of science and
distinguished worth, may receive your attentions.
"With very respectful esteem,
"I am your obedient servant,
" TIMOTHY PICKERING.'
" RICHARD STOCKTON, Esq."
" WENHAM (near SALEM), December 4, 1817.
"DEAR SIR: You will permit me to introduce to you
my worthy friend, Nathan Read, Esq., the ingenious inventor and improver of several useful machines, for some of
which he has obtained patents, and is now going to Washinqgton for others. Such a man will find a patron in every
fr:iend to practical schemes of public utility, and receive your
attentions in particular. But what especially made me de



96    NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
sirous of your seeing Mr. Read, was the recollection of your
zealous patronage (I think I do not mistake) of Mr. Fitch,
in his essays to propel boats by steam. Mr. Read will satisfy you that he was the real inventor of the grand and
essential parts of Fulton's machinery, as applied to the moving of vessels - the water-wheels; and stated the same in
his petition to Congress, in the year 1790, while sitting at
New York, where it was publicly known, and where Fulton,
I take it, aided by Chancellor Livingston, began his operations with those wheels.
" With great respect and esteem,
" I am your friend,
"T. PICKERING."
"MIERS FISHER, Esq."
Read's experiment with paddle-wheels, taken in
connection with his engine, as shown by his plans,
drawings, and model which he had constructed, presented a new combination of machinery, which is
claimed to be the first combination brought together,
that would admit of success in steam navigation; a
large portion of which was of his own invention. Indeed, his machinery was identical in all its essential
principles with that used at the present day in the
smaller class of boats for river navigation, especially
upon the western waters; and nearly identical with
that used on the first boat Fulton built upon the Hudson in 1807, which has given him so wide a reputation
as the reputed inventor of steamboats.
Feeling a strong assurance of success, he had high
hopes and anticipations, and looked forward in the
ardor of his purpose to the accomplishment of a wo:rk
that promised so great a revolution. He hoped, motle



NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    97
over, to share in the benefits of his inventions, and
thus obtain a compensation for his labors; and he took
measures at once to secure a patent for his improvements. His first step was to lay his inventions before
the Academy of Arts and Sciences,1 and obtain the
views of that Society in regard to their originality and
importance. Both subjects were examined by a Committee of the Society, upon which they made report, and
gave him the following certificate thereof, namely,"At a meeting of the'American Academy of Arts and
Sciences,' April 1st, 1784, — Voted, That Richard Cranch,
Esq., Loammi Baldwin, Esq., the Rev. Joseph Willard, and
Mr. Caleb Gannett, be a Committee to receive such applications, as may in future be made to the Academy; and after
examination had of any piece of machinery, which they
shall judge of public utility, and worthy a patent, they are
hereby authorized to give such testimonials, in behalf of the
Academy, as they may think expedient.' Copy examined,
"' CALEB GANNETT, Recording Secretary."
"We, the above-named  Committee, have examined
draughts of improvements proposed by Mr. Nathan Read of
Salem, in this Commonwealth, in the steam-engine, and its
application to the moving of water (boats) and land carriages. By reducing the size of the apparatus, and yet
enlarging the evaporating surface, much originality is discovered, and very beneficial effects will in our opinion be
secured, exclusive of the saving in the article of fuel. It
appears to us that the advantages proposed by a steam-engine
will be enjoyed in a greater degree, with less inconvenience
and at a smaller expense, on this construction than on any
other within our knowledge. The several plans, we think,
1 This was before he was chosen a member of the Society.
7




98    NATIHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
discover great attention and sagacity in the author; and
justly entitle him to the patronage of the Government of the
United States; to which, with deference, we recommend
him and his improvements, wishing, that in virtue of a patent, he may be enabled to render his theories of public
utility, and receive a reward for his laudable industry in the
field of science.            "RICHARD CRANCH,
JOSEPH WILLARD,
CALEB GANNETT,
LOAMMI BALDWIN.
"Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I
BOSTON, January 15, 1790."
In addition to the above he also obtained the following testimonial, from the distinguished men of Boston and vicinity, whose names are attached- thereto,
some of whom were residents of Salem and neighbors
of Read; among whom will be noticed the name of
John Prince, D. D., the venerable pastor of Salem,
who afterwards, in his advanced age, gave the certificate, as before seen, of the experiment with the boat
and paddle-wheels:" We, the subscribers, having examined Mr. Nathan
Read's plans and drawings, designed as improvements of
several machines, are of opinion that they are real improvements, and as far as we know are original inventions.
" The portable steam-engine, being so constructed as to
work both upward and downward with equal power, appears
to be a great improvement, and is capable of being applied
to many useful purposes, such as moving boats, wheel carriages, etc.; but this seems to be but a small part of its
merit; its portability, from its small weight and bulk, its
large evaporating surface, and its being so constructed as,to
produce large quantities of steam in proportion to the fu el




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.    99
employed, make it superior in those respects to any other
we are acquainted with.
"E. A. HOLYOKE,
JOHN PRINCE,
JOHN WARREN,
COTTON TUFFTS,
B. LINCOLN,
A. DEXTER,
E. WIGGLESWORTH,
JAMES WINTHROP,
SAMUEL WEBBER,
ELIPHALET PEARSON,
NATHANIEL W. APPLETON.
"SALEM, January 20, 1790."
Congress at this time was in session in the city of
New York. With the above testimonials, his plans
and drawings, and the models of his steamboat and
land carriage, he went to New York, and on the 8th
of February, 1790,- about two months before the passage of the "Act to promote the Progress of the
Useful Arts," - presented a petition to Congress for a
patent. The following is a copy of his petition, so far as
it relates to the subject under consideration  l 1_
"' To the Honorable Congress of the United States: The
petition of Nathan Read of Salem, in Massachusetts, respectfully showeth;.... that he has also invented a portable
steam-engine, which may be constructed with less expense, is
much lighter, occupies less space, and requires far less fuel,
than any other within his knowledge. Your petitioner has
likewise discovered an improved method of applying the
1 The same petition contained other applications not connected with
st eam; and having no relation to the subject, that part of the petition is
I lot copied.




100   NATHAN READ AND TiE STEAM-ENGINE.
power of steam to the purposes of navigation; and has
formed a plan to facilitate land carriage by the same agent.
The machinery for communicating motion to boats, vessels,
land carriages, etc., is very simple, and takes up but little
room.1
" The models, draughts, and descriptions of the above-mentioned machines, engines, etc., having been critically examined, and the principles on which they are constructed
fully approved as just and philosophical, by a select committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
and by several other gentlemen, eminent for their skill in
mechanics and every branch of physics, your petitioner is
induced from the extraordinary expense, which in a young
country always attends first essays of every kind, to solicit
such aid from this honorable body as will enable him to
bring into general use such machines, engines, etc., as may
be judged worthy of particular encouragement, in consequence of their subserviency to other arts and manufactures,
and their direct tendency to facilitate the inland trade and
navigation of the country, as well as to enhance the value
of the Western Territory, by having the effect of diminishing its distance from the seat of government. Your petitioner also prays, that the benefits of his inventions and
improvements may be secured to him, his heirs, and assigns,
for such term of years as Congress may think fit.
"; NATHAN READ.
" NEW YorK, February 8, 1790."
He spent most of the winter of 1789-90 in New
York, and exhibited the plans, drawings, and models of
his boat, and also of his steam-carriage,to President
Washington (to whom  he had letters of introduction
from General Benjamin Lincoln), and also to members
of Congress and other gentlemen there; among whorn
1 See his Specification, post.




NATHAN READ AND THE STiEAll-ENGINE.  101
were several distinguished mechanics, and explained
to them the principles of his machinery.1
While in New York he boarded at Mrs. Wheaton's,
in company with Dr. Cutler and General Rufus Putnam, who were attending upon Congress as the agents
of the Ohio Land Company.  They introduced to him
John Stevens of Hoboken, who called upon them at
their quarters. At this time, Read explained to Stevens, who took a deep interest in the subject, the
principles of his " multi-tubular boiler," and its adaptation to boats and land carriages; and in the mean
time exhibited to him the plans and drawings of his
boat with paddle-wheels, and his mode of turning
them by his improved cylinder, etc.2  Stevens at that
time had become interested in steamboat projects,
which was probably unknown to Read. He had appeared before the New York legislature as the competitor of Rumsey on his application, before that body,
for his water-ejecting steamboat, pipe boiler, and raising water for mills; and in conjunction with Rumsey,
in opposition to the law which Fitch had previously
obtained, for building steamboats in that State.8 And
this same winter that he examined Read's plans and
drawings he left the New York legislature (followed
by Rumsey and Fitch), and presented his petition to
Congress for a patent for generating steam and for
propelling vessels by steam. It is probable that the examination of Read's plans and drawings, and his models
(for it seems he had his models with him), gave Stevens,a new impulse in his steamboat projects.
1 See Judge Read's letters to Timothy Pickering and D. Read, post.
2 Letters of Judge Read,post.  3 See page 128, post.




102   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Read's steamboat was designed to be moved by the
"multi-tubular boiler " he had invented, his improved
cylinder, acting under Watt's double-action principle,
and paddle-wheels; and his engine carried by high
steam, to be used with or without a condenser.   This
properly fitted it for river navigation with boats of
small size; river navigation being then the sole purpose in view. The following is a copy of his description of the boat, or specification connected with the
drawings:" Description of a boat or vessel to be impelled through
the water and against the stream of rapid rivers, with great
velocity, by means of float-wheels moved by the steamengine.
A. The hulk of the boat or vessel. (See Plate III. Fig.
5.)
B. The Portable Boiler, in the bottom of the boat.
C. The new constructed cylinder, firmly fixed at such
distance above the boiler, as to admit the axis of the floatwheels to turn freely and to be raised or lowered as occasion
requires.
D D. The float-wheels, the floats of which should be
large in proportion to the size of the boat, and the velocity
with which it is to be moved.
B E. Pinions fixed on the axis of the float-wheels.
F. The working frame, which should move in grooves to
keep it steady and in its proper place.
G G. Two racks on each arm of the working frame, each
of which has a set of flexible teeth alternately moving the
pinion the same way. One rack or set of teeth turns the pin7
ion as the plunger descends, and the other rack on the:
opposite side towards the pinion the same way when the,
plunger ascends; in consequence of which the float-wheelsw




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NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  103
have a continually progressive motion. The flexible teeth in
the racks are so formed as always by their own gravity to
keep their proper places, and be ready to act. A continually progressive motion may also be given to the boat
by means of two movable wheels and clicks, which alternately move the pinion on the axis of the float-wheels,
and constantly turn it the same way.  Either method in
practice is very simple, and the work contained within a
very small space. There may be a small forcing-pump to
convey the water reproduced from steam in the condenser
directly back into the reservoir, which is much more economical than to supply it with cold water."
The Congress of 1789-90, being the first after the
close of the laborious and stormy work of establishing
the Constitution of the United States, was as yet but
imperfectly organized. It was moreover crowded with
business of the most important and exciting character;
and had but little time or thought to bestow upon
applications of a private nature. In the mean time no
patent laws or regulations had been established or
patent granted by the General Government. Soon
after his petition was presented to Congress the " Act
to promote the Progress of the Useful Arts " was passed,
constituting the Secretary of State, Secretary of War,
and Attorney General, a board of commissioners, to
whom all matters of this character were to be referred;
and his application thereupon came before the Commissioners.  He first asked for a patent for a boat consisting of paddle-wheels, his newly invented boiler, and
improved cylinder, and for land carriages driven by
steam.1 But unluckily for the petitioner, in looking
1 Ante.




104   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
over some of the old volumes of the 4" Transactions of
the Royal Society," he chanced to notice an article,
relating to an experiment a long time previous, in
France, in which it was related, that paddle-wheels
and oars both had been tried, to see if they would
not control the action of a ship of war in a calm,
which experiment before that had never come to his
knowledge.1
Erroneously supposing that such experiment interfered with his right to a patent for a boat with paddlewheels, he withdrew so much of his petition as related
to them; and under date of January 1, 1791, presented a new petition, and substituted a new propelling agent, which he denominated a " rowing machine,"
which he had invented and constructed upon the
principle of the chain-pump, working in a horizontal
position, parallel to the keel of the vessel, with one
half of the chain and paddles under water and the
other half out.  This, he believed, would answer the
next best purpose to paddle-wheels; but he reluctantly
made the change, as he considered the paddle-wheels
the preferable mode.2 But laboring under the impressions stated, and feeling bound to obey the provisions of
the law, that seemed to require something wholly new
and never before thought of, he took a patent for
a boat to be propelled by the rowing machine, for
his portable furnace boiler and improved cylinder, as
shown by the patent heretofore inserted.8
1'See letters to Timothy Pickering and D. Read,post.
2 Post.
3 Extract from Specification: " The rowing machine will revolve like
the chain-pump, and the paddles on the lower half of the chain will be
continually passing from head to stern in a direction parallel to the keel,




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  105
It can hardly be doubted, even at the present day,
but that the chain-wheel may be applied with tolerable
success to boats for river navigation; yet that it is
equal to the simple paddle-wheel for river or ocean
navigation, is not to be allowed; this sufficiently appears from the adoption and general use of the latter.
Such, indeed, was the opinion of Read, and he was
entitled to a patent for paddle-wheels; certainly as
much  as Fulton was, when  he  (Fulton) received his
patent for them in 1811, twenty years after. And it
is but just to allow to Read, as much for his original
and avowed purpose of using them, as if he had
actually patented them; they formed a part of his
original steamboat.
If the above view  of the  case be correct, it follows
that Read's true combination of machinery for his
steamboat, consisted of Watt's double-acting principle,
with his own tubular boiler, improved cylinder, and
paddle-wheels; a combination of machinery that essentially makes up the inland steamers of the present
day.1 We may be the more justified in looking at the
broadside against the water, and impel the vessel forward, while the paddles on the other half of the chain pass back from stern to head, out of
water, without resistance. This motion by a crank may also be given.
The size of the machine should be increased or diminished, according to
the power applied and the resistance to be overcome."
1 The multi-tubular boiler is used at this day in many English boats. Its
tubes are placed in a vertical position, and the water instead of the flame
passes through them. The tubes are used in the sanie way as in Read's
boiler but shorter. The drawing may be found in the Encyclopcldia Britannica, vol. xx. p. 651, which remarks, -    There are three kinds of marine
boilers in use in this country, namely, the rectangular flue boiler (which is:now very generally discarded), the multi-tubular boiler, or as it is more
uisually called, the tubular boiler, and the shut-flue boiler. The tubular is
that in most general use, in which a large heating surface is crowded into a
very small space, and the form of the tubes affords great strength. Shut



106   NATRHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
subject in the above light, as we consider how much
bulk and weight he had dispensed with in his improvements; the furnace and boiler, instead of occupying
two separate positions, were now reduced greatly in
size and occupied but one position, while the power
was increased; the condenser might be dispensed with
also, or retained if desired; a large share of the expense of fuel was provided against; and although his
plan of a boat shows the application of the double rack
and pinion for turning the wheels, yet in his specification of the chain-wheel, the idea of applying cranks, if
found on trial to be preferable, is secured. But the
racks and pinions having flexible teeth, worked as well
backward as forward, and would produce a continuous
rotary motion to the wheels as well as a crank.  But
experience has shown that the crank is the preferable
mode; yet either may be worked by the double-acting
engine.
The paddle-wheel had been rejected by Fitch, and
also by Perrier, partly on account of the oblique resistance it met with, as the paddles entered and emerged
from the water; I which difficulty would be greatly
increased as the boat was laden; as the wheels would
thereby be deeper immersed and become useless. Read
had anticipated this difficulty, and to obviate it, as may
be seen from his description of his boat, he so constructed them  as to be raised or lowered as occasion
might require. In giving the rotary motion to his
flue boilers are constructed with numerous flats, with spaces between them,
alternating with water and flame, from one and a half to two inches apart.
These are more durable against oxydation from salt water, and were used
in the vessels of the Peninsular and Oriental Companies."
1 Ante.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  107
engine, it would seem that he proposed the rack and
pinion or crank, as desired, though his draught is after
the former mode. Both were contained in his specification on which he secured his patent, and it will be
recollected that he used a crank to turn the wheels of
his boat when he made his first experiment with it at
Danvers. At this day, now that cranks have become
so familiar from their use, the idea of using the rack
and pinion would be regarded as somewhat crude; but
as he considered either of them practicable, it seemed
to be his purpose to secure both, and leave it for future
experience to determine their comparative utility.
The invention of a continuous rotary motion was
no modern thing; whether it had its origin in Egypt,
Arabia, or China, no one knows; but it had been in
use ever since the invention of the potter's wheel, or
of the common turning lathe; which are moved by the
foot by means of a treadle united to a crank by a connecting-rod. The old fashioned spinning-wheel, used for
twisting the thread of the flax, as drawn from the distaff
with the thumb and finger, is a machine of the same
sort; yet strange as it may seem, when cranks had
been in such long use for these purposes, and in conStant operation for ages before the eyes of the world,
no one, until about 1780,' conceived the idea that they
could be applied to any other possible use than to
turn the simple machines above named.   Pickard,
about 1780, happened to think of applying them to a
horizontal shaft to be moved by steam; 2 and the idea
of making the steam-engine turn a crank, was about
the same time also conceived by Watt, and put in oper1 Life of Watt, p. 180; Irving's History of the Steam-engine. V2 Ibid.




108   NATHAN READ AiND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
ation by him, in the Albion Mills, which was in 1787,1
only the year previous to Read's improvements of the
steam-engine. No fly-wheel was required for his carriage or paddle-wheel boat, to carry the motion beyond
the dead points of the piston, as the wheels themselves
were all that was required to perform that service.
Of course he would make no representation of a flywheel in his plans.
1 Ante.




