David Napier by David Napier and David Bell: Chapter I

Charlotte Dundas

Chapter I: Introductory

The marvellous development of manufactures, trade and commerce during the past century has been due so directly to the improvement of the steam-engine, and the establishment of steam navigation, that a special interest attaches to the Memorials of those who were the pioneer workers in these departments of industry. The steam-engine as a prime mover is a comparatively modern invention, — dating no further back than the end of the seventeenth century, — and recognised as having had its real origin in the ingenious devices associated with the names of Morland, 1682, Papin, 1685, and Savery, 1696. The arrangements introduced by these inventors, although of a simple nature, marked a distinct advance. Prior to their time the only application of steam to what could be reckoned useful work consisted in simply letting its pressure act directly upon the surface of water confined within a closed chamber or vessel, thereby forcing the water through an outlet pipe to a higher level. Then followed the introduction of a "floater" upon the surface of the water to lessen condensation, the duplicating of vessels to obtain a continuous discharge from their alternating pressures, and other mechanical arrangements more or less ingenious, but without the necessary efficiency to rank them as prime movers.

The steam-engine properly so called, although in rudimentary form, came into view about 1690, when the important stage was reached of using a piston working in a cylinder, and adopting means for condensing the steam that had pressed the piston upward in order to make the return stroke by atmospheric pressure. These ideas were definitely recognised by the distinguished inventors named above, but the mechanism they designed and employed was still of too rude a character to constitute an effective engine even for pumping purposes. Having complete knowledge of what, to this point, had been accomplished, and profiting by the experience of the earlier engineers, Newcomen, aided by Savery and others, next took up the work of improvement, and their patent of 1705 marked a distinct and important step in the effective application of steam to industrial and commercial uses. The engine resulting under this patent formed a connecting link between the primitive steam-pump and the modern engine; and it was recognised as, undoubtedly, "the simplest and most powerful machine that had hitherto been constructed." It was welcomed as meeting a universal want, and within a few years engines of this type had found their way into the industrial areas of Europe and America. The Newcomen proved of special value in the development of milling, and it gave an immense impulse to the promotion of industrial activity in manifold directions. From its simplicity of construction and consequent durability the atmospheric engine was not readily displaced. It continued in use, particularly in connection with mining, long after the Watt engine had been introduced; and the later examples remained at work until about two hundred years after the first specimens had appeared. (See Note 3.)

The growth of mechanical engineering as a profession, consequent on the rapidly increasing demand for engines and other machinery, resulted ere long in producing a numerous body of skilled engineers, many of whom were men of distinguished ability, whose efforts did much to improve the details and increase the efficiency of the atmospheric engine. For sixty or seventy years, however, its radical defects remained uncorrected, and these defects, the single steam-stroke, and condensation within the cylinder, — rendered it quite insufficient for much of the mechanical work that was now waiting to be done. Pickard's application of the crank to the steam-engine, 1780, must be noted as an improvement of the greatest importance. This was the general position till Watt's remarkable series of investigations and inventions, 1765-1785, resulted not only in the Newcomen's deficiencies being remedied, but in the design and mechanism being so rearranged and improved throughout as to give the engine, as a prime mover, its practically perfect development. The incomparable excellence of Watt's machine, — its efficiency, economy and range of usefulness, — could not fail to be immediately recognised, and by the end of the century it had come into extensive use. This engine has been universally and justly acclaimed as the most potent factor in the development of industrial and commercial enterprise, and as having contributed more to the world's progress and prosperity than any other invention.

The next great step, the application of steam to the propelling of ships, was at an early date seen to be an object of the utmost importance, but was found to be a task impossible of actual accomplishment during the earlier period of steam-engine development. Steam navigation has its separate history, — one of unique interest, — although it may in truth be regarded as little else in fact but an expansion of the history of the engine itself. The inadequacy of muscular power, and the impossibility of controlling wind-force for safe and speedy navigation, had been obvious from the earliest times. All that could be thought of, however, during the preceding centuries, was the directing of these natural forces to the best advantage by the intervention of mechanical means, such as capstans driven by manual or animal power to operate oars or paddles, or by methods of water-ejection, produced by hand or wind-driven pumps. It illustrates curiously the slowness of mechanical progress to find that some of these primitive appliances remained in use, and even formed the subject of fresh patents, eighty to ninety years after the Newcomen engine had been introduced. The earliest projectors of the steam-engine however were quick to recognise that it and it alone, would prove to be the agent capable of furnishing the more powerful motive-force necessary.

