Steamboat 1807. Inventions: steamboat

The first steamboat in history that could be used in shipping was invented by Irish mechanical engineer Robert Fulton, a self-taught genius born into a family of poor peasants. Fulton tested his first, imperfect steamboat in 1803 on the Seine River in Paris. It could be said that the experiment was a success, the ship stayed afloat for 1.5 hours, the speed that the ship developed reached 5 km/h.

Next was paddle steamer"Clermont", Fulton built it in 1807. He installed Watt's steam engine on it. The steamer was 43 meters long, the engine power reached 20 Horse power, the carrying capacity was 15 tons. The Claremont managed to make its first voyage in 1807 along the Hudson. The ship completed the entire journey, 150 miles (270 km) long, from New York to Albany, with a headwind and against the current, in 32 hours. It was thanks to “Clermont” that the beginning of the steam shipping company was laid.

The construction of steamships, after this, began in other countries. Next, attempts are made to technically improve all types of maritime transport. This is how the Savannah steamship began its journey on the transatlantic line in 1819 between America and Europe. He carried cotton to England. The Savannah was on its way for 26 days. In 1819, this ship also visited the port of St. Petersburg. This was the first foreign ship to visit Russia.

In 1825, the journey from London to Calcutta was completed in 113 days by the English steamship Enterprise. The ship "Curaso" from Holland covered the distance from Holland to the West Indies in 32 days. But in the 40s of the 19th century, naval shipbuilding developed rather slowly. It was not possible to immediately eliminate design flaws that were identified during operation, and this hampered the construction of steamships.

The stimulus for the rapid development of marine shipbuilding was radical changes in the designs of steamships and engines. The use of new building materials to create ships. The transition to the construction of buildings made of iron and steel had greatest significance in shipbuilding.

The first propeller-driven steamship in history was invented and built in 1838 by the English engineer-inventor Smith. He named his brainchild “Archimedes”. Further improvements in screw steamships led to the fact that by the end of the 40s, the propeller quickly began to replace paddle wheels.

The appearance of the first steamships, on which it became possible to make regular ocean voyages, should be dated back to the early thirties of the 19th century. And at the end of the 30s, ships began to regularly operate flights from Europe to America and back. A little later, it was possible to get to other continents by boat. The first trip around the world by ship was made in 1842. Like railways, steamship lines were able to ensure speed of movement and its regularity, as well as reduce the cost of transporting goods.

The idea of ​​​​creating a self-propelled ship that could sail against the wind and currents occurred to people for a very long time. After all, it is often impossible to sail along a winding channel with a complex fairway, and it is always difficult to row against the current.

Real opportunity The construction of such a high-speed self-propelled vessel appeared only after the invention of the steam engine. A steam engine converts the energy of heated steam into the mechanical work of a piston, which reciprocates and drives a shaft. Steam is generated in a steam boiler. The first attempts to construct such a machine were made in late XVII century.

One of the inventors who worked on the problem of converting thermal energy into work was the French physicist Denis Papin(1647 - 1712). He was the first to invent a steam boiler, but was unable to come up with a design for a working steam engine. But he designed the first boat with a steam engine and paddle wheels (1707). The world's first steam-powered ship was launched in Kassel, Germany, and quite confidently sailed along the Fulda River. However, the inventor's joy was short-lived. Local fishermen considered the boat, moving without oars or sails, a diabolical invention and hastened to set fire to the first steamer. Papin later moved to England and presented his developments to the Royal Scientific Society. He asked for money to continue experiments and recreate a steam ship. But Papen never received the money and died in poverty.

Thirty years later, in 1736, the Englishman Jonathan Hulls, a watchmaker by profession, invented the steam tug. He received a patent for a ship propelled by steam. However, during the tests it turned out that the steam engine installed on the ship was too weak to move it. The disgraced watchmaker did not find the strength to continue working on improving the invention and died in desperate poverty, like Papin.

The Frenchman was closest to the goal Claude-François-Dorothe, Marquis de Jouffroy. In 1771, the 20-year-old Marquis received the rank of officer, but showed a violent disposition and a year later found himself in prison for gross violation of discipline. The prison was located near the city of Cannes, and the marquis's cell overlooked the sea, so that de Jouffroy could watch from the barred window the galleys driven by the muscular power of the convicts. Filled with sympathy for them, the Marquis came to the idea that it would be nice to put on the ship steam engine- these, he heard, set in motion the pumps that pumped out water from English mines. After leaving prison, de Jouffroy sat down to books and soon had his own opinion on how best to build a steamship.