CHAPTER XI.
THE name of John Stevens, of Hoboken, has been
mentioned in connection with his steamboat projects.
He was then a man of extensive wealthl and great
perseverance, and the father of John C. Stevens and
Robert L. Stevens, who since that day have distinguished themselves so much in steam navigation upon
the Hudson.
Stevens seems to have become somewhat enthusiastic on the subject of steamboats,2 and, backed up by.
his extensive means and partiality for mechanical pursuits, he resolved to try his fortune in the attempt to
build one. He, as before noticed, soon after his examination of Read's drawings and model, petitioned
Congress himself for a patent for generating steam and
for propelling vessels by steam. Thus his petition and
Read's became pending before the House of Representatives at the same time. This called the attention of
Congress to the subject of patents, and it was referred,
on the 8th of February, 1790, to a special committee,
consisting of Messrs. Burke, Huntington, and Cadwallader.3
The result of these petitions was that the committee
reported to the House the bill "to promote the Prog1 Renwick, p. 283.    2 Life of Fitch, p. 383.
3 Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 30, A. D. 1790.




110   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGI.NE.
ress of the Useful Arts," which was passed on the 10th
of April following.
In due time the Board of Commissioners, consisting
of Thomas Jefferson, John Knox, and Edmund Randolph, was organized under the act. Fitch, however,
was displeased with some of the provisions of the act,
and had no great liking for Mr. Jefferson. He hence
resolved to petition Congress directly, instead of the
Board of Commissioners, asking for an independent
law granting to him the exclusive right of propelling
boats by steam in the waters of the United States,
which Congress refused. This petition was dated July
1, 1790, and some five months after Read and Stevens had made their applications to Congress. Fitch
being now turned over to the provisions of the general
law, along with the rest, afterwards, on the 22d of
November, 1790, sent in his petition directly to the
Board.1 Rumsey also had a petition pending before
them, presented by his agent, he then being in England.
Rumsey's petition was for a boat propelled by ejecting water at the stern; Fitch's for propelling with
oars or paddles, and by forcing water or air through a
trunk; Read's for his multi-tubular boiler, improved
cylinder, and for a boat with paddle-wheels; and Stevens for propelling vessels by steam, and for a new
mode of generating steam.2 It may be well here to
notice, that the history of the respective cases precludes
the idea that any of the other petitioners could have
derived their inventions from Stevens; while, on the
other hand, the claims of Stevens, and the propriety
1 Ante.             2 Post.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  111
or justice of his petition for a patent for propelling vessels by steam, and for a new mode of generating steam,
as the original inventor, was questioned. During these
proceedings, Read had noticed the experiment in France
with paddle-wheels, as before stated.1 His business before Congress had been brought before the Commissioners, after the passage of the act, by two new petitions
direct to the Board, - one presented April 16, 1790,
for his improvements upon the steam-engine, and the
other April 23, 1790, for his method of moving land
carriages by steam, and propelling boats or vessels by the
same agency by paddle-wheels, etc.2  To simplify the
business, he withdrew both of the above petitions, and
presented his petition of January 1, 1791, in lieu of
them. In his last one he left out his land carriage,
and substituted the chain-wheel for paddle-wheels.
After thus arranging his papers, Mr. Remsen, the
Secretary of the Board, wrote himn as follows, as the
Committee had been expected to meet in February: —
" PHILADELPHIA, January 25, 1791.
"SIR:- The Commissioners named in the'Act for the Promotion of Useful Arts,' judging it most expedient not to
proceed further in the business thereby committed to them,
until a Bill supplementary to said Act, and which is now before Congress, passes, have directed me to inform you, that
the hearing of the parties who have applied for patents for
the discovery of new applications of steam to useful purposes, cannot take place on the first Monday in February,
which was the time they had assigned for the purpose; but
1 Ante.
2 See his draught and description of his steamboat, before given, Ante.




112   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAlM-ENGINE.
that they will be duly informed of the day as soon as it is
fixed.
" I am, sir, your most obedient
"Most humble servant,
"HENRY REMSEN, Jun. 1
"Mr. NATHAN REED."
Previous, however, to the above letter, Read had
written to Mr. Jefferson, inclosing to him  his petition
of January 1, 1791, and in this letter says:" Having improved some of the machines for which last
winter I solicited a patent, and desirous after further improvement, and communicating others to the public, I must
request your Excellency to solicit the Honorable Board to
grant me leave to withdraw my former petitions, paying all
charges that have arisen, and to present the inclosed petition,
in which I have stated, agreeable to the order of the Honorable Board, the nature and extent of the discoveries therein
mentioned.....    I have requested Mr. Remsen, by permission of the Honorable Board, to inclose me my former
petitions, and to deliver to my order several models, which
have too long incumbered your office."
The above new petition does not differ from those
previously presented, except in the changes before
mentioned; and its terms are fully shown by the
several specifications, heretofore noticed and filed in
the Patent Office on the issuing of the patent.
On returning the old petitions Mr. Remsen writes
as follows: --
" PHILADELPHIA, February 5, 1791.
"SIR:-YOU will receive, herewith inclosed, the petitions
you presented to the Board on the 16th and 23d of April
1 This letter has the frank of Mr. Jefferson upon it.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  113
last.l The models referred to in them were removed from
New York with the effects of the office, and will be delivered
to any person empowered by you to receive them. They
suffered no injury by the removal, having been carefully
packed with paper shavings in a box provided for the purpose. I have concluded to hand this to Mr. Goodhue for
transmission, as his franking it will save the postage that
would accrue on its being sent without a frank, and as its
going by that conveyance is certainly safer than by stage.
You will excuse me for observing, that your last petition
substituted for the two now returned, does not include as
many objects as they do. Your application for a machine
for moving and directing land carriages by steam, is not
therein renewed, although it should have been if you still
persist in it. I should have retained the petition No. 2,
had you not inserted in the last one sent your improved
method of impelling boats or vessels through water, because
it contained your claims for these two objects. You may
however draw it over again, leaving out what is included
between the brackets, and send it as soon as you please.
" I am, sir, with due respect,
"Your most obedient servant,
"HENRY REMSEN, Jun'r.
" Mr. NATHAN READ."
We may now look upon these several projectors
prosecuting their claims before the Commissioners for
a common purpose- the invention of the steamboat;
and each one aiming to secure letters-patent from the
government, granting exclusive privileges in steam
navigation, according to the several plans they presented.  At that time, the great work of applying
steam to navigation in the United States was concen1 For these petitions, see Appendix, No. 4.
8




114   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
trated in the efforts of these men. Miller had abandoned his experiments, and all was quiet in Europe
on the subject, and Fulton was at work as a journeyman painter in the studio of West in London; and
the idea of engaging in any steamboat project, was
as foreign from his mind as the Atlantic Telegraph,
and sixteen or eighteen years had yet to pass before
his first boat would appear upon the waters of the
Hudson.
It is now a conceded point, that American enterprise and genius produced the steamboat; and it may
be well to look at this point of time, and this nucleus
of projectors, to determine how large a proportion
of that enterprise and genius is due to them? And
here again, a just discrimination should be made
between these men, to see who among them had done
the most to change and fit the steam-engine for the
work. Rumsey had tried his brief experiments upon
the Potomac; but had done nothing to improve the
steam-engine and prepare it for navigation. Fitch, with
indomitable perseverance, had succeeded in driving
his boat six or eight miles per hour; and by constant
repairs run it for some time at a daily loss. Did he
reach the secret of success; and wherein did he leave
the steam-engine any better fitted for navigation, than
when he found it? Stevens had sought to acquire a
knowledge of steam force from such sources as suited
his convenience, and took this occasion to place a petition by the side of the others for a patent. The Com.
missioners met on the 4th of April, 1791, and agair
on the 22d and 23d of the same month. After these
meetings of the Commissioners, Mr. Remsen agail
writes to Read as follows -




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  115
"PHILADELPHIA, July 1, 1791.
"SIR:- I received your letter of the 18th of May last a
few days since.1 The Commissioners, at their meeting in
April, agreed to grant patents to all the claimants of steampatents, so far as they had applied steam to useful purposes,
without taking it upon themselves to ascertain whether
those claimants were really the inventors, as they severally
alleged in their petitions. Accordingly John Fitch for applying steam to navigation; James Rumsey for generating
steam, applying it to navigation, and to raise water; yourself,
(and) John Stevens for generating steam, applying it to raise
water, to work a bellows, and to propel a vessel; and Engleback Cruise to apply steam to raise water, are all to have
patents. But neither these or any other patents have as yet
issued, owing to the absence of the President, who will sign
them, and two of the Commissioners. I presume they will all
be finished ready for delivery by the last of this or beginning of the next month, till which time no certain opinion
can be formed as to the amount of the fees each patentee
will have to pay. By a late order of the Commissioners you
will have a patent for your applications of steam which will
come to - including the expenses to which the patentees are
subjected by law for their petitions and specifications —
about five dollars. I return you the models you first lodged,
being twelve pieces in the whole, and if you find among them
any not belonging to you, I must request the favor of your
sending them back. These models are the only ones I am
not perfectly acquainted with; they were deposited in IMr.
Alden's time, and consisting of many pieces, got mixed
with other models, in the removal from New York. I also
return your specifications that you may execute them in the
customary form, and you may put them under cover to Mr.
Jefferson when executed. You will be so good as to menI No copy of this letter is found among Judge Read's papers.




116   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
tion to him whether the models,1 which Captain Needham
will deliver to you, are the same you lodged with the Commissioners in New York. When the patents are made out,
I will let you know it.
"I am, sir, with respect,
"Your most ob't humble servant,
" HENRY REMSEN, Jun'r.
" NATHAN READ, Esq."
Patents were afterwards issued to each of the above
claimants, under date of August 26, 1791, according
to their respective applications, on the principles indicated in the above letter of Mr. Remsen.  These
were the first patents ever issued under the authority
of the United States. Read's was for his portable
furnace-boiler, constructed internally with seventyeight small tubes, and his improved cylinder;2 and to
each of the petitioners, himself included, for applying
steam to navigation by such modes of propulsion as
they respectively claimed in their petitions, leaving
it for the patentees to settle the controversy between
themselves whenever their patents should be found to
clash with each other.  Were we allowed to question
the judgment and justice of such men as Thomas
Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph, who
constituted the Board of Commissioners, we might say
that this was not only a novel, but unjustifiable procedure.  The duty of this very Board was to settle
and decide upon the respective claims that came
before them, and not turn over the parties to the
1 It is much to be regretted that these models have not been preserved.
They are not among the effects left by Judge Read at his residence; nor
did he leave any memorandum showing what became of them.
2 See his patent, specification, and drawings, ante.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  117
adjustment of their rights by a wholesale system of
litigation, more intolerable perhaps than a voluntary
surrender of those rights. It does not appear, however, that any litigation grew out of this dilemma between these patentees; but this was owing more to
the incredulity of the public in their steam projects,
and the consequent discouragement they met with at
that early day in the prosecution of their labors, than
to the position in which the Commissioners left them.
I deem it proper, however, to notice that none of the
other patents granted on that occasion came in collision with Read's; 1 neither of the other parties
claimed the portable furnace, alias multi-tubular boiler, improved  cylinder, or chain-wheels.  But the
claims of Fitch, Rumsey, and Stevens clashed in
several respects.
Fitch's patent was, -
"For applying the force of steam to trunk or trunks, for
drawing water in at the bow of a boat or vessel, and forcing the same out at the stern, in order to propel a boat
or vessel through the water. For forcing a column of air
through a trunk or trunks, filled with water by the force of
steam. For forcing a column of air through a trunk or
trunks, out at the stern, with the bow valves closed, by the
force of steam; and for applying the force of steam to
cranks and paddles for propelling a boat or vessel through
the water." 2
Rumsey's patent was, -
"For propelling boats or vessels by means of the reaction of a stream of water, forced by the agency of steam. See Read's patent and specifications, ante, p. 48.
2 Westcott's Life of Fitch, p. 327.




[118   NATHAN READ AND THE S TEAM-EArGINE.
through a trunk or cylinder, parallel to the keel, out at the
stern; and for a more ample and easy mode of generating steam, by passing a small quantity of water through an
incurvated tube X placed in a furnace, whereby the action
of fire is communicated to the water and steam in all its
passage from  the entrance to the exit, and which kind of
boiler can be easily adapted to every species of fire or steamengine; and for raising water by steam for the turning of
mills, or for agricultural or other purposes." 1
Stevens's patent did not differ essentially from Rumsey's, being for generating steam with a like boiler, and
propelling his boat in a like way; by forcing water
through a trunk by steam and ejecting it at the stern
of the vessel; and also for raising water for mills, etc.,
and working  a bellows.2   It will thus be seen that
the patents of Rumsey, Fitch, and Stevens, clash in
several particulars; but that neither of them interferes with the patent of Read.
1 This description is taken from Rumsey's specification of his steam inventions as presented by him to the New York Legislature, and is supposed to be the same as that he soon after presented to Congress. -Docum*entary History of NYew York, vol. ii. p. 1099.
2 See Report of Committee of New York Legislature, on the Petitions of
James Rumsey, John Stevens, and John Fitch, in 1789.-Ibid. p. 1092.




CHAPTER XII.
THERE is an item in this history that should not
be passed over here.  In December, 1788, James
Rumsey petitioned the Legislature of New York for a
grant for propelling boats by forcing water through a
trunk, for his pipe-boiler, and for raising water for
mills, etc., by steam; and on the 9th of January, 1789,
John Stevens (alias John Stevens, Jr., as then called)
also presented his petition to the Legislature of New
York, for a grant similar to that applied for by Rumsey. Fitch, who had obtained a previous grant from
the legislature, remonstrated against these petitions;
and the subject having been referred to a special committee, consisting of Messrs. Livingston, Havens, and
Van Cortland, they reported: —
"' That nothing in the act, securing to John Fitch the exclusive right of propelling boats by fire or steam, can be construed to prevent the legislature from securing to James
Rumsey, for a limited time, the exclusive right of generating steam, by his new invented method of a pipe-boiler;
and further, that they have examined the petition of John
Stevens, and the draughts accompanying the same, and are
of opinion, that the method proposed by him for propelling
boats by steam, does not materially differ in its principles
from the mode proposed by James Rumsey, and that he
stands in the same situation with respect to John Fitch as
the said James Rumsey."




120   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
The Committee reported a bill to secure to Rumsey
his pipe-boiler, and rejected the petition of Stevens;
Rumsey's bill, however, was not passed by the New
York Legislature, and Fitch's rights in that State remained undisturbed.1
The above proceedings before the Legislature of
New York, show several important facts, namely,
that the controversy between Fitch, Rumsey, and
Stevens, commenced in the New York Legislature, in
an attempt there made by Rumsey to supplant Fitch,
and overturn the rights he had acquired under his act,
and of Stevens to supplant them both, in an effort to
secure a grant, which Fitch and Rumsey contended
did not belong to him, either by invention or priority;
that the applications of Rumsey and Stevens were
substantially for the same thing; each having a like
mode of generating steam, propelling boats or vessels,
and raising water for mills, etc.; that the pipe-boiler,
so much talked about, consisted of one single incurvated pipe, holding about three gallons of water, twisted
about in a brick furnace, and giving no opportunity
for steam to escape from it but at one end, while
the other end received the water from the reservoir,2
From these facts we are enabled to distinguish between their pipe-boiler and Read's multi-tubular boiler;
and, moreover, to learn that Read incidentally met
these three contestants before the Board of Commissioners, free from any concert or collision with them;
1 Documentary Htistory of New York, vol. ii. p. 1092.
2 See specification of James Rumsey, Documentary History of New York,
vol. ii. p. 1099, and affidavits of Charles Morrow, p. 1027, and Joseph
Barnes, p. 1028.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  121
and that Rumsey and Stevens, after trying their case
before the New York Legislature without disturbing
the rights of Fitch there, removed their controversy,
and sought to obtain from  the General Government
what they could not get from the State of New York.
To show that Read's patent was clear of any interference from the others, we need only make the
proper distinction between the pipe-boiler, patented
to Rumsey and Stevens, and the multi-tubular boiler,
patented to Read. This distinction may, to a considerable extent, be at once seen by looking at the
diagrams of the pipe-boiler and furnace, on the opposite sheet, and comparing them with the drawings of
Read's multi-tubular boiler and furnace.' But to see
how entirely unlike they are, we are not only to look at
the form of their construction, but at the more important difference there is in their power and capacity for
generating steam, and in their strength, durability,
and safety. The following is Rumsey's description of
the pipe-boiler, now in the possession of the American
Philosophical Society, in his own words: 2
" A B C, an iron pipe bent as represented by the figure;
D F, a pipe of the same size with the valve E, on the
turned-up end. The end F, is brazed to the boiler A B
C, at B, and hangs down in a perpendicular direction to
discharge the steam at the valve E, when the machine is
not at work. This boiler is set up in a furnace of brick,
and the fuel put into the cavities formed by the crossings
of the pipe. The water that makes the steam is forced in at
the end A, by a small pump. The advantage of this boiler
is, that it presents a much greater surface to a small fire
1 Ante.             2 See No. 11, on opposite sheet.




