Fulton,

Fulton, ROBERT, a celebrated American engineer, was born of Irish parents in 1765 in what is now Fulton township, Pennsylvania. The years 1782-85 were spent in Philadelphia, where he devoted himself to the painting of miniature portraits and landscapes. In 1786 he proceeded to London, where for several years he studied under West; but some paintings which he produced in Devonshire having gained him the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl Stanhope, he abandoned art and applied his energies wholly to mechanics, for which he had early shown a strong bent. In 1794 he obtained from the British government a patent for a double-inclined plane, the object of which was to set aside the use of locks; and in the same year he invented a mill for sawing and polishing marble. He afterwards prepared plans for the construction of cast-iron aqueducts and bridges, and patented in England a machine for spinning flax, a dredging-machine, and several boats. He was received as a civil engineer in 1795, and published a treatise advocating small canals. In 1797 he proceeded to Paris, where he remained for several years, devoting himself to new projects and inventions, amongst which was a submarine boat, intended to be used in torpedo warfare, but neither the French nor the British government, which he next tried, could be induced to take his invention up, although commissions were appointed in both cases to test its value. Having failed in this matter, he next turned his attention to a subject that had occupied his mind as early as 1793—the application of steam to navigation. In 1803 he launched on the Seine a small steamboat, which immediately sank; but a trial-trip was made by a second boat soon after, though without attaining any great speed. In 1806 he returned to New York and pursued his experiments there. He perfected his Torpedo (q.v.) system, though it was never actually adopted; and in 1807 he launched a steam-vessel upon the Hudson, which made a successful start on the 11th August, and accomplished the voyage up the river (of nearly 150 miles) to Albany in thirty-two hours. From this period steamers (for the construction of which Fulton received a patent from the legislature) came into pretty general use upon the rivers of the United States. Although Fulton was by no means the first to apply steam to navigation, yet he was the first to apply it with any degree of practical success (see SHIPBUILDING). His reputation was now firmly established, and he was employed by the United States government in the execution of various projects with reference to canals and other works. In 1814 he obtained the assent of the legislature to construct a steam war-ship, which was launched in the following year, but never tested in warfare. Though the labours of Fulton were attended with such great success, various lawsuits in which he was engaged in reference to the use of some of his patents kept him in constant anxiety and tended to shorten his days. He died at New York, 24th February 1815. See his Life by Colden (New York, 1817); Robert Fulton and Steam Navigation, by Thos. W. Knox (1886), and the article SUBMARINE NAVIGATION.