When he arrived in Paris in 1775, the idea of ​​a steam ship was already in the air. In 1776, the Marquis built a steam boat at his own expense, but the tests, according to a contemporary, ended “not entirely happily.” However, the inventor did not give up. At his instigation, the French government promised a 15-year monopoly on the construction and operation of steam ships to the first one to build a steamship suitable for permanent use, and de Jouffroy knew that victory in the steam race would mean wealth and prosperity for the rest of his days.

In 1783, in Lyon, the Marquis finally tested his second steam model. On June 15, on the banks of the Saone River, spectators watched as the boat of the Marquis de Jouffroy moved against the current. True, by the end of the demonstration voyage the engine became unusable, but no one noticed this, and besides, de Jouffroy hoped to make the car more reliable. The Marquis was now confident that he had the monopoly in his pocket, and sent a report of his success to Paris. But the Paris Academy was not inclined to trust messages from the provinces, no matter who they came from. The academicians asked to give an opinion on the invention of the chief specialist in steam engines - manufacturer Jacques Perrier, who himself sought a steamship monopoly, and therefore did everything to quickly forget about the invention of the Marquis. De Jouffroy did not receive financial support from the academicians, and he no longer had money to build the next boat.

Soon a revolution began in the country, and the French had no time for steamships. In addition, the Marquis de Jouffroy found himself on the side of the counter-revolution, and the royalists in France were awaiting not patents, but the guillotine. De Jouffroy was able to return to invention only after the Bourbon restoration, and in 1816 he finally received a patent. But they never gave him money to start a shipping business. De Jouffroy died in 1832 in a home for veterans, forgotten and abandoned by everyone.

In 1774, the outstanding English inventor James Watt created the first universal heat engine (steam engine). This invention contributed to the creation of steam locomotives, steamships and the first (steam) cars.

In 1787 in America John Fitch built the steam boat "Experiment", which for a long time made regular trips along the Delaware River between Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Burlington (New York). It carried 30 passengers and traveled at a speed of 7-8 miles per hour. J. Fitch's steamship was not commercially successful because its route was competing with a good overland road.

In 1802, a mining engineer William Symington from England built the towing boat "Charlotte Dundas" with a Watt engine with a power of 10 horsepower, which rotated a paddle wheel located in the stern. The tests were successful. In 6 hours, with a strong headwind, the Charlotte Dundas towed two barges along the canal 18 miles. The Charlotte Dundas was the first serviceable steam boat. However, authorities began to fear that waves from the paddle wheel would wash away the banks of the canal. The steamer was pulled ashore and condemned to scrapping. Thus, this experience did not interest the British either.

Robert Fulton

Among the spectators watching the tests of the unusual vessel was an American Robert Fulton. He was interested in steam engines from the age of 12 and already as a teenager (at the age of 14) he made his first boat with a wheel engine. After school, Robert moved to Philadelphia and got a job first as a jeweler's assistant and then as a draftsman. At the age of 21 (1786), Fulton went to England to study architecture there. However, here Fulton abandoned drawing and concentrated on inventing. Designed canals, locks, conduits and different cars- for sawing marble, spinning flax, twisting ropes... And then he returned to his old hobby - the use of steam in shipping. However, the English government did not want to give money for his project, and in 1797 Fulton moved to France. But here his inventions were not appreciated either. Fulton thought about it and came up with the idea of ​​a submarine that could be used to mine the bottoms of enemy ships. At first, the French government rejected the project, considering this method of warfare too brutal. But the inventor, at his own expense, built and tested a wooden submarine"Nautilus". In 1800, Fulton presented a practical model of his submarine to Napoleon. Having finally appreciated the invention, the French government finally allocated money to build a boat made of sheet copper and even promised to pay Fulton for every enemy ship sunk. However, the English ships deftly dodged the slow Nautilus. Therefore, the Nautilus did not sail for long. Fulton's attempt to sell the submarine to France's naval enemy, England, also failed. True meaning This invention only became apparent closer to the beginning of the First World War.