122   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
than any other. The furnace is two feet square inside;
one hundred and twenty feet of pipe, two inches in diameter, is bent as represented in the diagram, the surface of
which will be sixty feet square,1 all of which will be in the
fire, as the fuel is to be burnt in the cave made by the crossing of the pipe, and must therefore be very hot." 2
From the above description and diagrams of Rumsey, and the specification and drawings of Read,3
we are led to a full discovery of the dissimilarity of
the two boilers. The eye can determine the difference in the form, and no comments on that subject
are required, as they are at once seen to have little
or no resemblance to each other in this respect. We
will then proceed to inquire in general terms into their
power and capacity for generating steam.
The pipe-boiler exposes sixty square feet of surface to the fire, and but one single aperture of the
size of the interior diameter of the pipe, for the steam
to escape from, at the extreme end of the pipe
where it is connected with the cylinder. The multitubular boiler (invented to be longer or shorter at
pleasure), allowing it to be but six feet in length, and
the average length of the tubes but five feet, there
being seventy-eight tubes proposed in the drawing,
would expose one hundred and ninety-five square
feet of surface to the fire, and have seventy-eight
apertures for the steam to escape from. This makes
one aperture to every two-and a half feet of surface
exposed to the fire, the same the pipe-boiler had for
1 He means sixty square feet, as is shown by the length and diameter
of the pipe.
2 Westcott's Life of Fitch, p. 228.  8 Ante, p. 50.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  123
sixty feet. In short the pipe-boiler had but one of
these apertures, while the multi-tubular boiler had
seventy-eight of the same size. It will moreover be
seen, that the multi-tubular boiler ejects the steam from
the upper end of each of these seventy-eight tubes,
into an apartment at the top of the boiler, where the
steam is compressed, and from whence, as the cocks
are alternately opened and closed, it rushes through
a steam-pipe of sufficient size and capacity to conduct it to the cylinder; while the steam from the
pipe-boiler is conducted directly to the cylinder, without an opportunity to acquire force from compression.
This would reduce the power of the pipe-boiler even
below the comparative amount of steam it was capable of producing; but the amount of steam it produced, when compared with the multi-tubular boiler,
may be readily seen by the most inexperienced eye.
How much better would a pipe be one hundred
and twenty feet in length, resting in a furnace in a
series of incurvations, within a space of two feet square,
and exposing sixty feet of surface to the fire, than
one but twenty feet in length, of the same size,
and exposing but ten feet of surface to the fire?
This is a question that can be answered only by a
series of experiments with exactness; but it is selfevident, that a pipe one hundred and twenty or but
twenty feet in length, and only two inches in diameter,
exposed in the manner described to the intense heat of
a furnace, would, either of them, generate as much
steam as could pass out at one end. If such be the
case, a pipe one hundred and twenty feet in length
is no better than one of but twenty.  But here is




124   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
another matter to be considered: in a hot furnace the
water would occupy but the first part of the pipe,
and the steam the other part, and it becomes an inquiry of some importance, what effect the heat of
the furnace would have upon the steam as it passed
through one hundred feet of pipe intensely heated? If
it could not find vent and wholly escape from the end
of the pipe, the pipe itself must explode; and oxydation would soon destroy it, if not destroyed by the expansive force of the steam.
There could, moreover, be neither strength, durability, or safety, in the pipe-boiler. However well it
might be constructed, the heat of the furnace, as well
as the expansive force of the steam and oxydation,
would destroy it; and if the heat should be raised
very high, it would at once fuse that part of it unoccupied by water.  Fitch was persuaded to try it once,
against his opinion of its utility, and then it exploded,
and he flung it aside.  Rumsey had the utmost faith
in it, although "it kept melting off his solder and
coming to pieces."   At best, its power was limited
to very light work; and it was wholly worthless for
navigation, or any use where the ordinary power of
steam was required.
The multi-tubular boiler, on the other hand, is capable of exerting the highest degree of steam-power,
not only for driving mills and factories, but for propelling vessels of the largest class,l -every part of it
1,i The Great Eastern is supplied with three distinct modes of propulsion
— paddle-wheels, screw-propellers, and sails. The engines for driving the
paddle-wheels are horizontal, of which there are four; they are of one
thousand nominal horse-power each, with four cylinders 74 inches diameter, and length of stroke 14 feet, with 15 revolutions per minute. Each




I  i  1
~III L~-~I1ItIb )
<ECD<
in''-I II ii 








NATHAN BEAD AND THE STEAM-ENGINE. 125
comes in contact with the water, is free from oxydation, less liable to explode, and infinitely more efficient
in  the generation  of steam.   In  fact, it has so little
resemblance to the pipe-boiler, not only in its form and
manner of construction, but in its durability, power,
and fitness, as to bear no comparison.
It has been imputed to Stevens that he was the
inventor of the  multi-tubular boiler.1    We  have no
evidence that he ever' claimed it himself; his petitions to the New York Legislature and to Congress,
and his patent, do not show it; but the report of
the Committee of the  New  York Legislature, that his
and Rumsey's application was substantially for the
same thing, each having the same mode of generatengine may be worked independent of the others, and combined, work up
to 3,000 horse-power, with 15 lbs. of steam; and with 25 lbs. of steam, to
5,000 horse-power. The steam for these engines is generated in 4 multitubular boilers, each 17 feet 9 inches long, 17 feet 6 inches wide, and 13
feet 9 inches high, weighing 50 tons and containing 40 tons of water. The
tubes are of brass, 3 inches in diameter, and 400 in number; and there are
ten furnaces to each boiler. There are 4 horizontal engines, also, for turning the screw-propeller, with 4 cylinders of 84 inches each in diameter,
with 4 feet stroke, and 50 revolutions per minute, and working up from
4,500 to 6,500 horse-power. The boilers are 18 feet 6 inches long, 17 feet 6
inches wide, and 14 feet high, six in number, each weighing 57 tons, and
containing 45 tons of water. They are multi-tubular, each of them containing 420 brass tubes, of three inches diameter. These boilers may all be
applied to either set of engines. There are also two auxiliary"engines, highpressure, of 70 horse-power each, used for lifting the screw and doing other
work about the ship, and ten donkey-engines to supply the large boilers
with water. The paddle-wheels are 56 feet in diameter, with 30 floats to
each wheel, 13 feet in length and 3 feet in width. The screw-propeller is 24
feet in diameter, and weighs 36 tons. It has 4 fans fitting into a large
boss on the shaft; the screw shaft is 160 feet long, and weighs 60 tons; it is
constructed of iron, forged and put together in sections, the largest section
weighing 35 tons." - Semi- Weekly Courier! Inqzirer, June 30, 1860.
1 Renwick On the Steam-engine, p. 283.




126  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
ing steam and propelling their boats, virtually disproves it. In one form and another, all three of the
men, Fitch, Rumsey, and Stevens, made their claims
upon the pipe-boiler; but it nowhere appears either
of them made any claim to the multi-tubular boiler,
which was a thing as distinctly marked and as different in principle and construction, almost, as is a lead
pipe from a locomotive engine. Indeed, at that day,
the multi-tubular boiler had never come into the idea
of either of them until exhibited by Read.
If Stevens, or his successors, used the multi-tubular boiler in any of the boats they afterwards built, it
must have been many years after Read's exhibition
and patent of it. Moreover, the application of Read
was pending before the Commissioners, and his patent
granted under the eyes of Stevens, and must have
been with his knowledge; and if he used it in
preference to his pipe-boiler, it would be no more than
the use of Read's chain-wheel, which he put into his
first boat in lieu of his own water-ejecting mode of
propulsion.' But it would be no strange thing, if- in
the lack of knowledge and discrimination which must
needs have obscured the public mind at that day as to
the true character of these inventions - the different
modes of generating steam, patented at the same time
should be confounded, and the two boilers indiscriminately spoken of and imputed to Stevens; more especially as he was afterwards the active man before
the world, in the attempt to construct a steamboat, -
being previous to Fulton's experiment upon the Hudson, and covering the time when Livingston, Stevens,
1 Seepost.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE. 127
and Rosevelt, were in company in their efforts to build
a living boat.
It is stated that Stevens used a tubular boiler and a
propeller in an experimental boat built at his shop,
under the charge of his son, Colonel John C. Stevens,
in 1804.1 This may be true; yet it is no proof that he
invented either the one or the other; but the fact that
he used it may be an additional reason to show why
the invention was imputed to him. If Stevens used a
tubular boiler at that time, it would be about the time,
or soon after Read's patent of it had expired; and
whether the boiler which he used was the multi-tubular boiler patented by Read, or his own pipe-boiler,
to which the name of tubular boiler has been sometimes given, does not appear. Professor Renwick in
his " Treatise on the Steam-engine," 2 says:" John Stevens of Hoboken commenced his experiments
in steam navigation in 1791..... Stevens's experiments
were conducted at intervals up to 1807. During these experiments he invented the tubular boiler," etc.
The Professor makes no distinction here between
the multi-tubular boiler and pipe-boiler, but seems not
to have understood the difference, or else to have
supposed that they meant one and the same thing.3
1 See Lecture of Charles King, LL. D., delivered before the Mechanics'
Society, New York, 1851.
2 See post.
8 Professor Renwick's Treatise was published in 1830, and in his Preface
he gives credit to Robert L. Stevens (son of John Stevens), and expresses
his obligations to him for the facts furnished by him for his Treatise, in relation to the first steamboats upon the Hudson. Of course the information
he received was, on this particular subject, as indefinite as he penned it.
Under the idea that the pipe-boiler was the first tubular boiler invented, it
would be very natural for Robert L. Stevens to give the credit to his father




128  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM1]-ENGINE.
Moreover, if it is meant that Stevens invented the
multi-tubular boiler "during these experiments," i. e.
from 1791 to 1807, it could not have been contained
in his patent of August 26, 1791, as it was issued
upon his application made to Congress, a year or two
before he commenced any experiments; and the idea
that he invented it during this time is met by Read's
previous patent of it, - a fact authenticated in the
Patent-office Department, and known to Stevens.
For ten years after Read obtained his patent the
elder Stevens was for the most part at work at his
shop in Hoboken, trying to build a steam-engine, and
sought to raise up mechanics and acquire the needful
information for the work; and he built no boat before
1801 of sufficient capacity and completeness to try
any satisfactory experiments. This was the one he,
Livingston, and Rosevelt commenced together, and
which was left on his hands, as will be hereafter seen,
when Livingston left the concern and went to France.
This boat was so constructed as to be propelled by a
"; system of paddles resembling a horizontal chainpump."  The invention of this " system of paddles,"
Professor Renwick 1 also ascribes to Stevens, when
in fact it was contained in Read's patent alone. This
error can be accounted for on no other view of it than
that applied to the tubular boiler. Stevens must have
borrowed both of them from Read's specifications and
drawings, and after so long and quiet a lapse of time,
applied them to his boat, and thus obtained the reputain general terms; and be put down by the writer in terms equally
general.
1 Renwick, Trieatise on the Steam-engine, p. 284.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   129
tion of their inventor. Stevens himself, however, understood the whole subject, and made no claim to their
invention; and it may be regarded as a compliment to
Read that Stevens should place such confidence in his
inventions, as to try them in the first boat he built in
preference to those of his own patent.
As to the "' system of paddles," it would be quite
natural for any one to suppose that the patentee, to say
the least, regarded it as the preferable mode of propelling boats; and this may explain in some measure why
Stevens at first constructed his boat with this apparatus
attached, and why he also attached the tubular boiler.
It will also be seen that Stevens himself, as well as
others, finally adopted the paddle-wheel, which Read
applied for in his first petition.'
1 One Samuel Morey, of New London, built a small craft in 1793 with a
wheel in the stern, something like Hull's. Morey afterwards, by the aid of
Burgess Allison, built a boat near Bordentown, N. J., in 1797, with paddlewheels at the sides: "' The shaft moved across the boat with a shackle-bar,
commonly so called, which moved on the principle which is now (1819)
used in the largest boats." - Duer's Second Letter to Colden.
9




CHAPTER XIII.
BUT these inventions of Read had a broader application and use than hitherto considered. When Fulton
brought himself to the work of practically effecting the
great purpose of navigation by steam, - a work which
has given to him a name immortal in the annals of his
country and of the world, - it will be found on an
impartial comparison, that the machinery which he
brought together to secure his success was substantially the same, and having the same combination, as
the machinery which Read had invented and put together, for a like purpose twenty years before. And
it will require no stretch of credulity for any one to
believe, when the subject is more fully presented, that
Read's plan of a steamboat came to the knowledge of
Fulton, and was by him adopted in the construction of
his experimental boat upon the Seine, and of his first
boat upon the Hudson, which proved to be the first
successful steamer ever put in working operation.
The originality of the steamboat, now that it has
taken so distinguished a part in the wide field of human
enterprise, has been a question that has entered into
the controversial claims of individuals and nations.
Various persons have appeared before the public and
claimed the honor of original inventors of it; and different nations have sought to secure that honor as a
source of national pride and glory.  Indeed, a vast




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  131
amount of ink and paper, and laborious research have
been expended, in the advocacy and is.vestigation
of one man's claim  and then another.  Meanwhile,
legislative bodies have been invoked; laws have been
passed recognizing, and thus attempting to legalize
fictitious claims; courts and juries have been appealed to for the same purpose; and public sentiment tampered with by one device and another.
And yet the question, " Who was the inventor of the
steamboat? " has never been settled.
The reason for all this is obvious.  It never can
be settled so long as there is a purpose to attach the
invention to any one man. Lay selfishness aside, and
allow to each projector, who had actually contributed
more or less toward the work, his equitable share in
its honors, according to the aid he gave it and the
progress he effected, and there would be no trouble
in settling the question. This mode of settlement is
just; but it still remains to be made; and let it be
done, as time and opportunity and a more intelligent public sentiment on the subject may demand.
It is enough for the purpose of these few pages to
lay before the public the simple facts, showing the
part one individual took in this invention.
I speak of the invention; there is quite a difference between the invention of the machinery and
the appliance of the necessary means to put that
machinery to its designed work. The one is the work
of genius, the other of money and mechanical skill;
genius works out the invention and gives the formula
descriptive of it, while the mechanic takes up the formula and with proper aid puts the invention to its




132   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
designed use. Should the honor of the invention be
transferred to the mechanic because he was the first
to put the machinery to practical use?  Such was
substantially the case of Fulton in his building the
first successful steamboat.  He really invented no
essential part of it, but skillfully put together the inventions of others. He had the means placed at his
command, or he could not even have done this. He
had nothing to discourage, but everything to encourage him. Fortune, power, and influence, stood at his
right hand ready to back him up and sustain him. He
was employed by Livingston, the possessor of all these
facilities, and a knowledge of the inventions of others
to carry out a scheme of great magnitude for their own
joint profit and aggrandizement. Were it not for this
the first successful steamboat might not yet have been
completed, and Fulton,
" In life's low vale remote had pined alone,
Then dropt into the grave unpitied and unknown."
Robert Fulton, who stands so prominent in the history of steam navigation, was born in Little Britain,
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1765. His parents
were of Irish descent; his father, who emigrated from
Ireland, was in low circumstances, and gave but small
opportunity to his children. He died in 1768, when
his son Robert was but three years of age, who under the good endeavors of his mother acquired a fair
common-school education. He had a taste for study,
and a mind ever active in the pursuit of some favorite
project; and was in fact, the builder of his own qualifications for the work he pursued at different periods
of his life, -a matter so common and so highly com



NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  133
mendable among the youth of our country. His early
predominant passion was for drawing and mechanics;
and at the age of seventeen, he went to Philadelphia,
and engaged in painting portraits and landscape views,
from which he earned a fair support, and acquired a
small amount of property.  He resided here until he
was twenty-one years of age (1786), and then went
with his mother to Washington County, Pennsylvania,
where he purchased a small farm for her as a home.
The same year he went to England, and engaged in the
office of West, the great American artist, as a journeyman painter, where he remained for several years.
After leaving West, he spent two years in Devonshire occupied as a painter. After this, he resided a
year and a half in Birmingham, where he first acquired
some practical knowledge of mechanics, and obtained,
in 1794, a patent in England for a double inclined plane
to be used for transportation; and about the same time
made an improvement in mills for grinding plaster and
sawing marble; also in machinery for spinning flax
and making ropes, and constructed a machine for excavating canals.
In 1796 he published a work on canal navigation,
in which he proposed the use of the inclined plane
to pass boats over ravines and elevated points.  He
now for the first time set himself up as a civil engineer, and relinquished his profession as a painter.
The next year, 1797, he is found in France, making
efforts to introduce his canal system there; but soon
turned his attention to the purpose of inventing a
submarine machine for blowing up vessels of war.
He was at work at this invention, under the patron



134   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
age of the French government, until 1801, during
which year he went through with a course of experiments in the harbor of Brest, with his machine,
or explosive submarine battery; but not succeeding
in destroying any of the enemy's vessels (the English) then blockading the harbor, the government of
France withdrew its patronage from him; and being
without any employment there, he resolved to leave
France and return to England.  Before doing this,
however, Robert R. Livingston arrived as Ambassador
from the United States to the Consular Government
of France, and Fulton being a countryman of his, and
possessing views adapted in some measure to the enterprising schemes of Livingston, they soon met and
made an acquaintance.
Previous to the arrival of Mr. Livingston in France,
which was in 1801, it does not appear that Mr. Fulton
had given the subject of steam navigation any special
attention, farther than what had entered into the
thoughts of other mechanics and speculative men of
the day, -a mere topic of thought and talk. In a
letter to Lord Stanhope, who was interesting himself
somewhat on the subject, in 1793, he speaks of steam
navigation; but what he said to Lord Stanhope does
not appear, as the letter has never been published.
He also visited Symington's boat, which the latter constructed for Lord Dundas upon the Forth and Clyde
Canal, in 1804; but this was long after his acquaintance with Mr. Livingston, and after he had tried his
experiments at Paris, and ordered his engine.
Livingston says, at Paris:"Ile communicated to Mr. Fulton the importance of




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  135
steamboats to their common country; informed him of what
had been attempted in America, and of his resolution to resume the pursuit on his return; and advised him to turn his
attention to the subject." 1
This shows that Fulton had not given his thoughts
to the subject before that time (1801) with any serious intent, which was twelve years after Read had
completed his inventions, and tried his boat with paddle-wheels at Danvers.
Chancellor Livingston, who was an eminent statesman and civilian, also took a conspicuous part in the
introduction of steam navigation. And before we proceed to a consideration of the experiments made by
Fulton under his patronage, we will take a concise
view of what Livingston himself had done before
meeting with Fulton at Paris.  Livingston laid no
claims to invention or inventive genius himself, but
he possessed that enthusiastic spirit on the subject of
steam navigation, which was liable to be awakened by
the belief, that it would become a source of great
wealth to whomsoever should successfully put it in operation, and succeed in securing its exclusive use and
emolument. Ocean navigation was not contemplated;
and in order to make river navigation a source of private wealth - of such gigantic proportions as had entered into the mind of this enterprising millionaire, —
a monopoly over the inland navigation of the country
became necessary as a part of the plan he had in view,
for carrying out the grand purpose that lay before him.
He was liberal with his lmeans; and in this instance
believed their application promised great public advan1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 148.




