Title: The Life of Robert Fulton. the Artist, inventor, and Civil engineer
1The Life of Robert Fulton. the Artist, inventor,
and Civil engineer
- Picture above has many clues to Robert Fultons
life.
2Robert Fultons birth place.
- Robert Fultons father, a prominent citizen of
Lancaster with a house on Center Square, moved to
this house to try his hand at farming. Robert
Fulton was born here on November 14, 1765.
Unsuccessful at farming, the family returned to
Lancaster where Robert lived till the age of 17..
Robert Fultons birth home located in Lancaster
Pennsylvania.
3Picture is something like Fultons double crank
paddle wheel, that would have been on the boat.
- As a youth young Robert attended a Quaker school
where he exhibited talents of creativity which
baffled his schoolmaster. His natural curiosity
placed him in contact with neighboring artist and
craftsmen from whom he learned to paint and
experiment with new mechanical ideas. One of his
youthful inventions was a double crank paddle
wheel boat which he built and sailed for a friend
on the nearby river.
4Franklin and Fulton
- While living in Lancaster, young Robert became
noted for his sketches and paintings of local
scenes. A skilled artist at 17, he moved to
Philadelphia in 1782 where he painted portraits
and miniature for four years.
- Fulton was encouraged by Benjamin Franklin to
study painting under Benjamin West in England.
As a result, he was commissioned to paint
portraits of famous persons.
This is not the portrait of Ben Franklin painted
by Fulton.
5Fulton begins to invent.
- From his circle of English friends, Fulton
learned of the mechanical problems facing their
country during the period of industrial
expansion. Hew was fascinated by these
challenges and began to devote more time to
mechanical pursuits. His artistic talents,
however, enabled him to accurately illustrate on
paper his emerging ideas.
6Becoming a Civil Engineer
- Fulton became intrigued with the new commercial
importance of canal building. With funds
borrowed from his social reformer friend, Robert
Owen, he invented a digging machine for the
excavation of canals. This machine proved
impractical but was a first step in the
mechanical excavation of earth.
- In 1796 Fulton published A Treatise on the
Improvement of Canal Navigation, which contained
his ideas for canal construction and included his
drawings and illustrations.
7Fulton moves to France.
- In 1797 Fulton moved to France where he took up
residence with the noted American poet and
diplomat, Joel Barlow.
8Fulton and Naval History.
- While living in France, during the early
Napoleonic years, Fulton envisioned naval
machines which would be so powerful as to deter
marine warfare. With this idea in mind he
developed the torpedo and the submarine.
9Fulton and Napoleon. Destiny Avoided?
- Hoping to gain favorable attention from Napoleon
for his new invention, Fulton blew up a forty
foot sloop at Brest with a torpedo fired from his
newly designed submarine, Nautilus. To Fultons
disappointment neither France nor England was
interested at this time in his naval inventions.
10Fultons Submarine.
- Building upon the ideas of earlier men, Fulton
designed his submarine, the Nautilus, in the
shape of an ellipsoid. By means of a hand
cranked suction and force pump, water was
introduce or removed from the keel making the
vessel rise or lower in the water at will. On
the top forward part of the ship was spherical
dome with port holes for observation. For
propulsion Fulton designed a hand cranked
propeller.
11Partnering with Livingston
- While in Europe Fulton refined his ideas about
the use of steam to propel a boat. Through Joel
Barlow, Fulton was introduced to Robert
Livingston who was then American Minister to
France. Livingston was fascinated by Fultons
steamboat vision and offered to become his
financial partner in its development.
12Fulton Returns Home to build a ship.
- Fulton succeeded in constructing a steamboat on
the Seine River only to have it break in two with
the engine sinking to the bottom. Undaunted,
Fulton tried again and proved that steam could
propel a boat through water. Livingston
immediately relayed the potential of the
steamboat to his home state of New York where he
received the right to build and operate a
steamboat on the Hudson River.
- In the fall of 1806, Fulton returned to America
after twenty years absence to fulfill his dream,
shared by Livingston, of providing steam powered
navigation on American Rivers.
Scale Model of the Clermont. Picture taken at
the Robert Fulton Museum.
13Building the Clermont.
- Fultons fame rests most securely on his
successful building and operation of the
steamboat in America. After ordering the
manufacture of a steam engine from the English
firm of Boulton and Watt, he made arrangement to
build his boat in a dock in New Yorks East
River.
14Fultons monster.
- When finished the craft was 149 feet long and
approximately 13 feet wide. Two paddle wheels
were set, one on each side, slightly front of
center. Comfortable seats were installed to make
travel pleasurable. Food was ordered, guest
invited, and the date set for the initial trip up
the Hudson.
15The North Rivers Maiden Voyage.
- Withstanding much ridicule, Fulton confidently
put the finishing touches on his steamboat making
it ready for Monday afternoon, August 17, 1807
when a lively party boarding for the maiden
voyage. After a slight delay the boat glided out
into the river and began the 150 mile journey to
Albany New York, completing it in 32 hours
running time. The original name of this
steamboat was the North River, later changed to
the Clermont after Robert Livingstons Hudson
River estate.
The above picture is called Fultons Monster.
16Demologos
- Encouraged by success, Fulton expanded his
steamboat enterprise by adding more boats to the
line during the next few years. He later
supervised the construction of two steam powered
ferries. In 1813 he designed and built the first
steam propelled warship for the U.S., the
Demologos.
17Marriage and Death.
- Shortly after Fultons steamboat triumph on the
Hudson River, he married Harriet Livingston, the
niece of Robert Livingston. His later life was
spent happily in new York City with his wife and
four children.
- He died February 24, 1815 at the age of 49 and is
buried in the churchyard of Trinity
Church in Lower
Manhattan.