Offended by the whole world, Fulton returned to his homeland and began to look for funds for the steamship project. Here he was much more fortunate. Steamboat North River Steamboat of Clermont North River") with a displacement of 79 tons with a steam engine with a power of 20 horsepower, rotating five-meter paddle wheels, was tested in August 1807. Many of those who gathered on the shores of Hudson Bay did not believe in success. Fulton set off on his first voyage on September 4, 1807 without cargo and without passengers: there were no people willing to try their luck aboard the fire-breathing ship. But on the way back, a daredevil showed up - a farmer who bought a ticket for six dollars. This was the first passenger in the history of the shipping company. The touched inventor gave him a lifetime right of free travel on his ships. That same year, Fulton's first steamboat began operating profitably between New York and Albany. This ship went down in history as the "Clermont", although "Clermont" simply referred to the estate of Fulton's partner, Livingston, on the Hudson River, 177 km from New York, which the ship visited during its first voyage.

From that time on, a constant steamship service opened on the Hudson. Newspapers wrote that many boatmen closed their eyes in horror as the “Fulton monster,” spewing fire and smoke, moved along the Hudson against the wind and current.

"North River Steamboat"
Robert Fulton

In 1809, Fulton patented the Claremont design and went down in history as the inventor of the steamboat.

In Russia, the first steamship was built at the Charles Bird plant in 1815. It was called "Elizabeth" and made flights between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. A report on one of these flights was published by the magazine "Son of the Fatherland". This article is Russian Marine officer, later Admiral Peter Ricord, first used the term “steamboat” in print. Before this, such ships were called “steamboats” or “pyroscaphes” in the English manner.

By the way...

In 1813, Fulton turned to the Russian government with a request to grant him the privilege to build a steamboat he had invented and use it on rivers Russian Empire. Emperor Alexander I granted the inventor a monopoly right to operate steamship vessels on the St. Petersburg-Kronstadt line, as well as on others Russian rivers for 15 years. However, Fulton did not create steamships in Russia and was unable to take advantage of the agreement, since he did not fulfill the main condition of the agreement - within three years he did not commission a single vessel. Fulton died in 1815, and in 1816 the franchise granted to him was revoked, and the contract went to Byrd.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte fled from the island of Elba, the first Technical University, in the family of a simple English craftsman, the future great mathematician George Boole was born, and in Russia the first domestic pyroscape, “Elizabeth,” was launched.

Then crowds of people gathered at the pond of the Tauride Palace to look at this miracle. And the first flight of the pyroscape, or steamboat as it was also called, took place on November 3 of the same year, along the route St. Petersburg - Kronstadt. It was there that the name so familiar to us, “steamboat,” was first heard.

History of creation

The idea of ​​using steam in mechanics was expressed in the 1st century AD. Greek scientist Heron of Alexandria, but the first steam boiler was invented only at the end of the 17th century.

At the beginning of the 18th, steam engines no longer surprised anyone, and in 1783 the first steamship “Piroskaf” launched, the name of which became a household name. It was invented by a French military man, Marquis Claude Geoffroy d'Abban, a self-taught engineer.

After 365 meters, the steamship's engine broke down, and the Marquis had to abandon his activities - he was unable to find investors for his invention.

In 1787, two American inventors demonstrated their steam ships - James Ramsey and John Fitch.

Moreover, three years later, a steam boat created by Fitch and Henry Voigt plied the whole summer between Philadelphia and Burlington. But here, too, the commercial component turned out to be stronger than the scientific one - the project was closed.

The closest were the Scots - William Symington and Patrick Miller. Miller, among other things, also became an investor in the enterprise. In 1802, the first paddle steamer, the Charlotte Dundes, set sail. It was seventeen meters long and towed barges on the Forth Clyde Canal.

Father of Steamboats

And yet, Robert Fulton is rightfully considered the “father of steamboats.” The future inventor was the fifth child in the family; he did not achieve much success at school, but he loved to draw and draw.

At the age of 14, he had already designed and tested his first hand-powered boat. And at the age of 35, even before he invented the steamboat, he developed designs for three submarines. In 1803, his steam ship was tested on the waters of the Seine.

And already in August 1807, Fulton's steamship set off on its first long voyage along the Hudson River. The inventor himself called it the “North River Steamboat”, but it went down in history under a different name - “Clermont”.

This was the name given to the estate owned by Fulton’s partner, where, according to legend, the steamship made its first stop.