136  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
tage, as well as liberal returns for his capital. He,
moreover, was a distinguished jurist, and well understood the advantages to be derived from chartered
rights, concentrated in a single individual, to the exclusion of a common and public use; but it seems that
he then did not fully comprehend the powers that lay
between a State and the General Government over the
navigable waters of the country.
Livingston made his first essay in 1797, and in connection with Mr. Nesbit, engaged in the construction
of a boat upon the Hudson River. They employed
Brunel — who became distinguished as the inventor
of the block-machine, and the builder of the Thames
Tunnel — to take the charge of the mechanical construction of the boat. Livingston in the mean time,
having full confidence of success, applied to the Legislature of New York for an act giving him the exclusive right to navigate the waters of New York with
boats propelled by fire and steam. To accomplish that
end it became necessary to remove Fitch's previous
grant, obtained for the same purpose. He therefore
petitioned the legislature to repeal Fitch's act under
the pretense that Fitch " was either dead or had withdrawn from the State, without having made any attempt, in the space of more than ten years, for executing the plan for which he had so obtained an
exclusive privilege, whereby," it alleges, "the same
had been justly forfeited." 1
The legislature, upon these representations, in
March, 1798, repealed the act of Fitch, and transferred
to Livingston, for twenty years, the rights it covered,
1 New York Review, No. 7, p. 149.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  137
provided " he should within twelve months give proof
of having built a boat of at least twenty tons' capacity,
to be propelled by steam, the mean of whose progress
through the water with and against the ordinary current of the Hudson River, should not be less than four
miles an hour; and that he should at no time omit for
the space of one year to have a boat of such construction plying between the cities of New York and
Albany." 1
The boat Livingston and Nesbit constructedi did not
meet the conditions of the law and was abandoned,2 as
the boat was unable to move at a speed beyond about
two and a half miles an hour, consequently the act
became forfeited; but Livingston procured a revival of
it for a further trial. Stevens, as has been noticed, was
all this time trying experiments with a view to the construction of a boat, directing his attention, however, for
the most part to the workmanship and manufacture of
machinery for the purpose, but had as yet not succeeded in building one. To unite their efforts, and
bring together a stronger force in the work, Livingston
and Stevens and Nicholas J. Rosevelt, entered into a
copartnership in 1800, to pursue the object jointly,
and commenced a boat. Their proceedings, however,
were interrupted and the partnership broken up, by the
appointment soon after of Livingston as Minister to
France; but Stevens pursued his experiments alone
at Hoboken, completed the boat before mentioned,
which he tried with the chain-wheel invented by Read;
and Livingston " carried to Europe high-raised expec1 New York Review, No. 7, p. 150.  2 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 146.




138   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
tations of success." 1  Professor Renwick, in speaking
of their propelling apparatus, says: —
"Their apparatus was a system of paddles resembling a
horizontal chain-pump, and set in motion by an engine of
Watt's construction. We now know that such a plan, if inferior to paddle-wheels, might answer the purpose; it however failed in consequence of the weakness of the vessel,
which changed its figure and dislocated parts of the engine."
From the above, it appears that they followed the
plan of propulsion Read had patented, precisely; and
with it Livingston went to Europe with his high expectations of success; taking with him a full knowledge of this, and doubtless of the other inventions of
Read also.
Rosevelt, after the dissolution of the partnership
on the occasion  of Livingston's mission to France,
acted independent of both Livingston and Stevens,
and turned his attention to the Ohio and Mississippi,
as the field of his steamboat operations. In 1811 he
built the first steamboat on those waters, and in her
passage fiom Pittsburg to New Orleans she had a
most wonderful experience and escape.2
1 Renwick, p. 284.
2 For an account of this adventurous passage, see Appendix, No. 2.




CHAPTER XIV.
WE will now return to the experiments of Livingston and Fulton in France. Livingston having besought Fulton to turn his attention to steam navigation,
it was arranged that Fulton should enter upon a series
of experiments on the subject.
"Fulton suggested that it would not do to trust to the
mere ingenuity or theoretic skill of either of them, but that
it was indispensable that experiments should be carefully
made, upon all the methods of any promise which had been
proposed up to that time, or which had occurred to Livingston or himself." 1
He first went into a course of mathematical calculations to determine the resistance of water, the force
to be applied to bodies moving through it, the best
form  of a vessel for easy movement, " and upon the
different means of propelling vessels which had been
previously attempted." 2
He applied his mathematics to paddles, oars, settingpoles, duck's-feet, pump and trunk for drawing in and
ejecting water, paddle-wheels, and system of paddles
resembling a horizontal chain-pump; he without trial
rejected all as impracticable, except the two last; 3 and
it is singular enough, that he, first of all, favored the
use of the last - the system of paddles resembling a
1 New York Review, p. 100.            2 Ibid.
3 Colden's Life of Fulton, pp. 153, 154.




140   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
horizontal chain-pump, - which was patented by Read,
and which was applied to the boat that Livingston
had just before left in progress of construction in New
York.
Having decided upon trying this, as he then thought
the preferable mode of propulsion, he constructed a
small boat, in 1802, and tried his-first experiment at
Plombieres, where he was temporarily residing. After
trying his boat, he wrote to Mr. Livingston at Paris,
giving him a minute account of his experiment with
his system  of paddles or chain-wheel, "and assured
him of the certainty of success which they afforded
him." I Mr. Colden treats this mode of propulsion
as if it were an original invention of Fulton; and in
relation to the subject he adds: -
"The ingenuity of the little working models which he
employed on this occasion, the simplicity of his contrivances,
his calculations and demonstrations, are all evidence of his
genius, his science, and his practical knowledge. Among the
manuscripts he has left are diagrams, drawings, calculations,
and notes, which fully explain everything connected with
this course of interesting experiments. It would be greatly
to be regretted, not only in regard to his fame, but as respects
the arts, if they should not be given to the world in proper
form." 2
It is truly to be regretted, that the arts have not
as yet been benefited by a publication of these diagrams and drawings; but Fulton's fame has not been
injured in consequence, for by comparing them with
the diagrams and drawings of Read, their analogy
would at once appear.
1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 155.  2 Ibid. pp. 155,156.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  141
After the above experiments at Plombieres, it was
decided to give a trial to paddle-wheels.  In the
winter following he applied them to a small working
model, tried various experiments, and renewed his calculations respecting them; after which Fulton, in a
letter to his friend, remarks, " by very exact experiments I have proved that the wheel is superior to
the chaplet," 1 i. e. resisting boards with endless chain.
Thereupon they determined to construct a boat of
some size (eight feet wide and sixty-six feet in length)
for experiment upon the Seine, and to apply paddlewheels as the mode of propulsion.  This boat was
completed in the spring of 1803, but owing to an
accident by which it became necessary to repair the
hull, it was not tried until August following. It was
then tried in the presence of the members of the French
National Institute, who were invited to be present, and
of a great concourse of people who assembled to witness the experiment.
The experiments with this boat showed satisfactorily that paddle-wheels were preferable to any other
mode of propulsion; and although the boat was not
so fast in its movements as had been hoped, it was
evident that the same machinery, if of more perfect
finish, would greatly facilitate its motion; and it became a safe calculation to allow, that a working-boat
constructed after the plan and model of this, would
prove reliable and successful for the purposes of steam
navigation. Indeed, they looked upon the subject with
such confidence that Livingston entered into proposals
to Fulton, to join him in the construction of boats upon
the Hudson River; which he then did.
1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 158.




142   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
Thereupon  Fulton, August 6, 1803, wrote to
Boulton & Watt of Birmingham, "ordering certain
parts of a steam-engine to be made for him and sent
to America." 1  And Livingston wrote home to his
friends in New  York, to procure an act, extending
to him and Fulton together, for the term of twenty
years, the same rights which had been granted to him
by the act of 1798, but which had now become forfeited. The legislature allowed the application, and
an act was accordingly passed, by which the exclusive right of navigating the waters of New York was
granted to Livingston and Fulton jointly.2
Before Fulton returned to the United States, he
visited the shop of Boulton & Watt at Birmingham,
in 1804, and furnished them with plans and drawings
of those several parts of the engine which he had, on
the 6th of August, 1803, ordered them to furnish;
and gave them directions respecting them. He ordered only those parts which would be required to
construct an engine of a peculiar kind; and it will
be seen, that his order followed the essential parts of
Read's machinery, which so modified the engine of
Watt as to render it light and portable.
In the letters which Fulton had previously written
to Boulton & Watt, "he made inquiries as to the
employment of high degrees of heat in small engines,
and the limit to which it might be carried in order to
render them light and compact." 3 He then explained
1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 165.
2 This grant to Livingston & Fulton was not made on the ground that
they were the inventors of the steamboat; but on the ground merely " that
they were the possessors of a mode of propelling boats by steam upon new
and advantageous principles." - New York Review, No. 7, p. 150.
8 Life of Watt, p. 333.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  143
to them that his object in ordering the sort of machinery
he had, was to reduce the heft of the steam-engine as
much as possible, for the purpose of applying it to a
boat to run on the rivers in America. He says, " The
only thing which is wanting is to arrange the engine as
light and compact as possible." 1 And in a postscript
to one of his letters, he speaks of engines which had
been proposed to him by Mr. Livingston.
Fulton's visit to England in 1804, was, however,
but partially induced by his intention of procuring
machinery for his steam-engine, - this was but a secondary purpose with him; and although he had tried
his steamboat experiments in France at the solicitation
of Mr. Livingston, his great theme, and study, and
purpose, was to invent his torpedo submarine boat for
destroying vessels of war. The patronage of the government of France having been withdrawn from him,
he still pursued his purpose in this matter, and made
overtures to the British government, proposing to
grant to them the benefit of his invention or project.
The British minister made an arrangement with Mr.
Fulton to secure his infernal machine and services,
more to deprive France of them, and to keep them
from threatening their own vessels, than from any expectation or belief that they would be of any importance otherwise. It was on this account that Fulton
proceeded to London in May, 1804.
The policy of the British government - being herself
then mistress of the seas, and having more vessels of
war afloat than all other nations united - was to suppress his machine instead of using it.  Hence they
1 Life of Watt, p. 334.




144   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
constantly baffled him in his attempts to test the effects
of it, and took occasion, as far as lay within the
scope of ostensible fairness, to make it appear that the
machine was a visionary affair. Most of his experiments thus turned out to be failures; he remained in
England and kept at work, without any success or
encouragement except his pay (and that for the last
part withheld), for two years or more. In October,
1805, however, he succeeded in blowing up a Danish
brig of two hundred tons, which had been provided
for the experiment, and which was anchored in Walmar Roads, near the residence of Mr. Pitt.  The torpedo on this occasion contained one hundred and
seventy pounds of powder; and in fifteen minutes
from the time of starting the machinery and throwing
the torpedo into the water, the explosion took place.
" It lifted the brig almost entire, and broke her completely in two. The ends sunk immediately, and in
one minute nothing was to be seen of her but floating
fragments. In fact her annihilation was complete." 1
The above matter is related not only to show that
Fulton remained in England for some time, even after
his engine had been sent over by Boulton & Watt
to New York, but that his mind was more engrossed
by his torpedo war, than by his steamboat. And such
in fact was the case with him not only in Europe but
in America after his return; making it, notwithstanding his boat, the prominent purpose before him here.
Failing to accomplish his desired purpose in England,
and worn out by a long and much neglected series of
experiments with his explosive machine, his pay finally
1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 59.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  145
all withheld, and everything ending in dissappointment
and disgust, he at length returned to New York, where
he arrived on the 13th of December, 1806.1
Within a few weeks after his return to the United
States, he applied to our government to assist him in
prosecuting his experiments with his torpedoes. Some
assistance was rendered, and experiments tried at
Governor's Island; and in July, 1807, - being but a
few weeks before his steamboat took her first trip up
the Hudson, - he blew up a large vessel, in the harbor
of New York, "which had been provided for the purpose." 2 Indeed, he continued these experiments with
great earnestness, but without any great success,
more or less, up to 1810, when, under the prospect
of a rupture with Great Britain, he renewed his
application to the General Government for aid in the
matter; 1" and soon after this published his work entitled'Torpedo War; or, Submarine Explosions."' "
The government, under the prospect of war, extended additional aid to Mr. Fulton, and experiments
were made upon an enlarged scale.  The sloop-of-war
Argus, under the direction of Commodore Rogers, was
placed in a posture of defense against the torpedoes;
and in spite of the attacks of Fulton, successfully defended herself against any injury from his boasted
instruments of destruction. The Committee appointed
by Congress to examine the experiments and make
report, reported unfavorably upon the project as a
1 This same year, Mr. Fulton was married to Miss Harriet Livingston,
a relative of the Chancellor.
2 CGolden's Life of Fulton, p. 76.
8 Ibid, p. 83.
10




146  NATHAN READ AND TEE STEAM-ENGINE.
means of defense; and Commodore Rogers gave his
opinion " entirely against Mr. Fulton's system; and he
concludes that every part of it would be found wholly
impracticable." It is due, however, to Mr. Fulton to
say that Mr. Livingston and Mr. Colden (the latter
his attorney and subsequent biographer), who were of
the Committee, reported favorably. The report of the
Committee, i. e. the majority, being against the utility
of the plan, as a matter not worthy the further attention of the government, his hope of introducing this
favorite scheme of his became vain; yet his mind was
occupied with the subject during his life.




CHAPTER XV.
ON Fulton's return to the city of New York
from England, he also, in connection with his torpedo war, commenced his steamboat. Stevens, having failed in his former experiments, and now learning
that Livingston, his former partner, had associated
himself with Fulton for the purpose of putting a boat
upon the Hudson, resolved not to be outdone; and
although the infirmities of age, and the expenditure of a
good share of his fortune, had come over him during
his protracted experiments, he now renewed his energies, and simultaneously with Fulton, commenced the
construction of another boat. And indeed it was but
a few days after Fulton made his first trip to Albany,
before Stevens also had his boat in operation.' It may
be well here to notice that Col. John C. Stevens and
Robert L. Stevens, the sons of John Stevens, now
took the active lead in their father's business, and
prosecuted the design which he had so long sought
for in vain, - a successful steam  navigation.  And
with the experience of the father to teach them how
to escape from past errors, and the youthful energies
and mechanical skill they possessed themselves, to give
a fresh impulse to the subject, they commenced the
construction of the Phoenix, which afterwards became
l New York Review, No. 5, p. 103.




148   NATHAN READ AND  TIE STEAM-ENGINE.
so distinguished in the early history of steam navigation. It was built with paddle-wheels at the sides.1
Part of the machinery which Fulton had ordered
from  Boulton & Watt arrived in New York in 1805,
and the residue in 1806; and it lay in store until
Fulton returned and got his craft in readiness to
receive it in 1807.
Livingston returned to New York whilst the boat was
in process of construction, and in the spring of 1807 the
vessel " was launched from the ship-yard of Charles
Brown, on the East River,"2 and called the Clermont
- after the name of the private residence of Mr. Livingston on the Hudson River, above Hyde Park. In
August, Mr. Fulton made his first trip to Albany and
back, at an average speed of about five miles an hour.
His water-wheels were hung upon the ends of the
shaft, without anything beyond the gunwales of the
boat to support them; and they were not covered
with a wheel-house or guards. The speed of the boat
answered the requirements of the previous acts of the
Legislature of New York, which at its next session
passed another act, extending to Livingston & Fulton,
in addition to the former grant, five years for each
boat they should thereafter build, not to exceed in any
case the term of thirty years; and by the same act
1 The Phenix was completed but a few days after Fulton's boat; but by
Livingston & Fulton's exclusive right was driven from the navigation of the
Hudson, and Robert L. Stevens adopted the bold plan of taking her, by sea
and the capes of the Delaware, around to Philadelphia; which was safely
done, in the face of a severe storm, in the month of June, 1808. Young
Stevens, then, acquired the honor of making the first ocean voyage in a
steamboat.
2 Life of Fulton, p. 167.