Apart from suggestions of earlier date, it is of interest to note that in 1699 Papin proposed that his simple piston engine should be used to drive paddle-wheels, and it is recorded that a few years later he himself fitted a steam-engine to a model boat. The pamphlet published by his contemporary Savery in 1698, "Navigation Improv'd," describes an "engine" which he thought might be "very useful to ships," but this was simply a capstan, wrought by hand, to drive revolving paddles or oars. The propulsion of boats by the steam-engine having however been definitely proposed by Papin, the statement is no doubt justified that the idea or conception of the steamboat was "coeval with the engine itself." Hence it cannot, in strictness, be admitted that any later worker in this field should be regarded as the "original" inventor of steam navigation, although it would appear that in certain cases of later date the propulsion of boats by steam did suggest itself without prior knowledge of what others had proposed. The production of a practically successful steamboat however was, in Papin's time, still a hundred years distant, as, notwithstanding the innumerable efforts subsequently put forth, this achievement proved to be impracticable until the new and improved type of steam-engine necessary had been evolved. Newcomen’s engine, so serviceable for many purposes, was found to be ill-adapted for use on board ship, and it had indeed been at work on land for about thirty years before Jonathan Hulls ventured to propose its application to the propelling of a boat.

Hulls, the son of a village mechanic, was born at Aston Magna in 1699. His patent for the application of steam to boat propulsion was taken in December, 1736, and was followed next year by a pamphlet containing an abstract of the patent, with descriptive notes. This he called a "small Treatise to demonstrate the possibility and probability of the matter undertaken," claiming that the scheme he proposed was "practicable, and if encouraged would be useful." The pamphlet contained the well-known sketch of a stern-wheel tug-boat, fitted with an atmospheric cylinder "in the same manner as Mr. Newcomen's engine." This "machine," however, as was shown by the experiments of many subsequent workers, could neither be applied advantageously to a boat nor supply the power required for useful work. Rushen's History, 1899, suggests somewhat vaguely that an actual vessel was tried, but adds "tradition says it was a failure and nothing more was heard of it." It is still, however, claimed on behalf of Hulls that, as the foresaid treatise gives the "plan of a Steamboat," he should be acknowledged as "first inventor" of steam navigation. This claim, like others of the same kind, may be reasonably disputed, but honour must be freely rendered to Hulls' ingenuity and enterprise. His proposal however cannot be said to have been the first; it did not embody the elements necessary to success; nor can it be regarded as having furthered in any practical way the introduction of steam navigation.

The next movement of importance, nearly twenty years later, was the offering of a prize by the French Academy for a paper on the "best means for impelling vessels without wind." The successful competitor, Daniel Bernouilli, suggested a series of wheels, with inclined planes or floats, wrought by a shaft on each side of the vessel, and he further proposed a method of jet-propulsion. As respects the motive power however his opinion was that the best engine then known, — the Newcomen, — was "no better than some other forms of motor." The views of so distinguished a scholar reflected no doubt the most intelligent ideas of his day on the subject, yet they suggested nothing of positive value, and merely went to emphasise the continued want of a better engine. It seems probable however that this public enquiry and pronouncement may have had the effect of directing attention more widely to the unsolved problem of steam propulsion, which, from the rapid spread of industrial and commercial enterprise, was now assuming great importance. A further stimulus was no doubt supplied about this time by the lively interest awakened in Watt's engineering inventions. Whatever the cause, it is noteworthy that from this point the steamboat question was taken up very earnestly by a succession of eager and sanguine inventors, alike in Europe and America. They all however encountered many disappointments, and it was not until after many years of laborious effort that the goal was reached. The amount and variety of the experimental work carried out during the latter half of the eighteenth century marks that as perhaps the period of greatest interest in the introduction of steam navigation; and a general idea of the nature and scope of the pioneer work of this time may be gathered by recalling some of the names more prominently associated with the steamboat enterprise.