In 1809, Fulton patented his invention and entered into world history. In the subsequent years of his life, he managed to build several more steamships, as well as develop a project for the world's first military steamship.

The name was given to it “Demologos”, which is translated from Latin as “Voice of the People”. Well, the second name of the ship is simple and modest - “Fulton”.

The oldest steamship

Currently, steamships are no longer built; they have been replaced by motor ships. And yet, in some places you can find rarities.

For example, on Lake Mjøsa in Norway, the paddle steamer Skibladner, built in 1856 and currently the oldest steamship in the world, still operates.

Skibladner has his own job - all year round it delivers mail and hosts boat trips and cruises in the summer.

Russia also has its own long-liver - the paddle steamer N. V. Gogol", built in 1911, still welcomes visitors on board.

The use of steam engines on water began in 1707, when the French physicist Denis Papin designed the first boat with a steam engine and paddle wheels. Presumably, after a successful test, it was broken by boatmen who were afraid of competition.

Thirty years later, Englishman Jonathan Hulls invented a steam tug. The experiment ended unsuccessfully: the engine turned out to be heavy and the tug sank.

In 1802, Scotsman William Symington demonstrated a steamboat "Charlotte Dundas."

The widespread use of steam engines on ships began in 1807 with the voyages of the passenger steamer Clermont, built by an American Robert Fulton. Beginning in the 1790s, Fulton took up the problem of using steam to propel ships. In 1809, Fulton patented the Claremont design and went down in history as inventor of the steamboat. Newspapers wrote that many boatmen closed their eyes in horror when "Fulton's monster" spewing fire and smoke, moving along the Hudson against the wind and current.

"Clermont"

Just ten to fifteen years after the invention of R. Fulton, steamships seriously displaced sailing ships. In 1813, two factories for the production of steam engines began operating in Pittsburgh in the USA. A year later, 20 steamships were assigned to the port of New Orleans, and in 1835 there were already 1,200 steamships operating on the Mississippi and its tributaries.

US River Steamboat (1810-1830)

By 1815 in England on the river. The Clyde (Glasgow) already had 10 steamships operating and seven or eight on the river. Thames. In the same year, the first sea steamer "Argyle" was built, which sailed from Glasgow to London. In 1816, the Majestic steamship made its first voyages Brighton - Le Havre and Dover - Calais, after which regular sea steam lines began to open between Great Britain, Ireland, France and Holland.

The first steam ship in Europe "Comet" 1812

In 1813 Fulton turned to Russian government with a request to grant him the privilege to build a steamship he had invented and use it on the rivers of the Russian Empire. However, Fulton did not create steamships in Russia. He died in 1815, and in 1816 the privilege given to him was revoked.

The beginning of the 19th century in Russia is marked by the construction of the first ships with steam engines. In 1815, the owner of a mechanical foundry in St. Petersburg, Karl Bird, built the first paddle steamer "Elizabeth". A factory-manufactured Watt steam engine with a power of 4 hp was installed on the wooden Tikhvinka. With. and a steam boiler that powered the side wheels. The machine made 40 revolutions per minute. After successful tests on the Neva and transition from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt The ship made voyages on the St. Petersburg - Kronstadt line. The steamer covered this route in 5 hours 20 minutes. average speed about 9.3 km/h.

Russian steamship from the Berda plant.
The construction of steamships also began on other rivers of Russia.

The first steamship in the Volga basin appeared on the Kama in June 1816. It was built by Pozhvinsky iron foundry and ironworks V. A. Vsevolozhsky. Having a power of 24 hp. s., the ship made several experimental voyages along the Kama.

By the 20s of the 19th century, there was only one steamship in the Black Sea basin - "Vesuvius", not counting the primitive steamship "Pchelka" with a power of 25 hp, built by Kiev serfs, which two years later was carried through the rapids to Kherson, from where he made flights to Nikolaev.

Major Siberian gold miner Myasnikov. received the privilege to organize shipping on the lake. Baikal and the rivers Ob, Tobol, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena and their tributaries, in March 1843. launched the ship “Emperor Nicholas I” power 32 l. s., which in 1844 was brought to Baikal. Following this, a second steamship with a capacity of 50 hp was laid down and completed in 1844. s., called “Heir Tsesarevich”, which was also transferred to the lake. Baikal, where both ships were used for transportation.

