Did Robert Fulton really invent the steam boat?

Question

I need to write a speech about him..like it's for a class where i have to write an introduction speech about him and like they have to guess who it is cuz at the end i go "And I am introducing..."
And then blank. Did he really invent the steam boat? What can I say to get the audience "pumped"?

Answer 1

In the strictest sense, no he didn't, and never claimed to have. MANY had worked on steamboats before him. BUT none of them were viable products. Only after his efforts, studying and combining the best of his predecessors, did we have steamboats that could actually be SOLD and USED. Here is a clip from an article that explains all this (follow the link to see the whole thing):

"There were many steam-boat inventors before Fulton who actually built the first working steamboat. there was - Jouffroy in 1776 - Rumsey in 1787 - Fitch in 1787 and 1790 - Symington in 1789 and 1803 - Ormsbee in 1792 - Morey in 1793 and stevens in 1804.

"While these vessels actually worked, they were all "experiments." Even Fitch's remarkably effective, after covering several thousand miles on a regular schedule, failed after less than a year of operation - a commercial failure. After Fitch's achievement, steamboat development stood virtually still for over 15 years.

"The English claimed that William Symington was the true inventor of the steamboat. After abandoning successful experiments in 1789, he received financial support from Thomas lord dundas of kerse to build a steam-powered tug for use on his canal. In march of 1803, the sidewheel CHARLOTTE DUNDAS would have successfully introduced steam navigation to England and the world. It probably could have, but it didn't, Mr.Symington's efforts pretty much ended there.

"Fulton carefully studied all of those who preceded him and combined all of their successes and made a steamboat that not only worked, but was commercially successful. Not a single part of his NORTH RIVER STEAMBOAT was his own invention - although he patented improvements on much of the machinery. His was, without question, the first useful steamboat. His vessel was the product of accumulated knowledge, not an isolated phenomenon as was those that preceded his.

"He took the best from each of the others, combining and improving on all of the pieces until the result of this synergism was success. The time was right. Acceptance was at hand. The boat worked. People could ride on it and did. nit paid it's own way - no longer an experiment or demonstration. After the NORTH RIVER STEAMBOAT began running, steamboats began to proliferate."
http://www.steamboats.com/museum/engineroom1.html

See also the (six-page) article that begins here:
http://www.steamboats.com/research/1stboat8.html

And, along the same lines, this old New York Times article:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D02E7D91539E632A25755C2A96F9C946897D6CF&oref=slogin
And this:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfulton.htm

Answer 2

We do not know when Fulton first began to think of making a steamboat. But we have his own words for saying that in 1802 he began "experiments with a view to discover the principles on which boats or vessels should be propelled through the water by the power of steam engines." Fulton did not undertake to make a successful steamboat without knowing of the failures of Fitch, Stevens, Symington, and others; and without understanding that after so many failures, men who still thought a practical steamboat could be built were looked upon as madmen. Yet it has ever been so. The men who win fame and fortune do what other people say cannot be done. Fulton learned all he could from the mistakes and failures of others. To make sure that he was right before he went ahead, he did what was still more important, he made experiment after experiment.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Did Robert Fulton really invent the steam boat?
I need to write a speech about him..like it's for a class where i have to write an introduction speech about him and like they have to guess who it is cuz at the end i go "And I am introducing..."
And then blank. Did he really invent the steam boat? What can I say to get the audience...

Answer 4

He invented the Steam engine, which was later adapted for use on a boat.

Answer 5

here's a tidbit to throw out....before the steam boat people were limited in how fast they could travel by sea. to the same speed that ancient Greeks and Romans, heck, the Trojans had.......so George Washington couldn't get anywhere any faster than Hector or Caesar could 2,000 years before him.....

Answer 6

He improved on the design, but he didn't invent it, evidently. I have a link here that you may find interesting.

The first boat he built, the Clermont, was launched on the Hudson in 1807. The second was called the New Orleans, and it was launched on the Ohio. They had a draft problem, since the hull was too deep to get over sandbars, such as are found below the falls of the Ohio and on the Mississippi. One interesting fact here is that it was launched in 1811, and what this article called bizarre earthquakes are, probably the New Madrid Earthquakes, the most intense series of shocks and aftershocks experienced in North American History. One registered 8 on the Richter scale compared to 7.8 in San Francisco in 1906. It reportedly rang churchbells in Philadelphia.