NATHAN READ AND TtHE STEAM-ENGINE.  149
made it a penal offense for any one to interfere with
the monopoly or exclusive rights granted to these
parties.
The Clermont immediately commenced to run as a
passenger boat between New York and Albany; and
in the mean time, to meet the demands for freight and
public travel, they proceeded to build several other
boats, which they put upon the river, and for some
years held the sole and exclusive enjoyment of its
waters. This prosperous state of affairs, however, was
destined to be of no long continuance with them.
The State of New Jersey did not recognize the validity of the New York statutes, at least so far as its
own waters of the Hudson were concerned, and by
way of retaliation it granted similar rights to its own
citizens; and excluded all steamboats, running under
the authority of New York, from coming within her
jurisdiction.
This placed the matter in the category, that the
New York steamers could not cross to the Jersey
shore, nor the Jersey steamers to the city of New
York. This aspect of the case began to open the
eyes of the people of New York to the nature of the
monopoly which had been granted to Livingston &
Fulton, and a reaction in public sentiment on the subject commenced. Others, moreover, were desirous of
placing boats upon the Hudson and sharing in the profits of the business; while the commercial interests of
New York city and the surrounding country demanded
the free navigation of the Hudson and adjacent waters
of the Sound and Bay of New York, to be flung open
to unrestricted intercourse, to all such as chose to use




150  NATHAN READ AND TiE STEAM-ENGINE.
them. Thus the validity of the grant to Livingston
& Fulton was questioned, denying the power of the
legislature to make it; and relying upon the opinions
of eminent counsel to that effect, a company was formed
in Albany, in 1810, who put another line of steamers
on the river in opposition to the previous grants.
This brought the matter to a crisis. Livingston &
Fulton filed their bill in Chancery, for a perpetual
injunction against the Albany Company, before Chancellor Lansing.  The prayer of the petitioners was
denied, on the ground that the State grants were invalid, "being repugnant to the Constitution of the
United States and against common right." This decree, however, was reversed by the Court of Errors
of the State of New York, on the ground that the
State Legislature possessed a concurrent power with the
General Government, but subordinate to it, in case any
actual collision between the two powers should arise.
But the Court denied that "any interference had been
shown (by the Albany Company) between the State
laws and the constitutional powers of Congress to regulate commerce." Hence, on this mere subterfuge,they
set aside the decision of the Chancellor; but at the
same time advanced the opinion, " that a patent right,
granted by Congress, in case of a conflict, would prevail against the State grants; " as " the laws of Congress are paramount and must prevail."
This intimation alarmed Livingston & Fulton, for
neither of them claimed or pretended to any patent
right in their boats, or to any part of the machinery;
nor did they claim any "coasting license under the
laws of the United States." 1  In  this dilemma,
1 New York Review, vol. iv. p. 151.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  151
application was immediately made to Congress, in
the name of Fulton, for a patent for paddle-wheels
and other parts of the machinery, supposing if he
could secure these by patent, that no one else could
run boats against him, as they were necessary in his
view to success; and that a patent of this machinery
would substantially give the exclusive navigation to
him  and Livingston, not only of the Hudson, but
elsewhere within the waters of the United States.
His application was allowed, and a patent was granted
to Fulton under date of February 9, 1811, more than
twenty years from Read's experiment with paddlewheels at Danvers, and just twenty years into a day
after he filed his petition for a patent for them in Congress.1 Fortified in their position, as they believed,
by the above patents, Livingston & Fulton now proceeded with their plans with renewed confidence;
constructed new boats; and in the mean time brought
the Albany Company to terms, by allowing them the
waters of Lake Champlain,  "as their domain."2
There now appeared to be nothing in the way of a
vast fortune before them, as their returns and profits
were great, and the advantages they had secured gave
every promise of their being still greater; indeed, no
one attempted to estimate the value of their business
in prospect. ~ And they were the more fortified in
their position by obtaining a still further act from the
Legislature of New York, imposing additional penalties for any invasion of their rights, and depriving the
1 Livingston the next year, June 13, 1812, took out a patent in his name
also, for propelling boats with paddles and chain-wheels, to give them additional security in their monopoly. See List of Patents, p. 174.
2 New York Review, vol. iv. p. 152.




152   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENGINE.
Court of Chancery of all judicial discretion as to the
granting of any injunction against them.l
This high-toned and arbitrary exercise of legislative
power actually placed the matter without the pale of
the courts of justice, and beyond the reach of law;
and for a time all opposition seemed to be crushed and
put to its final rest. But the citizens of New Jersey
were not content to have their boats forfeited, as the
last New York laws provided, and insisted upon running them from their own shores across the Hudson to
the city of New York. They claimed a common interest in the waters, at least, so far as their own territory
was bounded upon them, and they refused to pay any
respect, or give any heed to the New York Statutes;
that they were a free people, and would never consent
to pay tribute to Livingston & Fulton.  Colonel Aaron
Ogden was then Governor of the State of New Jersey;
and as a pacific mode of disposing of the matter, he
petitioned the legislature of the State of New York to
remove the restriction which had been imposed upon
their courts, which prevented an approach to the ordinary tribunals of justice for redress, and demanded
the privilege of placing a steamer, for public accommodation and the preservation of his own property,
upon an ancient ferry he owned, between Elizabethtown Point and the city of New York.
William Duer,2 whose pen afterwards so effectually
exposed the character of this monopoly, and the means
used by Livingston & Fulton to obtain it,3 was a meml New York Review, vol. iv. p. 152.
2 Afterwards President of Columbia College, N. Y.
3 See Duer's first and second letters to Cadwallader D. Colden, 1817.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  153
ber of the committee to whom the memorial of Colonel
Ogden was referred. The committee reported in substance, that after the expiration of Fitch's patent, " the
right to use the waters of the Hudson became common
to all the citizens of the United States;" that it was
questionable, whether a State had the power to pass
any law interfering with the power of Congress "to
regulate commerce between the several States;" and
they declared the act of 1811, " to be unjust and violent in its operation," fraught with high and unusual
penalties, and closing the door of justice " against any
one who might be desirous of bringing his rights to a
legal test." And they recommended the passage of an
act "to permit the questions left open by the Court of
Errors (the constitutional questions) to be judicially
examined."
A bill was introduced to that effect and passed the
House, but was denied in the Senate. This once more
alarmed Livingston & Fulton, and they offered favorable terms of compromise to Colonel Ogden, which he
accepted. He consequently stepped down from the high
patriotic position he had taken, submitted to the bribe
held up before him, and, to use the language of Mr.
Duer, 1" consented to navigate his boat upon his' ancient and accustomed ferry,' under the banner of the
monopoly." 1
The above adjustment of the controversy between
these immediate parties, in no way settled the question
in the public mind; and Connecticut, following New
Jersey, passed retaliatory laws, prohibiting steamers
running under the New York monopoly from navigat1 See Duer's first and second letters to Cadwallader D. Colden, 1817.




154  NATHAN READ AND TiE STEAM-ENGINE.
ing the waters of that State.  These three States had
now actually become parties in the controversy. The
embarrassments resulting from this legislative warfare
were severely felt; and in fact the navigable waters
of all these States were to a considerable extent restricted in their accustomed use; and all who had not
a direct interest in the controversy, agreed that it was
an unnatural state of things, and that a remedy must
be applied in some form to correct the evil.
Thomas Gibbons, who had been an efficient lawyer,
but retired from practice, and residing at Elizabethtown, N. J., owned a ferry (by the side of Ogden's)
from that place to the city of New York. Without
asking any questions he put two steamboats upon his
ferry, and determined to test the validity of the New
York Statutes. He was a man of eminent legal attainments, boldness, great wealth, and in every respect a
formidable contestant for Livingston & Fulton to deal
with; above price or merely selfish motives. As he
entered upon the prosecution of his purpose he found
Colonel Ogden an active opponent. Ogden now applied
to the Chancellor of New York, who felt bound by the
laws of his own State, and the former decision of the
Court of Errors; and he allowed a perpetual injunction
against Gibbons, on the ground that " no collision was
presented in the case between the acts of Congress and
the acts of this State; " which decision was confirmed
by a second decision of the Court of Errors.
From this opinion Gibbons at once appealed to the
Supreme Court of the United States.  This court
reversed the decision of the Court of Errors, on the
ground that the Statutes of New York, granting the




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAJI-ENGINE.  155
exclusive right to Livingston & Fulton, were repugnant
to the powers the Constitution of the United States
had vested in Congress to regulate commerce; and
that Gibbons having a coasting license under the General Government, 1" a case of collision was declared to
have arisen." This decision, from which there was no
appeal, broke down the monopoly and flung open the
Hudson and adjacent waters to fair competition, and
the unrestricted intercourse of trade, navigation, and
commerce upon them. The immediate result was, that
steamers of every description, suited to the capacity
and purposes of all who choose to engage in building them, were at once put upon the Hudson and the
coast, and began rapidly to extend to the great lakes
and rivers throughout the Union. And the exclusive
grants to Livingston & Fulton - which the legislature
of New York had made with a commendable purpose,
no doubt, to encourage these enterprising men, but
by a mistaken sense of public rights and duty- fell
to the ground. These grants no longer stood as sentinels to guard the avenues of trade and travel, but
under the wise provisions of our Federal Constitution,
and the just demands of a free and enlightened public
sentiment, were virtually obliterated from the records
of the State of New York.
The above decision of the United States Court
gave vast additional importance to navigation by
steam; it opened the whole country to its use, growth,
and expansion; and the beneficial results that have
followed this settlement of the controversy by the national judiciary are beyond estimate. It in fact gave
to steam navigation in America an impetus —for as




156  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENGINE.
yet it had scarcely been introduced into any other
country- lwhich no human power could limit. In a
very few years, not only the Hudson, but the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Great Lakes,
were, if I am allowed the expression, alive with boats
of all sizes propelled by steam, passing into and through
the hitherto inaccessible territories of the Union, and
peopling them with millions of inhabitants from the old
States, and from foreign immigration. Such was the
effect of American enterprise and genius, when left to
their own free action; and such was the result of that
small beginning, in our own land, and by our own native citizens, which prepared the way for this wonderfil revolution.












CHAPTER XVI.
THAT it may more fully appear how much Read
contributed to the development of this great work,
we will now proceed to show by comparison, the close
analogy that existed between his inventions and combinations, which he applied to his boat, and the machinery which Fulton applied to his two first boats upon
the Hudson, -the Clermont and the Car of Neptune.
By this comparison, the fact that Fulton adopted the
machinery of Read, not only in its kind, but in its
combination, will become self-evident. And the idea
that Read's inventions and labors were appropriated by
Livingston & Fulton, in the construction of their first
boats, will be difficult to overcome; for as already
seen, they or either of them did not claim to be the
inventors of any part of the machinery-they used.
By recurrence to Read's petitions to Congress, and
his patent, specifications, and drawings, it is seen-that
he applied the paddle-wheel as the best mode of propulsion.1
That his boiler dispensed with the brick work, was
rendered light and portable, and placed in the bottom
of the boat.
That his cylinder was fixed at such distance above
1 See Fig. No. 12 on opposite page; also Plate 3, Fig. 5, p. 102, ante.




158   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
the boiler as to admit the axis of the float wheels 
to turn freely, and be raised or lowered at pleasure.
That the floats of the wheels were to be in proportion to the size of the boat, and the velocity with which
it is to be moved.
That the axis of the wheels was to be turned by pinions or cranks, as may be found best.
That in lieu of the working-beam, he invented the
cross-head, or working frame, running in grooves,
either horizontally or vertically, thus dispensing with
the working-beam.
That he also dispensed with the parallel motion as
invented by Watt.
That he produced the continuous rotary motion to
turn the float-wheels, by means of two racks acting
alternately, with flexible teeth, or by cranks, and
showed that a fly-wheel would not be necessary, as
the float-wheels themselves would serve as a substitute, and keep up the motion beyond the dead points.
That he proposed the double-acting cylinder in which
the piston was moved by high steam, or by condensation either, as might be found best, but preferred the
high steam.
That he dispensed with the cold-water cistern of
Watt, and supplied the boiler by injecting water
through a pipe passing through the bottom of the vessel or up the side.
That his cross-head is attached to the end of his piston-rod, and is moved by it. And that the cross-head
is, moreover, connected with the two racks, or two
1 Paddle-wheels, float-wheels, side-wheels, and sometimes wheels, are
used synonymously.








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4 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~i —~ — 1-11~~~~~~~
Gr-~~~~~~c ci-~J;~-=;/-~ —"-=-jci,?2~~;u;  -`:(/t ~~~ —; —_~




NATHAN READ AND THE STEA.11 —ENGINE.  159
cranks (as the case may be) by two connecting rods,
passing from each end of the cross-head to the shaft or
axis of the water-wheels.
That he attached his paddle-wheels to the axles of
the racks or cranks, without any fly-wheel; which
axles were so constructed as to raise or lower their
axis of motion at pleasure, to overcome the difficulty
that would arise from sinking the wheels too deep in
the water, as the vessel became heavily laden.
The machinery Fulton used is described by Professor Renwick as follows: -
" A far more simple form of the engine, and which is in
many respects preferable, is that which is used by Fulton in
his steamboats. It will be at once seen by inspection, that
in this engine the beam is suppressed, together with the parallel motion. As a substitute for these parts, a cross-head is
adapted to the upper extremity of the piston-rod; this works
between vertical guides: it is connected to the two cranks
by the two connecting rods, and to these is joined in the case
before us, the axis of the water-wheels." 1
" The engine which was used in Fulton's final and successful experiment, and which was constructed from the draughts
made by Fulton in France, in 1803, had a marked influence
upon the forms of those subsequently constructed for this
purpose, both in England and the United States. The coldwater cistern of Watt's engine was dispensed with, and in
order to supply its place the diameter of the condenser was
doubled; its capacity thus became half that of the cylinder,
instead of one eighth, as had before been customary. The
water of injection was supplied by a pipe passing through
the bottom of the vessel, A parallel motion seems to have
been sent out as a part of the engine; but, for reasons which
ARenwick's Treatise on the Steam-engine, p. 163. See Fig. No. 13.




160    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
cannot now be discovered, a cross-head, adapted for another
purpose to the piston-rod, was made to work in guides. This
cross-head was added for the purpose of bearing two connecting rods, or straps, by which two working-beams, as it
were, suspended." 1
"In Fulton's first boat the paddles were attached to the
axles of the cranks, and the latter also bore spur-wheels
which drove piniqns; upon the axles of the pinions was
placed a heavy fly-wheel. The paddle-wheels themselves
act as regulators, and fly-wheels are, in consequence, no
longer to be seen in American steamboats." 2
"The object proposed by Fulton, in the mode we have
described, of connecting his water-wheels with his engine,
was unquestionably that of enabling him to change their diameter, and to raise and lower their axis of motion, until he
should by experiment ascertain the size and position most
advantageous in practice. In conformity with this view of
the subject, it is known that the position of the axis was
more than once changed; and it is believed that the diameter of the wheel was also altered before the first steamboat
was considered by him completed.  In the Car of Neptune,
the second boat Fulton built, he made very important
changes in his engine. The piston-rod was still directed by a
cross-head, moving in guides, but the working-beams were
suppressed altogether, and two cranks, adapted to two separate axles, were attached directly to the cross-heads by connecting rods. A fly-wheel was still used, driven by wheels
and pinions, and in the slow rate of motion, to which he restricted himself, was found of great value.  This form of
engine is still much used, with the omission, however, of the
/fly-wheel." 3
1 See Essay on the Steamboats of the United States, by James Renwick,'LL. D., in Woolhouse's edition of Tredgold On the Steam-engine, Appendix, p. 102.
2 Ibid. pp. 102, 103.        3 Ibid. p. 103.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM.f-ENGIiNE.   161
"Four miles per hour was the condition to Livingston &
Fulton, and Fulton built his first boat with reference to that
rate of speed; but by raising the axle and increasing the
diameter of the water-wheels, the velocity of the first successful steamboat (the Clermont) was carried up to six miles
per hour." 1
"The form of the engine adopted by Stevens differed less
from the originalform of that of Watt than the form chosen
by Fulton.   The parallel motion and working-beam  were
both retained; 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 engines.
The fly-wheel has been laid aside, and the parallel motion
has been superseded, even in the engine, with the leverbeam, by a cross-head and slides. Upon the Mississippi
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 the condensing,
is much used in the Western waters." 2
Mr. Fulton, in his letter to Boulton & Watt, on ordering his machinery, -
"Made inquiries as to the employment of high degrees of
heat in small engines, and the limit to which it might be
1 Tredgold On the Steanm-engine, Appendix, p. 103.
2 Ibid. p. 104. " In the steamboats of the Ohio and Mississippi highpressure engines are now in most general use. The boilers are usually cylindrical, with internal flues, and the favorite position of the cylinder is horizontal." -Renwick, p. 291.
" The engine Fulton put into the Savannah, the first boat he built for
ocean navigation, was a horizontal engine." - Ibid.
11