In the 40-50s of the 19th century steamships began to sail regularly along the Neva, Volga, Dnieper and other rivers. By 1850 there were about 100 steamships in Russia.

In 1819, the American sailing mail ship "Savannah", equipped with a steam engine and removable side wheels, left the city of Savannah, USA, for Liverpool and made the transition across the Atlantic in 24 days. The engine on the Savannah was a single-cylinder steam engine. low pressure, simple action. The power of the machine was 72 hp, the speed when the engine was running was 6 knots (9 km/h). The ship's engine was used for no more than 85 hours and only within the coastal zone.

"Savannah"

Savannah's voyage was conducted to evaluate necessary fuel reserves on ocean routes, because supporters sailing fleet argued that no steamship could carry enough coal to cross the Atlantic. After the ship returned to the United States, the steam engine was dismantled, and the ship was used on the New York - Savannah line until 1822

In 1825, the English paddle steamer Enterprise, using sails with a fair wind, made a voyage to India.

The largest paddle steamer in naval history "Great East"

The first flight around Europe took place in 1830-1831. small Russian steamship "Neva". Leaving Kronstadt on August 17, 1830, the Neva arrived in Odessa on March 4, 1831, spending 199 days on the voyage. The duration of the voyage was explained by long stops in ports due to severe winter storms.

The legendary giant "Titanic":

In the boiler rooms of the ship it was installed 29 steam boilers- each weighing 100 tons, which were heated by the heat of 162 fireboxes. Coal furnaces heated water in boilers to produce steam. The steam was then supplied to piston engines. As soon as steam entered one of the four cylinders of the engine, the necessary force was generated to rotate one of the propellers. Excess or lost steam was condensed in the evaporators and the resulting water could be returned to the boilers for reheating. Changing the amount of steam supplied to the thrusters controlled the speed of the ship. Smoke from the furnaces and engine exhausts were discharged through the first 3 pipes. The fourth pipe was false and was used for ventilation. Everything was the same on the Titanic last word technology that time.

First warship was built in the USA according to the design of R. Fulton in 1815. It was intended to protect the waters of the New York port and was battery catemaran. The sailors called him steam frigate, however, R. Fulton preferred to call it a steam battery and gave it the name "Demologos" ("Voice of the People"). In 1829, the steamship exploded in the New York roadstead due to the sailors' careless handling of fire. In Russia first steam frigate"Bogatyr", which became the forerunner of cruisers, was built in 1836.

Wheeled steam frigate "Taman" 1849

The best examples of steam engines of the 1870s, designed for the needs of navy, weighed about 20 kg/hp, and the Heresgoff brothers in the USA managed to create a 4-hp engine, the weight of which, together with the boiler, was only 22.65 kg.

Application of steam engine on a submarine has been delayed for many years. The main problem there was an air supply for burning fuel in the furnace of the steam boiler when the boat was submerged, because when the machine was operating, fuel was consumed and the mass of the submarine changed, but it must be constantly ready to dive. Despite the obstacles in the history of submarine invention, there have been many attempts to build a submarine powered by a steam engine.

Submarine project with a steam engine The first was developed in 1795 by the French revolutionary Armand Mézières, but he failed to implement it.

In 1815, Robert Fulton built a large submarine, equipped with powerful steam turbine, eighty feet long and twenty-two feet wide with a crew of 100 people. However, Fulton died before Mute was launched, and the submarine was scrapped.
Build submarine succeeded in 1846 by Armand Mézières' compatriot Dr. Prosper Peyern. In the submarine, called "Hydrostat", steam was supplied to the machine from a boiler, in a hermetically sealed firebox in which specially prepared fuel was burned - compressed briquettes of saltpeter with coal, which, when burned, released the oxygen necessary for combustion. At the same time, water was supplied to the firebox. Water vapor and fuel combustion products were sent to the steam engine, from where, having completed the work, they were discharged overboard through a non-return valve. However, this project turned out to be unsuccessful.

Peyern's failure did not deter his followers. Already in 1851, the American Laudner Philipps built Submarine with steam engine installation. But the inventor did not have time to finish the job. During one of the dives on Lake Erie, the submarine exceeded the permissible depth and was crushed burying the crew along with Philipps at the bottom of the lake.

