Who invented steamboat

As the fledgling United States began to take shape and grow beyond its original 13 colonies , adventurers found that there was a lot of territory to explore to the south and west. Transportation back then wasn't what it is today, though.

There were no cars, trucks, trains , or airplanes. If you wanted to explore the frontier, you had to do so on foot, on horseback , or on water.

Rivers offered a faster means of getting from one place to another as long as you traveled with the flow of the river. Early boats relied upon manpower to row them or sails to power them when the wind blew. All of that changed in the late 18 th century with the invention of the steamboat. Several people must be mentioned when discussing the invention of the steamboat. Englishman Jonathan Hull patented a steamboat design as early as However, it was not until after James Watt improved upon the design of the steam engine that others began to build serious steamboats.

The first person to combine a steam engine with an improved hull design to create a commercially-successful steamboat, however, was Robert Fulton. Fulton's Clermont was launched in and quickly became a success. It operated between New York City and Albany, carrying as many as passengers at a time. Others soon followed Fulton's lead and the age of the steamboat had begun. The steam engines on steamboats burned coal to heat water in a large boiler to create steam.

The steam was pumped into a cylinder, causing a piston to move upward to the top of the cylinder. A valve would then open to release the steam, allowing the piston to fall back to the bottom of the cylinder. This process would repeat over and over again. The reciprocating action of the piston was used to mechanically power a propeller or paddlewheel that would propel the boat forward.

Many steamboats had a single paddlewheel at the rear of the boat called sternwheelers , while other steamboats had dual paddlewheels on the sides of the boat called sidewheelers. Steamboats completely changed river transportation and trade. By the s, thousands of steamboats traveled America's rivers, transporting people and goods faster than ever before. Steamboats were not without their dangers, however.

During their rise to prominence, thousands of people died in steamboat accidents. Many of these were due to boiler explosions that resulted from poor designs. The wild, untamed rivers could also be difficult to navigate and hold unforeseen dangers, such as logjams , sandbars, snags, and shifting channels.

To further complicate matters, steamboats were sometimes the target of Native American attacks on explorers entering their territory. Steamboat captains were often their own worst enemies. Competing boats would often race each other from one port to the next, creating dangerous conditions on the river and overworking boilers to the point of explosion. Steamboats played a major role in westward expansion. However, by the s, railroads powered by steam engines had become more efficient at moving people and goods, resulting in the decline of steamboats by the early 20 th century when automobiles and airplanes began to thrive.

Are you ready to go for a ride on the river? Find a friend or family member to help you check out the following activities:. Fortunately for you, jett, there are a lot of other topics on Wonderopolis for you to explore that have nothing to do with boats!

That's awesome, Steamboat ! Born in Pennsylvania in , Fulton originally established himself as a painter in Philadelphia before poor health led him to travelling abroad on the advice of his doctor. Departing the United States in , Fulton poured himself into science and engineering while overseas, developing several new inventions for European powers including the Nautilus , an early submarine prototype. Returning to New York in , Fulton and his business partner Robert Livingston, an American lawyer he met in France in , set about constructing a new steam powered boat that would revolutionize transportation.

Officially named the North River Steamboat of Clermont , the boat is popularly known simply as the Clermont. Measuring feet long and 12 feet wide with paddlewheels measuring 15 feet in diameter mounted on either side, the Clermont had a shallow draft of 2 feet, averaging around 5 miles an hour.

American inventor John Fitch looked to use this new invention as a propulsion device for a new method of transportation.

Beginning in , Fitch set about building a steam powered boat, completing his 45 foot long prototype two years later and successfully demonstrating it before members of Congress in After losing investors to other inventors, he was unable to stay afloat financially. Before turning his talents to the steamboat, American inventor Robert Fulton had successfully built and operated a submarine in France but it was his talent for turning steamboats into a commercially viable mode of transportation that earned him the title of the "father of steam navigation.

Fulton was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on November 14, While his early education was limited, he displayed considerable artistic talent and inventiveness. At the age of 17, he moved to Philadelphia, where he established himself as a painter. Advised to go abroad due to ill health, in , Fulton moved to London. Eventually, his lifelong interest in scientific and engineering developments, especially in the application of steam engines, supplanted his interest in art.

As he applied himself to his new vocation, Fulton secured English patents for machines with a wide variety of functions and applications. He also began to show a marked interested in the construction and efficiency of canal systems. By , growing European conflicts led Fulton to begin work on weapons against piracy, including submarines, mines, and torpedoes.

Soon after, Fulton moved to France, where he took up work on canal systems. In , he built a successful "diving boat" which he named the Nautilus but there was not sufficient interest, either in France or England, to induce Fulton to pursue any further submarine design. Fulton's passion for steamboats remained undiminished, however. In , he contracted with Robert Livingston to construct a steamboat for use on the Hudson River.

Over the next four years, after building prototypes in Europe, Fulton returned to New York in On August 17, , the Clermont , Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, left New York City for Albany, serving as the inaugural commercial steamboat service in the world. The ship traveled from New York City to Albany making history with a mile trip that took 32 hours at an average speed of about five miles per hour.

Four years later, Fulton and Livingston designed the New Orleans and put it into service as a passenger and freight boat with a route along the lower Mississippi River.

Their boats traveled at rates of eight miles per hour downstream and three miles per hour upstream. In , when inventor Henry Miller Shreve launched his steamboat, Washington , it could complete the voyage from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky in 25 days. But steamboat designs continued to improve, and by , the New Orleans to Louisville trip took only four and a half days. Steamboats contributed greatly to the economy throughout the eastern part of the United States as a means of transporting agricultural and industrial supplies.