162  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGNIVE.
carried, in olrder to render them  light and compact, -  for
this with his views was necessarily a cardinal point, - and
then went on to say,' The object of my investigation is to
find whether it is possible to apply the engine to working
boats up our long rivers in America.  The only thing that
is wanting is to arrange the engine as light and compact as
possible,' etc.  And in the postscript of his letter, he proposes for Mr. Watt's consideration some schemes of engines
suggested by Mr. Livingston. The diameter of the cylinder (made for Fulton) was twenty-four inches with a stroke
of four feet, being about nineteen horse-power; - the planning and execution of the subordinate parts, as well as of
the connecting and paddle machinery, having been undertaken by Mr. Fulton himself."'
The following summary will more directly show the
close analogy  between  the machinery  invented  and
combined by Read, and that used by Fulton as above
described.
Read applied paddle-wheels at   Fulton used the same in the
the sides of his boat, suspended to  same way; and had no wheela shaft or axle passing across the  house.
gunwales of the boat; and had no
wheel-house.
Read proposed to turn the axle    Fulton used cranks to turn his
of his wheels by racks and pinions  water-wheels, with a spur-wheel
or by cranks, as might be found  and pinion to move his fly-wheel.
best; —he used cranks in his experimental boat.
Read constructed his boat so as   Fulton constructed his boat so
to raise or lower his water-wheels  as to raise and lower the wheels;
at pleasure.                    which he did more than once in
his first experiment.
Read proportioned the diameter   Fulton altered the diameter of
of his water-wheels and size of his his water-wheels until he arrived
floats to the size and proposed  at the same thing,- a proper provelocity of the boat.          portion of the wheels to the boat.
1 Life of Watt, pp. 333, 334.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE. 163
Read so changed the engine of   Fulton in his order to Boulton
Watt as to make it light and port- & Watt, iwished only certain parts
able for river navigation, dispen- of the common engine; and exsing with the brick work and other plained to them that he wanted
heavy and bulky parts of Watt's  the unusual machinery he had orengine.                         dered to make his engine as light
and compact as possible, for river
navigation in America.
Read's boiler was very compact,   Fulton's boiler was compact,
multi-tubular, and placed in the  with two flues passing through the
bottom of the boat.             water, and placed in the bottom of
the boat.
Read dispensed with the cold-   Fulton dispensed with the coldwater cistern of Watt, and fed his water cistern of Watt, and supplied
boiler by a pipe passing up fiom  his boiler and condenser from the
the water below the boat; he  water below the boat; he used a
proposed to dispense with the con- condenser with his injection-pipe
denser and ejection-pipe, or not, as passing up through the bottom of
might be desired in boats.      the vessel.
Read dispensed with the work-   Fulton dispensed with the working-beam, and invented the cross- ing-beam in the building of his
head, or working frame, as a sub- second boat, the Car of Neptune;
stitute; to be run in guides, either and used the cross-head in both
vertically or horizontally.     boats, with guides in a vertical
position.
Read dispensed with the paral-   Fulton dispensed with the same.
lel motion as invented by Watt.
Read used the double-acting    Fulton used the same.
cylinder of Watt.
Read did not use the fly-wheel,   Fulton at first used a fly-wheel
but claimed that the water-wheels for his slow motion; but as the
themselves would carry the motion  velocity of motion was increased,
beyond the dead points, and serve  and the speed of his boats became
the same purpose, making a fly- more rapid, fly-wheels were found
wheel unnecessary.             to be unnecessary, and went out
of use.
It is believed that the above comparison is correct;
if such be the case, it shows that the machinery which
Fulton used was substantially the same as that invented by Read in 1789, for the same purpose to




164   NATHAN READ AND THE STEA1M —ENGINE.
which Fulton applied it in 1807.  It is not claimed
that Fulton did or did not know that Read was the
author of it; but it is claimed that he knew no part
of it was of his own invention.  But this is clear:
that it was a combination of machinery invented and
put in successful operation under the labors of these
two men, unlike anything of the kind which had before
or elsewhere been effected. It was adapted to the purpose for which it was designed, and by its invention and
skillful application, gave success to steam navigation.
In relation to one part of the above machinery, the
paddle-wheels, which Fulton patented in 1811, the
following extract from  a letter from  Judge Read to
Hon. Timothy Pickering, of the date of January 27,
1817, will be read with interest.  After speaking of
the original draught of certain parts of his steamengine, copied by Mr. Gray, he proceeds in his letter
to say: 1"On the same sheet of paper is a drawing, and in the
same manuscript a description of a steamboat, constructed
with paddle-wheels, in the same manner they are now used.
This drawing of the boat was taken about the same time
from one which I built and rowed myself across Porter's
River, in Danvers, in the year 1789, in presence of Dr.
Prince, of Salem. I have good reason to believe that this
was the first boat ever constructed with paddle-wheels, with
an avowed intention of propelling it by steam.
"On the 8th of February, 1790, about two months before the passing of the act to' Promote the Progress of the
Useful Arts', I presented a petition to Congress for a patent
for the above and other inventions, as will appear by the
1 It will be recollected that Mr. Pickering had been Secretary of State,
and ex-o~ffcio Commissioner of Patents.




NAATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.   165
Journals of the House, and by my petition (if kept on file),
a copy of which I have preserved. Some months after presenting this petition, I unluckily discovered, by looking into
some of the first volumes of the'Philosophical Transactions,' that an experiment had been made on board a French
frigate, with a view to ascertain the comparative utility of
wheels and oars in a calm.
" Unacquainted with the spirit of the law, and not knowing that a new application was deemed a new invention, I
took out a patent on a new petition for a steamboat, in the
year 1791, to be propelled through the water by chainwheels, - scrupulously avoiding the simple wheel, - which
answered my purpose perfectly well, supposing I should not
be entitled to a patent for it, in consequence of its having
been applied in another way on board a frigate. On the
above statement of facts, which I can verify, Query, whether
a patent for the above inventions, should I take one out,
would be valid and of any use to me?
" The law requires that the invention should not be known
or used before the application. The engine and boat with
paddle-wheels, were not known and used at the time I first
applied for a patent; but my application was before the passage of the above act. Will my application to Congress before the passage of the act, be considered in law equivalent
to an application to the Secretary of State?
"The above questions are interesting to me, and I should
like to have your opinion upon them when you are at leisure, if you will take the trouble to give it. Another question on which I should like to have your opinion, is, whether
the experiment made on the boat, constructed in the manner
above mentioned, and with the avowed design of propelling
it by steam, will any way invalidate Mr. Fulton's patent, so
far as it includes the use of paddle-wheels of the same construction I invented and used many years before he applied
for a patent? "




CHAPTER  XVII.
IT is proper here to make the inquiry, how Fulton
came by this unique system of machinery?  Did he
get it from  Fitch, or Symington, or Bell, who are
the only persons, hitherto, for whom any pretensions of
that sort appear to have been made?
Aaron Vail, American Consul at L'Orient in France,
had made a contract with Fitch and his company,
"with a view to obtain patents in France and other
parts of Europe." 1 In pursuance of this contract Fitch
went to France in 1793, but succeeded in doing nothing; and soon'left on account of the political agitations
in France, which superseded all business operations.2
On leaving, Fitch deposited his papers with Vail, who
lent them to Fulton for his inspection, as Mr. Vail
was heard to remark; 3 but there is no evidence direct
from Vail himself on the subject. It is mere hearsay
evidence, yet there is no object or disposition to question its correctness. The point of inquiry is, did Fulton use any part or parcel of Fitch's inventions in his
boat? To this inquiry the unqualified answer is, that
he did not.  Did he use Fitch's oars or paddles?
Certainly not. Did he use his pipe-boiler? Certainly
not.  Did he use his ponderous brick-work boiler, that
occupied with his other machinery two thirds of his
1 Life of Fitch, p. 320.  2 Duer's second letter to Colden.
3 Life of Fitch, pp. 387, 388.




NATHAN READ AND THE STE,4AM-ENGINE.  167
boat?   Certainly not.  Did he apply his crank to
move twelve oars, six up and six down, or four broad
paddles in the stern of his boat? Certainly not. Did
he use the pump and trunk, which Fitch at length
chose to patent as a mode of propulsion in addition
to his oars and paddles? Certainly not. Did he use
the trunk Fitch patented, for forcing air out at the
stern of his boat, in lieu of water, as a mode of propulsion? Certainly not. Did lhe use Fitch's leaky
wooden caps to his cylinders, or Voight's pipe-con
denser? Certainly not. Did he use Hall's, or Thornton's condenser, or Voight's forcing-pump, tried and
flung aside by Fitch?  Certainly not. Did he use
the cold-water tub or cistern in which Fitch placed his
condenser? Certainly not. What of Fitch's machinery, then, did he use?
Take the parts above enumerated from any one of
the boats Fitch built, and there would be nothing left
of his machinery except the double-acting cylinder,
which was Watt's invention, and which all alike adopted
and used. Hence it is clear that Fulton used no part
of Fitch's machinery; and if he in fact had access to
Fitch's plans and drawings in the hands of Vail, it
proves nothing, except the fact that he did not adopt
and use any part of them, but rejected them in toto.
In short, the whole system of machinery employed by
Fulton was different from that of Fitch; and most of
it necessarily different, to meet a different plan of construction and propulsion.
It is claimed by English authors, as before seen, that
Fulton examined Symington's boat on the Forth and
ClydeCanal in 1804, the Charlotte Dundas, and that




168   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-FNGINE.
he took drawings of the machinery;1 hence they infer, that Symington was the man who supplied Fulton
with the necessary information for building a steamboat. Symington was at work upon the above boat
three years; he began it in 1801, and commenced
to run it upon the canal in 1803, for the purpose of
towing ordinary canal boats. But he did not succeed
in drawing the boats more than two and a half miles an
hour,2 a speed about the same as that usually performed
by horses, and at a much dearer rate. This did not
meet the expectation of Symington, and his patron,
Lord Dundas, who was a large stockholder in the
canal, and the project was flung aside and abandoned.
The washing of the banks of the canal was also a
difficulty in the way of this mode of towing.3
Just as in the case of Fitch, if lie took drawings
of Symington's boat, it proves nothing.  It is not
whether he took sketches, but whether he actually used
the machinery of Symington's boat. This, neither Mr.
Woodcroft, Woolhouse, Lardner, or any one else, has
ever ventured to assert. If these gentlemen had made
a comparison between the several parts of Symington's
machinery and the machinery of Fulton, and found
that the latter was substantially identical with the
former, it then would have showed something, and
made a very different case of it.  But there was one
of the best reasons in the world for not doing this,
and the reason was, that in point of fact the machinery of the two did not bear the slightest resem1 Woodcroft's History of Early Steam Navigation, pp. 64, 65.
2 Life of Fulton, p. 128.
3 Review of the Stecam-Engine, by Dio Lardner. See New York Review,
vol. v. pp. 98, 99.




NATHAN READ AND THE STE.AM-ENGINE.   169
blance; and by comparing it, it would prove at once
that Fulton adopted and used no part of Symington's.
The " Encyclopmdia Britannica," in speaking of the
introduction of steam navigation, attributes the whole
thing to Symington.  In its great purpose of presenting to the world an impartial and exact account of
everything, it remarks on this subject: -
" Leaving undescribed some abortive attempts of Rumsey
and Fitch in America, which were attended with no practical results, we pass on to the first really successful attempts
at steam navigation, which were made in 1788, by a Scotch
gentleman, Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton. After trying men
and horses to turn the paddle-wheels, he resolved to try
the steam-engine to do the work. He went to Edinburgh
where he saw Symington, and engaged him to procure an
engine; which was built in Edinburgh under Symington's
directions, sent to Dalswinton, and put together. The engine, in a strong oaken frame, was placed on one side of a
twin, or double pleasure-boat, and the boiler was placed on
the other side, and the paddle-wheel in the middle. It was a
perfect success," etc.
It then speaks of Symington's boat, which he built
for Miller on the canal, and adds: —
"Although these experiments were thus practically successful, and their value well understood and appreciated, we
find that Mr. Miller's boat was soon after dismantled and
laid up, and nothing. further was at that time attempted;
that Svymington's machinery was not at this time equal to the
task of propelling a boat; but the practicability of steam
navigation was settled by Miller; 2 but not until 1801 was
1 Pages 637, 638.
2 These experiments of Miller did not compare in importance with the
previous experiments of Fitch; — nowonder he should choose to leave
Fitch's " abortive attempts," undescribed.




170    NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
a really practicable steamboat first produced; — the Charlotte Dunzdas may justly be considered the first practical
steamboat." I
In allusion to Fulton, the " Encyclopedia Britannica " adds:
"We now arrived at the period when American enterprise
stepped in to avail itself of the painful and laborious results
of these costly experiments. About a year after Symington's experiments with the Charlotte Dundas, Fulton, the
American engineer, made a similar, though less successful
experiment on the Seine, for the weight of his engine broke
his vessel in two, and the whole went to the bottom. In
August, 1803, he completed another vessel, with its machinery. This boat was sixty-six feet long and eight feet wide, and
moved so slowly that his experiment is described as a failure.  He afterwards came to Scotland, and saw Symington's
steamboat on the Forth and Clyde Canal; his visit being
thus recorded by Symington:' When engaged in these
experiments I was called upon by Mr. Fulton, who told me
he was lately from North America, and intended returning
thither in a few months.2  In compliance with his request
I caused the engine-fire to be lighted up, put the steamboat
in motion, and carried him four miles on the canal and
returned in one hour and twenty minutes - at the rate of
six miles per hour. He asked my consent to take notes, to
which I assented. In consequence, he pulled out a memorandumn book, and after putting several pointed questions
respecting the general construction and effect of the machine,
1 The Charlotte Dutndcs is described as having " a single paddle-wheel,
revolving in a well-hole, near the stern of the vessel."
2 Fulton had then been in Europe over seventeen years, and did not return till December, 1806; and, before the above talk, had tried his experiments in France with success, and ordered his engine for a boat on the
Hudson.




NATRAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  171
which I answered in a most explicit manner, he jotted down
particularly everything then described, with his own observations upon the boat during the trip.'
"Fulton having obtained what information he could, returned shortly afterwards to America, and in conjunction
with Mr. Livingston, obtained a patent securing to them
prospective advantages of steam navigation in America, by
what they were pleased to call' their invention of steamboats.'
It will be remembered  that Fulton went over to
England from  France in 1804, and when he visited
Symington's boat it must have been between that
time and December, 1806.  And the " Encyclopoedia"
as well as Symington, both state that it was after Fulton's experiment on the Seine, which was in August,
1803.1 This shows that Fulton had no draughts and
plans from Symington prior to ordering his engine.
And it is, moreover, not claimed, that he received any
other draughts and plans than what he jotted down
on his pocket memorandum, with open hand and pencil, during the short trip of one hour and twenty minutes on the canal. Such are the boasted plans and
draughts furnished by Symington to Fulton, and such
the grounds of pretension of British standard works,
that America is indebted to England for her steamboats.
Indeed, the experiments of Symington were insignificant, when compared with several experiments
which had been made in this country before.  Fitch
1 See ante, pp. 167, 170. " In August, 1803, he completed another vessel
with its machinery, sixty-six feet long, eight feet wide, which moved so slow
it is described as a failure. Afterwards he came to Scotland, and saw Symington's steamboat," etc.




172   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
had run Iis boat three months as a passenger boat
on the Delaware.  Morey had experimented with his
boat, - a far better one than Symington's. Livingston
had tried his first, and yet neither they nor Symington had hit upon the right sort of machinery.
Professor Renwick, in his " Treatise," says: " A
comparison of the draught of Symington's boat, which
is still extant, with the boats constructed by Fulton,
furnishes conclusive evidence that the latter borrowed
no valuable ideas from the former." In an able article, said to be written by the same author, he adds: 1_
"It is a remarkable fact, which more than any other
establishes the value of Fulton's experiment, that this identical form (of his engine) without change or modification of
any real importance, is still to be found in the greater part
of the steamers of Great Britain (1838), and was seen but
a few days since in three of them in the harbor of New
York. It is wholly and essentially different from that used by
Stanhope, Miller, or Symington, or from that subsequently
adopted by Fulton himself. The inference is direct, that
the steam navigation of Great Britain was not improved
by gradual steps from the earlier imperfect experiments, but
adopted, from the first dawn of its success, the plans of Fulton; while he had in no respect imitated those earlier experiments, but modified the original engine of Watt to a form
consistent with his own views." 2
It is not claimed that Symington effected this modification of Watt's engine, which in fact fitted the steamengine for navigation, and is in reality the substance of
the whole controversy. Had he effected this work,
his English contemporaries, in their endeavor to attach
1 See New York Review, vol. iii. p. 102.  2 Ibid. p. 102.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI1-ENGINE.  173
every possible improvement of the steam-engine to
Englishmen, would not have failed to mention it, and
give the details of the improvement.  And  had
Boulton & Watt, who built Symington's last engine
for him, been aware of any such improvement, they
would not have been surprised at the unusual machinery embraced in Fulton's order; which required
Fulton's explanation and personal attendance and supervision, in order to construct it; as " a new form of
engine was indispensable for the purpose he intended
to apply it." I
Fulton in his order proposed no alteration in the
cylinder, but directed the condenser to be enlarged, the
cold-water cistern to be dispensed with, and the water
for condensation to be supplied by a vertical pipe
through the bottom of the vessel, a cross-head to the
piston-rod in lieu of the working-beam  and parallel
motion, the cross-head to work in guides, and the mnachinery so constructed as that he might raise or lower
the axle of the paddle-wheels at pleasure.2  All these
arrangements were new to Boulton & Watt, and required special plans and directions to construct the
machinery.  Such surely would not have been the
case had Symington ordered and procured the same
machinery from them in 1801. From the above circumstance, in the absence of all evidence showing the
several parts of Symington's engine, it is safe to conclude, that it did not vary in any essential particular
from the ordinary engines of that day; while that used
by Fulton was a new thing entirely, the double-acting
1 New York Review, vol. iii. p. 101.   2 ibid.




174  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM.1-ENGINE.
cylinder of Watt excepted. And the draught of Symington's boat, made  by  himself, it appears  from  the
above  statement of Professor  Renwick, " furnishes
conclusive evidence " of the  fact, that Fulton was in
no way indebted to him  for his machinery.1
The claim  that Bell furnished Fulton with plans and
drawings in 1806, has been sufficiently answered on a
former page. Before the above date, Fulton's machinery had been ordered, built, and sent to New York.
And although Bell was the first to construct a successful steamboat in Great Britain, he did not commence
it until 1811, and put it in operation in 1812; and  it
is conceded on all hands, that the boat Bell built -  the
Coomet-was copied after Fulton's boats; which mode of
construction, without any essential improvement, is still
followed  in  England.  If Bell, in  the words of Mr.
Woollhouse, "' sent a description of the method of applying steam  in propelling  vessels against wind  and
tide, to all the emperors and crowned heads of Europe,
and also to America, which last government put it
1 " Symington's water-wheel is situated in a cavity near the stern, and
in the middle of the breadth of the boat, so that it becomes necessary to
have two rudders, one on each side, connected together by rods, which are
moved by a winch near the head of the boat, so that the person who attends the engine may also steer. The piston is supported in its position by
friction wheels, and communicates by means of a joint with' a crank connected with a wheel, which gives the water-wheel, by means of its teeth,
a motion somewhat slower than its own; the water-wheel serving as a flywheel. Hie had stampers at the head of the boat for the purpose of breaking ice on the canal in winter."  For the above description see Gregory's
Mechanicks, vol. ii. p. 423.
The above drawing of Symington's boat (see No. 14), is given in Dr.
Young's Natural Philosophy, vol. i. London, 1817.  It will be seen from
the description and drawing, that there was scarcely a resemblance between
Symington's and Fulton's boats.