1759-64. J. A. Genevois (Switzerland), published proposals for propelling boats by means of oars or paddles, actuated by springs compressed by an atmospheric engine.

1774-78. The Comte D'Auxiron (France), prepared plans of a steamboat which was tried on the Seine, but the results proved unsatisfactory.

1774-90. Jacques-Constantin Périer (France), an eminent mechanic, author of a treatise on the steam-engine, and a member of the Academy of Science, assisted at the above-mentioned experiments. He also made further trials on his own behalf with paddle-wheel steamboats.

1776. William Henry (America), fitted a steam-engine into a paddle-wheel boat.

1776. Bushnell (America), invented a sub-marine or torpedo boat for blowing up ships.

1776-1816. The Marquis de Jonffroy (France), an army officer and distinguished mechanician, was for some time associated with the Comte D'Auxiron. He experimented in 1776 with a steamboat in the river Daubs; in 1782 with a boat 140 feet long, fitted with a single condensing engine, on the Stickle; and in 1816 made further experiments at Paris. Two of his boats had duck-foot paddles, one of them driven by a horizontal engine made in France, and working the paddles through rachet-gear. His experiments failed of success "for want of means and support," France thus losing, as alleged, the honour that was within her grasp, as she had formerly lost that of the introduction of the steam-engine in the time of Papin. Notwithstanding this, the Academy of Science, in 1840, awarded to the marquis the honour "of having been first to apply steam successfully to navigation," a recognition which opinion elsewhere has not endorsed.

1782-1802. M. Desblanc (France), tried a boat having a horizontal cylinder, giving motion through rachet-gear to wheels forward and aft, carrying endless chains of floats or paddles on each side of the vessel. Experiments were made on the Saone, but without satisfactory result.

1785-98. John Fitch (America), claimed to have conceived the idea of applying steam to boat propulsion before he knew that steam-engines existed. He was undoubtedly one of the most enthusiastic and far-seeing advocates of steam navigation. In 1785 he submitted his proposals to Congress. His first model was fitted with side paddle-wheels; and he also proposed, as Desblanc had done, endless chains carrying blades or floats passing over rollers forward and aft. He experimented further with boats having cylinders up to 16 or 18 inches diameter. The latest of these, a stern-wheel vessel, had a speed of 7.5 to 8 miles per hour, and plied on the Delaware about 1788-90, steaming in all, it is said, over two thousand miles. Fitch further tried a boat with a screw propeller at New York in 1796.

1785-92. James Rumsey (America), after trying a boat propelled by mechanism operated by manual power, proposed a steam-engine and a pump to eject water astern. He claimed to be the inventor of the steamboat, a claim strongly resented by Fitch. Having in 1788 gone to England he arranged to have a boat built, but died in 1792 before it was completed. When tried next year on the Thames it gave a speed of four knots per hour, and the project was then abandoned.

1790-97. Samuel More (America), built a stern-wheel boat, driven by an engine of his own construction, also a side-wheel steamer, and tried many arrangements of machinery for boat propulsion.

1794-1807. Robert Fulton (America), appears to have taken up the subject of steam propulsion about 1794. After carrying out a number of experiments in France, he finally succeeded in establishing steam navigation in America in 1807. (See Note 6.)

1797. Chancellor Livingston (America), in conjunction with Mr. Nisbet, undertook the construction of a steamboat, which was unsuccessful. He subsequently became associated with Fulton in his experiments.

During the time that these efforts were being made in other countries, Britain likewise had been taking a prominent, and latterly a successful, part in working out the problem of steam navigation. Watt, about 1770, suggested a form of screw propeller for boats, to be driven by a steam-engine, but he allowed the subject to drop, and for many years looked upon the propulsion of boats by steam as impracticable.

1778-80. Matthew Wasbrough and James Pickard introduced the crank, to supersede the rachet-gear previously in use, and thereby did much to adapt the engine for boat propulsion.

1785-1801. Joseph Bramah suggested a mode of propelling vessels by an improved rotatory engine driving paddle-wheels or a screw propeller. Woodcroft states that Bramah's was the best mode of steam propulsion that had till then been suggested.

