Steam : the untold story of America's first great invention / Andrea Sutcliffe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sutcliffe, Andrea J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fitch, John, 1743-1798.

Fitch, John.

Rumsey, James, 1743?-1792.

Rumsey, James.

Marine engineers--United States--Biography.

Marine engineers.

Steam-navigation--United States--History--18th century.

Steam-navigation.

Inventors--United States--Biography.

Inventors.

History.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 272 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Summary:

In the summer of 1790, the world's first commercial steamboat carried passengers between Philadelphia and Trenton. Its inventor was not Robert Fulton -- he wouldn't launch his steamboat on the Hudson for another seventeen years -- but a silversmith from Connecticut named John Fitch. Three years earlier, Fitch built the first American steam engine compact and powerful enough to propel a boat, which he mounted on an odd-looking oar-propelled vessel. Among the early witnesses to his efforts were members of the Constitutional Convention. Soon after, he and a rival steamboat inventor from Virginia began a bitter fight for patent rights. Their battle led to the first U.S. patent act, one of the first laws of the new republic. In the process, several Founding Fathers were dragged into the conflict, including Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. Steam tells the two-decade saga of America's first significant venture in technology, from Fitch to Fulton, and of the forgotten men whose perseverance helped move the young nation westward.

Contents:

1. Stream-boats and Steamboats 1

2. A Ridiculous Idea 17

3. Brother Saintmakers 35

4. The War of the Pamphlets 53

5. The Columbian Maid 71

6. Lord High Admirals of the Delaware 89

7. The First and True Inventor 101

8. "All Further Progress Is in Vain" 119

9. Leeches and Sharks 133

10. Mother Clay 147

11. The French Connection 161

12. Steamboat Collisions 179

13. John Fitch's Ghost 201.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [253]-260) and index.

ISBN:

1403962618

OCLC:

54073780