No  e ff1,
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NA THAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  175
in practice in the year 1806," it is certainly very
strange, that no account of the doings of our government has ever been known or published on the subject.
It must be concluded that our government was as shy in
building steamboats after the plans of Mr. Bell, as were
the emperors and crowned heads of Europe themselves, who it seems were not moved by Bell's letters
missive. In short, the pretensions in behalf of Bell
are fabulous, so far as the invention of Fulton's machinery is concerned; but that he constructed a small
boat at Glasgow, at his own risk and expense, after the
fashion of Fulton's, which was the first successful boat
in England, is not doubted; but it was five years after
Fulton built his boat upon the Hudson.
This story about Bell, probably had its origin from
the following circumstance; which furnishes no just
ground, and in fact no ground whatever, for Mr. Woolhouse to make the claim for him  as the inventor of
Fulton's machinery: -
"Among  the workmen who were sent out from Soho
(Boulton & Watt's shop) to put up his (Fulton's) engine,
was one of the name of Bell.  He speedily returned to
Europe, and was, after some years of fruitless endeavors
to obtain funds, the first who constructed a successful steamboat in Great Britain.  The engine of this vessel (the
C6omet) was an exact copy of that of Fulton, with the exception that the vertical branch of the two suspended beams
was suppressed, and the motion of the crank taken off from
the end of the beam opposite to that of the piston-rod." 1
Further comment on this subject is unnecessary.
1 New York Review, vol. iii. p. 102.




CHAPTER  XVIII.
IF the above view of the subject is correct, neither
Fitch, Symington, or Bell, invented any part of Fulton's machinery; and it is not claimed for Fulton that
he invented any part of it himself.  On this last point
it may be well here to make some further examination.
Cadwalader D. Colden, the biographer of Fulton,
and his intimate friend and principal counsel, notwithstanding the partiality he manifests for him in every
page of his memoir, has the candor to remark:" Mr. Fulton had indeed given to Messrs. Boulton & Watt
instructions for constructing the first engine which was
successfully used in a boat, and had directed its parts to be
made so that it might be arranged in a manner, and within
a compass suited to his purpose. which no one with a less
mechanical genius than himself would have been able to do
as accurately as it was done by him; yet he made no pretensions as an inventor with respect to the engine. On the
contrary, he has been often heard to declare, that he did not
pretend himself to have made any improvement....
upon engines which were constructed according to Mr. Watt's
principles." 1
Mr. Colden also says, in a note referring to a " Treatise on propelling Vessels by Steam ": -
"Mr. Buchanan (the author of the' Treatise') very candidly admits that Mr. Fulton is entitled to the merit of hav1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 120.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  177
ing been the first who contrived the means of usefully applying the power of steam to navigation, which is all that
Mr. Fulton ever claimed." 1
"The claims of Mr. Fulton are defended with great
ability by a Mr. Frederick Royou, in a memoir published in
the' Journal des Debats' of the 16th of March, 1816. Mr.
Royou presents the true question:' It is not,' says he,' concerning an invention, but the means of applying a power
already known.  Fulton never pretended to be an inventor
in regard to steamboats in any other sense.' =2
"We now come to Robert Fulton; a man original in
many things, but who, as the introducer of the steamboat,
merely availed himself of the fruits of the labors and successes of the ingenious men in America and Europe who
had toiled before him." 8
"Fulton began after years wasted by other men in trials
by which he profited, and appropriating to himself the principles made manifest by the results of their toils, disappointments, and losses, is now held out to the world as the original inventor of steamboats."4
" He (Fulton) was not the original inventor of steamboats......What was he then?  Why, he was the first to gain
the prize; he it was who satisfied the law." 5
"The great and surprising merit of Fulton consisted not
so much in absolute originality as in the skill with which he
availed himself of all the theoretical knowledge of the day,
and applied it to practical purposes." 6
"That Fulton was the inventor of the present system  of
steam navigation, as asserted by some American authors,
cannot be admitted; nor indeed did he' invent' any single
1 Colden's Life of Fulton, p. 130.  2 Ibid. p. 160.
3 Life of Fitch, p. 384.         4 Ibid. p. 390.
/5 Lives qf Eminent Mechanics, p. 186.
6 New Yorlsc Neview, vol. iii. p. 105.
12




118   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
improvement in the construction either of the machinery or
vessel." 1
Professor Renwick also states, and so do Woodcroft, Stuart, and Tredgold, that Fulton was not the
original inventor of the steamboat or of the machinery
he employed in the construction of his boats, but they
allow him great and deserved credit for successfully
applying the machinery invented by others. Indeed,
every person who has written on the subject of steam
navigation, who aims to give an impartial view of it,
as well as those who were interested for and against
the claims of Fulton, allow  the same thing.  That
Fulton, therefore, was not the inventor of the steamboat, nor of the machinery he used, nor indeed of any
part of it, may be regarded as a well-settled fact.
Thus seeing that the essential part of the machinery used by Fulton was identical with that invented
by Read many years before, and the invention not
claimed by Fulton, or traceable to any other source
than to Read, is it not reasonable to conclude that
he was the author of it, without further inquiry on
the subject?  But when we turn back to the time
he first made his application to Congress, in 1789, and
still further see how easy and probable a matter it was
for Stevens, Livingston, and Fulton to become acquainted with his inventions and the details of his machinery, it renders it still more certain, that the boat
Read invented, was the one adopted by Fulton.
This conclusion is rendered still more certain when
it is recollected that Read, after completing his inventions and preparing his draughts and models, as the
1 Encyclopcedia Britannica, p. 638.




NATHAN. READ AND THE S TEAM-ENGINE.  179
very first step he took, presented them to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, for their examination, - which showed not only the confidence he had
in his work, but the high and honorable purpose he
entertained of submitting it to the scrutiny of the most
competent scientific board within his reach before he
proceeded further, - moreover, that the committee appointed by the above Academy, which consisted of men
of no less distinction than Richard Cranch, Loammi
Baldwin, Joseph Willard, and Caleb Gannett, spoke
of the originality of his inventions, and the beneficial
effects that would be likely to follow from them, and
frankly recommended them to the attention of Congress; that he also had a like recommendation from a
list of eminent men of Boston and vicinity, among whom
were Benjamin Lincoln, James Winthrop, Eliplialet
Pearson, and Nathaniel W. Appleton, in which they
say " that they were original inventions so far as they
know;" and furthermore that he did not in any way
attempt to conceal or make a secret of his discoveries.
Now as we place this matter before us in a single
point of view, and notice the opinions expressed by the
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and by gentlemen of
known erudition and science in addition, as to the originality of the inventions of Read, and on that ground, as
well as public utility, recommending the subject to the
attention of Congress; that his inventions were publicly exhibited in New York; that they were examined
by Stevens and fully explained to him; that Stevens,
Livingston, and Rosevelt afterwards entered into partnership for the purpose of building a boat, wherein
any information possessed by one would, as a matter of




180.NATHAN READ AND THE' STEAifM-ENGINE.
course, be communicated to and be possessed by all;
that the models, plans, petitions, and specifications of
Read were matter of record, and open to public examination before them; that the first boat this company built in New York, and the first experiment tried
by Fulton in France, under the direction of Livingston, after he had retired from the company, were
alike to be propelled with the chain-wheel, which alone
was to be found in Read's patent; that they finally
adopted the paddle-wheel, contained in his first petition to Congress, as in his opinion the best mode
of propulsion; and, in short, that nearly all the machinery used by Fulton was the same as that invented
by Read, - do they not furnish a succession and concurrence of circumstances, but little if any less convincing than direct and positive testimony, to show
that these inventions and improvements of Read found
their way to Fulton, in Paris, when Livingston " informed him of what had been attempted in America? " 1
It is, moreover, claimed for Fulton, if he did not
invent, that he combined this machinery. A combination of machinery is ever theoretical in the outset, and
is a necessary part and parcel of its invention when
applied to the purpose originally designed. When
mixed with other machinery, to accomplish some other
purpose, a new combination may very properly be
claimed.  But if applied as designed, the invention
and combination are one and the same thing; both
the result of the same idea.
The machinery invented by Read was applied to
1 This introduction of Read's inventions into Paris by Livingston will
also show how Seguin may have become acquainted with the multi-tubular boiler. Ante, pp. 53, 55, note 1, and 63.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  181
the very purpose, and in the same way, it was originally intended by him; hence so far as thus applied,
it cannot be said that Fulton was the author of its
combination.  It is doubtless, however, true  that
when the machinery came from under the hands of
the workmen, prepared for practical use, it received a
finish that belonged to the artisans to give it; this
would have been done as matter of course, whether
ordered by Fulton or Read, or any one else, as may
be seen in the finish of the cross-head.  But this
is merely carrying out the principles of the invention,
and applying them to practical use.  In short, take
from Fulton's boat, Watt's double-acting-condensing
cylinder, and the machinery Read invented and combined with it, and there would be but little left beside
the naked hull. The fact that Fulton used Watt's
cylinder, which came into the combination of Read, in
his reconstruction of the steam-engine, does not confront but tends to confirm the idea that Fulton applied
Read's machinery, as invented and combined by him.
In further support of what has been shown, both
in relation to the steamboat and locomotive engine, the
following brief account, written by Judge Read himself seventeen years after his letter to Colonel Pickering, before quoted (see page 164), will be read with
interest. It is contained in a letter written by him in
reply to some inquiries then made of him by the writer
on the subject of his inventions in steam, arising from
remarks by Dr. Benjamin Lincoln, former Professor in
the University of Vermont, which led to the inquiries.
"a BELFAST, August 22, 1834.
"DEAR SinR:- Fitch was the first who constructed a
steamboat in America; Rumsey was the next. Fitch ap



182   NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-EN~GI1NE.
plied paddles, and could not propel his boat more than four
miles an hour. Paddles were subsequently tried on a large
scale, and found to be inadequate to the purpose.  Rumsey
at first used a pump, which drew in water at the bow, and
forced it out at the stern of the boat. He next tried settingpoles for river navigation, but without success.1 Believing
their failure was occasioned by their ill-constructed boilers
and complex machinery, and believing also that steam might
be advantageously applied to land carriages, I constructed in
the year 1789 a small boiler, which, from its characteristic
principles, I denominated a Portable Furnace Boiler. It occupied but little space -was light and strong   and so constructed as to require no other furnace than what itself
constituted. It was especially designed for steamboats and
steam-carriages, a model of each of which I had constructed
the same year.
" The boat was of sufficient size to carry a man and the
necessary apparatus to propel it through the water.  To
the axis, which extended across the gunnel of the boat, were
fixed two paddle-wheels, which were constructed on precisely
the same principles they now are for steamboats.  With
this boat, by means of a crank and without a fly-wheel, I
rowed myself, soon after it was finished, with great rapidity,
across an arm of the sea, which separates Danvers from
Beverly. The Rev. Dr. John Prince, of Salem, and several
other gentlemen were present, and saw the experiment. Of
this fact I have somewhere among my papers Dr. Prince's
certificate.
" I spent a considerable part of the winter of 1790 in the
city of New York, and exhibited drawings and descriptions
of my steamboat, steam-carriage, etc., to President WVashington, to whom I had letters of introduction from General
Lincoln, grandfather of the Professor. I also showed them
to several members of Congress, and, I presume, to upwards
1 The setting-poles were probably tried first. - ED.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  183
of fifty other gentlemen (some of them distinguished mechanics) in the city of New York, and explained to them the
principles of the machinery and of the boiler designed for
steamboats and land carriages.
"I boarded at iMrs. Wheaton's, in company with Dr. Cutler and General Rufus Putnam, who were agents of the
Ohio Company; and I recollect perfectly well, they introduced General Stevens to me, and I explained to him the
principles on which my boat, boilers, etc., were constructed.
If I am rightly informed, I presume this must have been the
same gentleman who was afterwards largely concerned in
steam navigation, and was at first connected with Chancellor Livingston in building a steamboat.
" I first petitioned the Board of Commissioners for a patent
for a steamboat with paddle-wheels; but, unfortunately, in
looking over some of the first volumes of the " Transactions of the Royal Society," published upwards of a hundred years ago, I discovered that an experiment had been
made on board a French frigate, for the purpose of ascertaining the comparative utility of wheels and oars. Supposing at that time, in consequence of this discovery, that
I should not be entitled to a patent for a boat with paddlewheels, I took considerable pains to invent a substitute,
which was a rowing machine, constructed on the principle of
the chain-pump.
" Having satisfied myself that this would answer a good
purpose, and be the best substitute I could think of for the
simple paddle-wheel, which I had successfully tried, I withdrew my first petition to the Board, and took out a patent
for my new mode of rowing boats, and for a Portable Furnace Boiler, which required no other furnace than what itself
constituted. It was constructed internally with tubes, on the
same principle, and nearly of the same form, with those now
used for locomotive engines.




184  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
" I was too early in my steam projects. The country
was then poor; and I have derived neither honor nor profit
from  the time and money expended  on them.   But it is
gratifying to know that the simple machinery which fortyfive years ago (without any knowledge of its having ever
been used for that purpose) I selected as the most eligible
for propelling boats through water, has been since that
time successfully used in every quarter of the globe for
that purpose.   I was, however, still more gratified  last
spring, in viewing a locomotive engine, capable of moving a
mile in two minutes, put in operation by steam generated in
a portable boiler, constructed essentially on the same principle with one which I invented for that and other purposes
about forty-six years ago, and for-which I obtained a patent
the first day that any patent was ever issued by authority
of the United States.
"I have a distinct recollection, when my petition to Congress was read in Congress Hall by the Clerk of the House
of Representatives, that when he came to that part which
related to the application of steam to land carriages, a general smile was excited among the members, and the idea
was considered there and at Salem, where I had a model of
a steam-carriage constructed, as perfectly visionary.'
"Yours truly,
" N. READ."
1 The article relating to the French frigate above referred to by Judge
Read, has been found in vol. vi. of the Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society, extending from 1713 to 1723 inclusive, on page 545 of the
condensed work; old vol. xxxi. anno 1721.
The article is headed " A Method for rowing Men-of-war in a Calm. By
M. Du Quet. No. 369, p. 239."
It says, "To perfect the art of navigation, two things seem principally
wanting, namely, an easy method of finding the longitude at sea, and a
way to give a vessel its course in a calm. I flatter myself I have found
the last, and hope to make it appear by reason and experiment that a manof-war may make a league an hour in a calm, by means of revolving oars,




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE. 185
which are easily applied to the sides of the ship, without occasioning any
incumbrance."
The article proceeds to speak of experiments, but of nothing beyond, to
test the comparative merits of common oars and revolving oars, which
last, from the description of them, were constructed by attaching arms,
with floats upon the ends of them, three feet apart, to a shaft passing across
the boat. It also speaks of the capstan and of relays of men to work the
revolving oars, and reckons the moving force in proportion to the number
of men: and in titne of battle could make up to board an enemy in a calm
or to haul off, as desired. That's all there is of the article.




CHAPTER XIX.
IN anticipation of the inquiry which will very naturally be made, why these facts have not before been
collected and presented to the public in a published
form, the following brief correspondence and the considerations that follow, it is believed, will satisfactorily
show. In a communication of the date of February
25th, 1840, in reply to an intimation to him by a friend
that such a publication should be made, Judge Read
makes the following brief answer:
" It is my wish and intention, if my life and health be
spared, to collect together and arrange the evidence I have
in relation to my improvements and inventions in steampower, and leave it to posterity, or to some other person than
myself, to publish to the world."
The following letter, in allusion to the same subject,
was addressed to him by Rev. J. W. Hanson of Danvers, Mass.: —
" DANVERS, June 1, 1847.
"Hon. NATHAN READ:"DEAR SIn,- I am engaged in writing a History of Danvers, and I wish to give therein a short biographical notice
of yourself. Will you favor me with a sketch, so far as you
may judge proper? Will you (should you accede to my request) relate particularly the discoveries in steam-power by
yourself, giving the dates and localities and other leading
facts?