In the summer of 1866, a submarine of a talented Russian inventor was created I. F. Alexandrovsky. It was tested for several years in Kronstadt. A decision was made about her unsuitability it for military purposes and inexpediency carrying out further work to eliminate deficiencies.

Other pages on the topic "Steam engines"

Rivers have long played an important role in people's lives. Thanks to them, people transported their goods or other cargo. However, sailing a sailing ship along a winding channel, swimming against the current, and using the strength of the rowers was extremely difficult, and sometimes it was not at all impossible. Therefore, many have thought about creating a self-propelled ship.

An ancient manuscript dating back to 527 describes a waterwheel mechanism that was powered by either humans or animals to propel the vessel. However, all efforts to construct a fast load-lifting self-propelled ship were not crowned with success until the time when the first steam engine appeared.

A steam engine transforms the energy of steam into the automatic operation of a valve, which performs a reciprocating motion, causing the shaft to move, generating steam in the steam boiler.

They first tried to implement such a machine at the end of the 17th century. One of the inventors of the steam engine is Denis Papin, a physicist from the French town of Blois. He was the first to invent a steam boiler, but failed to imagine the mechanism of a functioning steam engine. Despite this, Papin designed the first boat in 1707, which had a steam engine and paddle wheels. This ship was launched in the German town of Kassel, which is located on the Fulda River. But the inventor's joy from his invention was short-lived. The fishermen, seeing a boat floating without sails, considered it an invention of the demon, as a result of which they burned it. Later, the French physicist Papin moved to live in England, where he showed his research to the Royal Scientific Society. In order to continue experiments and restore the steam boiler, Papen asked the Royal Scientific Society for money. But he never received the money. Died in poverty. He asked for funding to continue the experiments and recreate the ship using a steam engine.

And in 1736, English watchmaker Jonathan Hulls created a tugboat powered by a steam engine. He received a patent for a ship propelled by steam. But during the experiments it turned out that the steam boiler that was installed on the ship was very weak to move the ship. Hulls was so depressed that he did not find the strength to continue working on modernizing the invention and died in poverty, like the previous inventor of the steam engine, Papin.

But the closest to the goal was the French officer Claude-François-Dorothe. In 1771, he received the rank of officer, but due to his violent temper, some time later he was sent to prison for a gross violation of discipline. Since the prison was located not far from Cannes, and the windows of the cell overlooked the sea, Claude-François could contemplate the passing galleys, the movement of which is due to the strength of the rowers. Then an amazing idea occurred to him that it would not hurt to install a steam engine on the ship. After the French officer was released from prison, he sat down to read specialized literature, and soon he had the idea of ​​​​creating the world's first steamship.

After arriving in Paris in 1775, the idea of ​​creating a steamship already existed. In 1776, Claude-François-Dorothe built a small steam ship at his own expense, but the tests were unsuccessful. But, unlike previous inventors, the self-taught French engineer did not give up. On his initiative, the government pledged to give a 15-year monopoly on the creation and operation of ships with steam engines to the first one to create a steamship that would be suitable for constant use, and Claude Francois understood that triumph in the steam race would ensure a comfortable life for the rest of his life.

In 1783, the officer finally tested his second steam model. And on June 15, eyewitnesses saw the boat of a self-taught French engineer moving along the Saône River against the current. However, almost at the finish line the engine became unusable, but not a single person noticed this. But the inventor was not going to stop there - he was going to improve the engine. Claude-François-Dorothe was firmly convinced that the monopoly would belong to him, and therefore sent a report on the work done, which was a success, to Paris. However, the Paris Academy was skeptical about the report, and, in this regard, scientists asked Jacques Perrier, the main specialist in steam engines, to make a conclusion on the steam engine. Since he himself was interested in the steamship monopoly, he did everything possible to ensure that this invention would soon be forgotten. Thus, the French officer did not receive financial support, and there was no money for the construction of another ship, since the construction of the ship required a lot of money.

After some time, a revolution began in France, and then there was no time for shipbuilding. To top it all off, Claude-François-Dorothe was on the side of the monarchists, and, as you know, it was not a patent that awaited them, but the guillotine. However, he returned to invention, but only after the Bourbon revival. And in 1816, the self-taught French engineer received a patent. But he never received money to develop the shipping business. And in 1832 he died.

In 1774, the famous British inventor James Watt invented the first universal steam engine. This invention helped create not only steamships, but also steam locomotives.