1785-89. William Symington, in 1787, patented an improved atmospheric engine, which it was proposed to employ "to work boats or ships." This engine was so applied in two double-hulled paddle boats belonging to Patrick Miller in 1788 and 1789. (See Note 9.)

1787-88. Fourness and Ashworth are said (Trans. Brit. Assn. 1853) to have made experiments about 1787 in the propulsion of vessels by steam power, and to have built two paddle-boats which gave satisfactory results. In 1788 they patented "a new invented machine for the working, driving or rowing of ships," — this being an atmospheric engine of peculiar construction, which no doubt was the engine used in their vessels.

1790-1795. The Earl of Stanhope patented inventions bearing upon steam navigation, and experimented with a vessel fitted with duck-foot paddles under her quarters.

1790-1812. Henry Bell took an active part in advocating the adoption of steam navigation. In 1800 he experimented with a small steamboat. In the same year and on a later occasion he urged upon the British Admiralty the use of steam-power in the Navy. His steamboat Comet was successfully set to work on the Clyde in 1812. (See Note 5.)

1793-99. Dr. E. Cartwright devised a steam-barge, which in 1799, it is said, he explained to Fulton and gave him the plan or model of it.

1801. Wm. Symington, in 1801, patented a direct-acting engine; and, on behalf of Lord Dundas, designed and engined the Charlotte Dundas stern-wheel steamer, which in practical service proved entirely successful. (See Note 9.)

A writer on the history of naval development claims that Miller and Symington, in their boats of 1788 and '89, "made the first really conclusive practical experiments." The engines of these boats, however, having been of the atmospheric type, and cumbered with the old ratchet-gear, could not give permanently satisfactory results; and it appears more reasonable, as is generally agreed, to recognise the Charlotte Dundas as the "first practical steam vessel."

Notwithstanding the vast expenditure of skill and labour so briefly outlined by these notes, it is to be observed that practical success was impossible so long as engines — even the latest and most improved — of the atmospheric type were used. This failure was mainly due to the imperfect nature of the mechanism employed for the transmission of motion from the piston to the propeller. It needed the double steam-stroke condensing engine, as applied in the Charlotte Dundas and the Clermont, to solve finally the question of boat propulsion. These are justly reckoned the first practically efficient steam vessels, — their success directly due to the new type of machinery, — and the era of steam navigation therefore, alike in the old world and the new, must be held as dating from the opening years of the nineteenth century.

Symington's engine, — the 1801 patent, possessed every essential qualification which even at the present day is found necessary for marine purposes, but the embargo foolishly placed upon the Charlotte Dundas brought his work on steamboats to a premature close. The confidence inspired by the success of that vessel however was shown by the Duke of Bridgewater engaging him to build a number of boats of the same type. The order unfortunately lapsed through his Grace's death, and as Symington could find no other patron to assist him financially, it may be recognised as certain that these obstacles had the effect of delaying the introduction of steam navigation in Europe for commercial service by at least ten years. Meanwhile Fulton, more fortunate in being substantially assisted, and profiting by a thorough knowledge of the experimental work previously done in his own country and in Scotland, was enabled to carry out preliminary experiments in France, and in 1807 to reach his practical success in America. Holmes, an authority on the early history of steam navigation, observes that "although the honour of having first successfully applied steam to the propulsion of vessels is due to Great Britain, to the United States belongs the credit of having been the first to recognise the value of the new invention, and of having first employed it commercially."

The next development in Britain was with Henry Bell's Comet and the steamboats that closely followed her on the Clyde. The performances of these boats gave more decided promise of the manifold advantages to be expected from the new system of navigation, and led, ere long, to a demand for and supply of vessels of increasing size and speed. This involved important changes in shipbuilding and engineering, and a new departure in the commercial aspects of shipping traffic. The opportunity had now come for men of enterprise to find the capital to build, and the routes in which to employ, the now successful steamboat. The shipbuilder also was called on to furnish vessels of unfamiliar type, fit to withstand the weights and strains of heavy machinery, and the engineer had to undertake the construction of engines, boilers and propelling apparatus for which his previous engineering experience gave but little guidance.

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