NA THAN  EAD AND THE TSTEAM-ENGINE.  187
" By complying with my desires as soon as other engagements will permit, you will oblige
" Yours truly,
"J. W. HANSON.
"P. S.- Please address
"Rev. J. W. HANSON,
" Danvers New Mills, Mass."
" B:LFAST, June 6, 1847.
" Rev. J. W. HANSON:"DEAR SIR, - Your interesting letter of the 1st inst.
was duly received, but I have not had leisure as yet to comply
with your request. Hope, however, it will not be long before I shall be able to send you a copy of some authentic
documents relative to my improvements in the steam-engine,
and my contemplated application of it to boats, land carriages,
and other useful purposes.
" Should my health continue, I will also give you a brief
sketch of my life.
"Respectfully yours,
"' NATHAN READ."
Judge Read, at the date of the above letter to Rev.
Mr. Hanson, was near the close of the eighty-eighth
year of his age; yet he commenced a brief autobiography, agreeable to the above engagement, and proceeded so far as to prepare a synopsis of some of the
leading incidents of his life; but before he had carried
his purpose beyond a mere memorandum, evidently designed as the basis of an autobiography, he was attacked
with a lung-fever, which he did not survive.
At his advanced age, an undertaking so arduous
must have been felt by him as a task, and, however
desirable, he seems to have made but little progress
during the brief space of time that remained for him;




188  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAMI-ENG.INE.
and, indeed, his papers, without any particular arrangement, were left " to posterity, or to some other person
than himself, to publish to the world," evidently against
the purpose he formed when too late, but in accordance
with his intention as expressed in his letter to his friend
in 1840. It is much to be regretted-that his life and
health should not have been spared sufficiently long,
after he formed his new purpose, to have carried it
out, and thus have given to the world, from under his
own hand, a more satisfactory and intelligent account
of his labors than can now be done.
In addition to the above facts, there are many considerations that may be brought to view to account for
his delay in presenting these inventions to the public.
At the time of effecting these improvements he labored
under the weight of a strong popular prejudice a'ainst
their utility, and possessed no adequate means himself
to carry his inventions into practical effect, and was
forced to suspend his prosecution of the subject, under
the hope that a more enlightened public sentiment, and
circumstances more favorable to his means of progress,
would come to his aid. In this shape the matter rested
through many years of discouragement, until he became engaged in other pursuits; and others, in the
mean time, stepped in to reap the benefit of his improvements, and enjoy the fame of his inventions.
About the time Fulton put his boat upon the Hudson (which indeed was the same year), he retired to
his farm in Belfast, which, for the remainder of his
life, occupied a great share of his attention. It gave
him but little opportunity to enter into a controversial
warfare in relation to his priority, and the legal privi



NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGIVNE.   189
leges secured to him by patent had already expired by
lapse of time. He was, moreover, a man of peace,
and naturally disinclined to thrust himself before the
public in a controversy which promised to him no other
result than the gratification of personal ambition or
pride.
Under such circumstances, it is in no way surprising
that the matter should be suffered to pass along until
he arrived at the conclusion to arrange his evidence,
and leave it to posterity to present to the world. In
the mean time his own, personal friends and acquaintances, though acquainted with the general facts in relation to his inventions, yet felt that so long as he lived
the whole matter was under his own control, and that it
would be out of place to disturb in any way the free
action and purpose of his own mind on the subject.
Since his decease the subject has rested until, these
few unpretending pages have been written, in the hope
and purpose that they would be instrumental in preserving the history of the important part he took in the
reconstruction of the steam-engine, and its successful
preparation for navigation and land transport.
As we contemplate the vast results that have followed the application of steam-power to these purposes, it can do no less than inspire us with a veneration
for the men who were the genuine contrivers, as well
as constructors, of the work - not for any one who
may be a relative, friend, or favorite, but for all who
contributed their time, talents, or fortune to it, in proportion to their respective merits. How sublime is the
thought that it is they who have created a power and
ability in our race to attain to a seemingly higher des



190  NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.
tiny on earth than before had been allotted to it It is
they, too, who have done so much to extend the arts
and sciences, and make them more and more subservient to our use and benefit -a matter that has distinguished the age in which we live.
If Judge Read did not succeed in securing the opportunity of applying his inventions to practice, it is
believed, nevertheless, that no one did more than he
towards the invention of the successful steamboat and
locomotive. As we look back upon the little boat he
experimented with at Danvers, just large enough to
carry a man, we see that it contained the elements of a
successful growth and development; and we have seen
but a short time since, a steamer lying in the harbor of
New York,1 of sufficient size and capacity to carry an
army of ten thousand men with their equipage, having
the same paddle-wheels, the same multi-tubular boilers, and the same type of machinery throughout (save
the screw propellers attached as a collateral force) that
were invented and combined in the model boat and
model engine of Read more than seventy years ago..Moreover, the present locomotives, in tile wonderful
exhibition of their power and utility throughout every
civilized land, are driven by his multi-tubular boiler
and high-pressure engine, which alone give to them
their life, availability, and marvelous power, under
their present improved state; and although those improvements have been gradually progressing, yet the
main features and principles of the machinery remain
unchanged.
From the invention of the steamboat and locomo1 The Great Eastern.




NATHAN READ AND THE STEAM-ENGINE.  191
tive, the greatest that human genius has ever achieved,
we may calculate that still greater results are to follow. What they have already accomplished is familiar
to all; and our national pride as well as individual satisfaction, are exultingly felt as we attach these inventions
to our own country, and as we behold with wonder how
great an influence they together have exerted, not only
on the products of industrial labor and the extension of
trade and commerce, but on the whole order of society,
the advance of civilization, and the spread of Christianity; but the future alone can tell how far this display
of ingenuity and mental power will reach.




APPENDIX.
No. 1.
SPECIFICATION AND PATENT OF NAIL MACHINE.
"T17e United States of America.  To all to whom these Letters-patent shall come:" WHEREAS, Nathan Read, a citizen of the State of Massachusetts in the United States, hath alleged that he has
invented a new and useful improvement, to wit, a machine
for cutting and heading nails at one operation..... which
improvement has not been known or used before his application; has made oath that he does verily believe that he is
the true inventor or discoverer of the said improvement;
has paid into the Treasury of the United States the sum of
thirty dollars, delivered a receipt for the same, and presented a petition to the Secretary of the United States,
signifying a desire of obtaining an exclusive property in
the said improvement, and praying that a Patent may be
granted for that purpose: These are, therefore, to grant
according to law, to the said Nathan Read, his heirs, administrators, or assigns, for the term of fourteen years from the
thirteenth day of the month of December last past, the full
and exclusive right and liberty of working, constructing,
using, and vending to others to be used, the said improvement; a description whereof is given in the words of the
said Nathan Read himself, in the schedule hereto annexed,
and is made a part of these Presents.
"In testimony whereof, I have caused these Letters to be
made Patent, and the Seal of the United States to be here



APPENDIX.                   193
unto affixed. Given under my hand at the city of Philadelphia, this eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and of the
independence of the United States of America the twentysecond.                               JOHN ADAMS.
[L. s.]  By the President,
"TIiMOTHY PICKERING, Secretary of State."
"' City of Philadelphia, to wit:
"I do hereby certify, That the foregoing Letters-patent
were delivered to me on the sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninetyeight, to be examined; that I have examined the same, and
find them conformable to law; and I do hereby return the
same to the Secretary of State, within fifteen days from the
aforesaid date, to wit, on this eighth day of January, in the
year aforesaid.
" CIIHARLES LEE, Attorney General."
"The schedule referred to in these Letters-patent, and
making part of the same, containing a description in the
words of this said Nathan Read himself, of an improvement, to wit: a machine for cutting and heading nails at
one operation: —
"Specification of a machine for cutting and heading nails
at one operation, invented by Nathan Read of Salem, in the
County of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The principal parts of this machine are as follows, namely:
the cutting tool, which vibrates to cut the heads and points;
vices that are shut by weights; hammers that are im'
pelled upward by springs to head the nails; a cantor placed
under the cutting tool to cant the nails but-end downward;
ducts or tubes to receive the nails from the cantor and convey them to the vices, which are inverted; sliding gauges to
stop the nails in their descent, gauge them for the head pen13




194                   APPENDIX.
dent; levers to move back the sliding gauges, and spiral
springs to draw them forward, as occasion requires; shedder to disengage the nails from the vice after they are
headed; a stage to support the nail plate, and a pair of
nippers, weight, and pully to feed the cutting tool; a complex wheel that gives motion to the other parts of the
machine; pillars inverted into a bed-piece which connects
and sustains the whole. The wheel, being put in motion by
water or any other power as steady, first vibrates the cutting
tool to the right, where it receives the nail plate obliquely
and cuts the nail, which drops upon the cantor and is thrown
but-end foremost into the right hand duct, which conveys it
to the vice, where it is stopped by the sliding gauge, adjusted for heading, and held till the vice gripes it; then the
sliding gauge is drawn back, and the nail is headed by the
hammer.  The vice then opens, the shedder strikes the nail,
and it drops. The wheel having now completed half a revolution, the position of the cutting tool and cantor is reversed,
and a second nail is cut and drops upon the cantor, which
cants it but-end downwards into the left-hand duct, through
which it descends to the vice below, where it is gauged,
headed, and shed, in the same manner as the first was; the
large end of the second nail being cut from that part of the
plate which formed the point of the first. Thus two nails
are cut and headed every revolution of the wheel. For a
more particular description, I refer to the drawings, with
written references and model, deposited in the office of the
Secretary of State.                  NATHAN READ.
" Witnesses, -
W3M. PRESCOTT, 
D. W. LEwIS." 




APPENDIX.                     195
No. 2.
ROSEVELT S VOYAGE DOWN  THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI.
NICHOLAS J. ROSEVELT was the first who built a steamboat on the Western waters. It was called the New Orleans,
was launched at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1811, and was
of 100 tons burden. This boat left Pittsburg for New Orleans in October of the same year.  It had but one wheel,
in the stern, and two masts with sails. The voyage down
the Ohio and Mississippi was very adventurous, being the
first ever undertaken upon those rivers with a steamboat.1
Mr. Rosevelt, wife, a;d family, the engineer, pilot, six
hands, and a few servants, made up the crew.  They arrived
safely at the rapids at Louisvill in the night of the fourth
day, passing over seven hundred miles in seventy hours.
The wild settlers on the banks of the river, who had never
heard of such an invention, were struck with surprise and
terror at the rapid-going strange thing; and when it arrived late at night at Louisville, it is said the puffing of the
steam produced general consternation, and the inhabitants
rushed from their beds to find out the cause of the strange
noise. The boat was detained about three weeks at Louisville in order to pass the rapids, which she did the last
week in November.  For two days they pursued their solitary voyage down the Ohio in a hot sun, and still smoky
air; as the second night came on, and as they sat quietly
upon the deck, " they heard a rushing sound and violent
splash, and saw large portions of the shore tearing away
from the land and falling into the river. The day had been
an awful day; so still that you could have heard a pin drop
on deck."   They spoke little, for every one appeared
thunder-struck.
1 For the following graphic sketch, see account of this voyage by Ch. J.
Latrobe, in The Rambler in North America.




196                  APPENDIX.
"The next day, the sun rose over the forests the same
dim ball of fire, and the air was thick, dull, and oppressive
as before. The portentous signs of this terrific natural convulsion continued and increased. The pilot, alarmed and
confused, affirmed that he was lost, as he found the channel
everywhere altered; and where he had hitherto known deep
water, there lay numberless trees, with their roots upturned.
The trees were seen waving and nodding on the bank without a wind; but the adventurers had no choice but to continue their route. Towards evening they found themselves at
a loss for a place of shelter. They had usually brought to
under the shore, but everywhere they saw the high banks
disappearing, overwhelming many a flat boat and raft from
which the owners had landed and made their escape.
"A large island, in mid-channel, which was selected by
the pilot as the better alternative, was sought for in vain,
having disappeared entirely. Thus, in doubt and terror,
they proceeded hour after hour till dark, when they found a
small island, and rounded to, mooring themselves to the foot
of it. Here they lay, keeping watch on the deck, during the
long autumnal night; listening to the sound of the waters,
which roared and gurgled horribly around them, and hearing from time to time the rushing earth slide fiom the shore,
and the commotions as the falling mass of earth and trees
was swallowed up by the river.....;" Several times in the course of the night, the
shock of the passing earthquake was communicated from the
island to the bow of the vessel. It was a long night, but
morning dawned, and showed them that they were near the
mouth of the Ohio. The shores and the channel were now
equally unrecognizable, for everything seemed changed.
About noon they reached the small town of New MIadrii d;
the inhabitants were in the greatest distress and consternation; part had fled in terror to the high grounds, others




APPE.NDIX.                   1 97
prayed to be taken on board, as the earth was opening in
fissures on every side, and their houses hourly falling around
them.
"Proceeding hence, they found the Mississippi, at all times
a fearful stream, now unusually swollen, turbid, and full of
trees; and after many days of great danger, though they felt
no more of the earthquake, they reached their destination at
Natchez at the close of the first week in January, 1812, to
the great astonishment of all; the escape of the boat having been considered an impossibility.  At that time you
floated for three or four hundred miles on the river without
seeing a human habitation.
"Such was the voyage of the first steamer. The natural
convulsion, which commenced at the time of her descent, has
been but slightly alluded to, but will never be forgotten in
the history of the West; and the changes wroulght by it
throughout the whole alluvial region through which the Ohio
and Mississippi pour their waters, were perhaps as remarkable as any on record."
No. 3.
A C03AMDITTEE appointed by the House of Commons, as
late as 1831, to inquire, among other things, into the present
state and future prospects of land carriages run on common
roads by steam, after examining Messrs. Gurney, Hancock,
Farey, Trevithick, Ogle, Summers, Telford, McAdam, and
others on the subject as witnesses, reported a summary of the
evidence, as follows, as to the progress made in the application of steam-power to land carriages; and the certainty of
their success on comnmon roads.




198                   APPENDIX.
" 1. That carriages can be propelled by steam on common
roads at an average rate of ten miles an hour.
"2. That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of
fourteen passengers.
"3. That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and
attendance, may be under three tons.
"4. That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination with facility and safety.
"5. That they are perfectly safe for passengers.
"6. That they are not (or need not be if properly constructed) nuisances to the public.
"7. That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode
of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses.
"8. That they admit of greater width of line, and as the
roads are not acted on by the feet of horses, such carriages
will cause less wear of roads.
" 9. That the tolls on steam-carriages will prevent their
use, if permitted to remain unaltered."
They considered the practicability of running steam carriages on common roads to have been fully established, and
that it would result in a very important improvement in the
means of communication, and be generally adopted, as scientific men should give their attention to the subject.
3Mr. Gurney testified before the committee that in 1829
he travelled from London to Bath and back in his steamcarriage, and performed the last eighty-four miles in ten
hours, including stoppages, and afterwards they ran as public stages; that they used tubular boilers, the tubes about
one inch in diameter; and that he knew of from twenty to
forty other carriages being built.
nMr. Ogle stated that his carriage ran from London to
Southampton, and at some places went from  thirty-two to
thirty-five miles an hour; that they went up and down hills,




APPENDIX.                    199
rising one in six, at a speed of twenty-four miles an hour,
laden with passengers, both ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Summers stated that he had travelled up a hill of
one in twelve at the rate of sixteen miles an hour with nineteen passengers, and had run four and a half hours in succession at the velocity of thirty miles per hour.
Mr. James Stone testified that he carried thirty-six persons on one carriage; and Mr. Farey gave it as his opinion
that steam-carriages would be run at one-third the expense
of coaches.
The other witnesses stated similar facts from their own
experiments: one ran his steam-carriage twelve months;
and all testified that the carriages were entirely practicable,
under perfect control, and, with the slightest movement,
could be turned or stopped, where horses would be wholly
unmanageable.
Colonel Torrens testified as to the great advantages, in
his opinion, that steam-carriages on common roads would,
have upon British agriculture, as it would open the way
for all farming classes to send their produce to market with
much greater facilty and economy; and that it would
tend to reclaim many uncultivated tracts of land, and add
much to the aggregate of production from the soil; in
addition that the effects from the conveyance of goods and
passengers, would be, in amount, almost impossible to calculate.
Parliament had, before the above inquiry, in obedience
to the will of the laboring classes, imposed a heavy toll
upon the running of land-carriages by steam, which
amounted, substantially, to a prohibition of them; and the
purpose was to procure a repeal of that law. But Parliament refused to grant the repeal; and the result has been,
that railroads have become so numerous, that they now do
the business, and have to a considerable extent superseded
the necessity, of steam on common roads.




200                    APPENDIX.
No. 4.
THE following is that part of petition No. 2, referred to
in the letter by Mr. Remsen (see page 151), relating to land
carriages and paddle-wheels.
"To the Secretary of State, the Secretary for the D)epartment of War, and the Attorney General of the United
States, the petition of Nathan Read of Salem in Massachusetts, most respectfully showeth, That he hath discovered
a simple method of moving land carriages by the power of
steam, and of directing them principally by the same agent.
[Your petitioner hath invented an improved method or
methods of impelling boats or vessels through the water, and
against the current of rapid rivers, by wheels, etc.']  Your
petitioner prays, etc.                  NATHAN READ.
"NEw YonR, April 23, 1790."
PETITION No. 1. - The part relating to steam  is as follows, namely: -.... ""Your petitioner bath increased the utility of
the steam-engine by improving the common cylinder in such
a manner as to render it a cheap and convenient substitute
for the cylinder and case, in which the pressure of steam is
substituted for that of the atmosphere. The improved steamcylinder is so constructed as to work up and down, or back
and forth in a horizontal position, with equal power, both
ends being closed and alternately exhausted of and replenished with steam. Your petitioner hath also improved the
most improved boilers by inventing several portable furnace
boilers, each of which is so constructed as to constitute of it1 Several other modes are here mentioned; but his specification and
drawings show that he relied on wheels, and they are omitted. The
brackets were made by MIr. Remsen, and referred to in his letter.




APPENDIX.                    201
self a furnace or furnaces, the heat of which is advantageously
applied to the converting of water into steam, and to the increasing of the expansive power of it before it escapes from
the boiler; which exposes within a small space a very large
evaporating surface, and is regularly fed with hot water from
the reservoir, and also prevents the loss of heat that would
take place in a furnace that is foreign to the boiler itself; and
on these accounts far less fuel will be consumed upon this
than upon any other known construction. Your petitioner
prays, etc.                         "NATHAN READ.
" NEw YORKI, April 14, 1790."