In the USA in 1787, John Fitch built a boat powered by a steam engine, which long time operated regular flights between Philadelphia and Burlington along the Delaware River. The boat could accommodate 30 passengers and traveled at a speed of about 7-8 miles per hour. But the ship invented by J. Fitch was not commercially successful, because it had considerable competition from the road.

And in 1802, the English engineer William Symington designed a tugboat called the Charlotte Dundas with a Watt engine, which had a power of 10 horsepower, rotating a paddle wheel located at the stern. The trials of this vessel were very successful. Within 6 hours at strong wind The tugboat Charlotte Dundas towed two barges 18 miles. This boat was the first ship suitable for use with a steam engine. But the government began to fear that the waves emanating from the paddle wheel would contribute to coastal erosion. In this regard, the boat was pulled onto land and doomed to certain death. Consequently, this experiment did not arouse interest among the British.

Among the eyewitnesses who observed the testing of this vessel was the American Robert Fulton. He was interested in steam engines from the age of 12 and already at the age of 14 he designed his first ship with a wheel engine. After graduating from school, Fulton moved to Philadelphia and got a job as a jeweler's assistant, and a little later as a draftsman. In 1786, Fulton emigrated to England to study architecture. However, in England, Robert Fulton gave up painting and concentrated on inventing. Initially, he designed locks and canals, but then Fulton returned to his former hobby - the use of steam in shipping. But the government did not want to finance his project, and then, in 1797, Robert Fulton moved to France. However, even here his invention was not appreciated. After which Robert Fulton put forward the idea of ​​​​creating a submarine with which it was possible to mine the bottom of an enemy ship. Initially, the French government did not accept the project, considering this method of warfare very cruel. But the inventor, at his own expense, constructed and tested the wooden submarine Nautilus. In 1800, Robert Fulton demonstrated a model of his submarine to Napoleon Bonaparte. Having finally appreciated his invention, the government financed the construction of a copper submarine. At the same time, he even promised to pay Fulton a lot of money for each enemy ship sunk. But the English ships quickly moved away from the Nautilus, as it was moving too slowly. Therefore, the existence of the Nautilus submarine was short-lived. Then Fulton tried to sell the submarine to England, but this was also unsuccessful.

After the failure with the submarine, Fulton decided to return to his homeland, after which he began to look for money to create a steamship. Here fortune finally smiled on him. A steamboat called the North River Steamboat of Clermont, displacing 79,000 tons and powered by a 20-horsepower steam engine driving the paddle wheels, was tested in August 1807. Most of the people gathered on the banks of the Hudson River did not believe that this steamship creation would be successful. The first voyage of this ship took place on September 4, 1807. The inventor of this ship set off on the voyage alone - without cargo or passengers, since there were no people willing to go on a long voyage on a ship. However, when the ship was returning, there was one brave soul who nevertheless decided to board the fire-breathing ship. He turned out to be a farmer who purchased a ticket worth six dollars. This was the first passenger in the history of shipping. In 1807, the North River Steamboat of Clermont began sailing between New York and Albany, bringing considerable profit to the owner. This ship went down in history as the "Clermont", although the "Clermont" was the estate of Robert's partner, which is 177 km from New York.

Since that time, the ship has made regular trips. In 1809, Robert Fulton received a patent for the construction of the Claremont and went down in shipping history as the first inventor of the steamship.

In Russia, the first ship was constructed in 1815 at the Charles Bird plant. The ship was called "Elizabeth" and made routes between Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. A review of one of the flights was published in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland”. In this article, a naval officer from the Pskov province, Peter Rikord, first used the concept of “steamboat” in print. Before this, the ships were called “steamboats” or “pyroscaphes”.

By the way, in 1813 Robert Fulton appealed to the government Russian state with a request to give him the privilege to build the vessel he invented and operate it on the waters of the Russian Empire. Emperor Alexander I gave Fulton a monopoly right to operate steamships on the St. Petersburg-Kronstadt route, as well as on other rivers of the Russian Empire for 15 years. But in Russia, Fulton did not design a single steamship, as a result of which he could not take advantage of the contract, since he did not fulfill the main condition of the contract - for three years he did not build or launch a single ship. In 1815, Robert Fulton died, and in 1816 the privilege that was given to him was revoked, and this agreement went to Byrd.