Part 3

A plan of my substitute which may not be quite correct, as I do not understand anything of drawing. N. J. R.[3]

N. J. ROOSEVELT TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.

Second River, _Sept. 10th, 1798_.

Dear Sir,

I acknowledge receipt of yours of the 3d Inst. By this time you have doubtless recd. mine of the 6th Inst. which gave you all the information on the subject of the boat I was then capable of doing; since which I have thought of trying another experiment upon _the present plan_ and concluded to morrow to set about it. It will take us three days with two hands which will cost very trifling and enable us to calculate with more certainty what power will be required _for your wheels_. The plan is this. Sun and planet wheels we will take off and form a double crank with the coupling links, which at one end will be fastened to the shaft of the fly wheels by taking out the brasses and drilling holes for pins to enter. This change will give us only half the motion of your wheels we first contemplated and consequently double the power we now have. I will try this in the same way we did the last time by leaving the vessel’s stern on shore, and in the meanwhile _I hope to hear your opinion of throwing wheels over the sides. I will also be glad_ to know if it is more agreeable to you to give a note for the balance of your proportion of the expense attending this business or whether you will make me a remittance in cash. Could I at present raise money through the house of J. Mark for all the ends I have in this quarter I would not solicit more money until you come down. This however it is not for them to do. I hope the Chancellor will consider my situation in the midst of many workmen as an apology and pardon me for my impatience.

Yours, &c. N. J. ROOSEVELT.

R. R. Livingston.

R. R. LIVINGSTON TO N. J. ROOSEVELT.

Acknowledges Wheels over the Sides to have been Proposed by Roosevelt and rejects them.

Clermont, _18th Sept., 1798_.

Dear Sir,

Mr. Mouchette is just returned. I sincerely congratulate you upon the success of the engine of which he gives the most favourable report & fully justifies yr. confidence in your engines. I am sufficiently sanguine to hope that all difficulties are now vanished. Knowing our power nothing remains but adapt the vessel to it. In attempting this hitherto we have deceived ourselves by wandering into the field of conjecture rather than adhereing to plain calculations & we shall still do so if we expect that the present engine will turn the wheels we now have 80 times in a minute, as will appear from this calculation. Our wells contain exactly 60 cubic feet of water. The whole of this is set in motion at every revolution of the wheels with a rapidity equal to the main motion of the arms, that is if the wheels make 80 revolutions in a minute at the rate of 8 miles an hour. Now as the boat will not remove more than 20 feet of water if she goes 8 miles an hour, if it was possible to move the wheels as they are now constructed 80 rounds in a minute we should throw away one half of our power, for the boat could not move faster than the water in the wheels & the power would be uselessly expended in throwing out water unnecessarily.

But it will be found on experiment that however perfect our engine is, it cannot turn the present wheels 80 times in a minute. The wheels then must necessarily be altered or the motion rendered still slower. To make the motion slower is to diminish our chance of moving the boat fast because she will at no rate move faster than the water in the wheels though she may be made to move as fast as I have found on actual experiment. The wheels then must be altered, not by making the arms shorter for this would diminish their motion, besides that it would require an alteration in the boat—but by diminishing their depth. They are now if I recollect 18 Inches deep, let them be reduced to nine Inches.

Let the motion of the wheels by no means exceed 80 nor be lower than 70 turns in a minute and I will answer for the success of the experiment, & upon the whole it will turn out a fortunate discovery since we shall find that our wells need not be above half the size we have made them & of course much room and much weight of water be saved in future. That we have erred hitherto should not discourage us. It is the fate of all new undertakings and it is happy when the error can be so easily discovered & detected. Another circumstance of considerable moment must be attended to. If the diminution of the motion is brought about by changing the sun and planet wheels, one half the motion of the flys will be lost & they rendered almost useless from this circumstance. If they are made heavier they will overload the boat.

I would propose as the best mode of altering the motion of the wheels to alter the cog wheels & to leave the sun and planet wheels as they were—this will give the proper motion to the fly & diminish the friction. Let the cog wheels be made smaller and have no more cogs than the trunnel rounds, or only so many more as will serve to give the motion we require. Nor will this alteration be attended with more trouble than the one at first proposed; but even if it is, it is so essential to give the flys a rapid motion that we must, now we have gone so far, submit to this trouble and expense to have this experiment properly made. _I say nothing on the subject of_ WHEELS OVER THE SIDES _as I am perfectly convinced from a variety of experiments of the superiority of those we have adopted_. I expect to be down the last of this month when I shall see you & make such money arrangements as we may find necessary.

In the meantime I hope to hear how you go on. I flatter myself no delay will be incurred which can possibly be avoided, every moment being precious. Mr. Mark will I hope forward this to you the moment it arrives, so that the necessary alterations may be made before you proceed far on any difficult plan.

I am very much hurt that you should construe any part of my former letters into a reflection on your candour. I am sure that nothing of this kind was ever intended & I flatter myself that if you attend a little more to the expressions (tho: I cannot now recollect them) that they will not bear this harsh construction.[4]

I am dear Sir, with esteem, your most ob: hum: servt: ROB. R. LIVINGSTON.

N. J. ROOSEVELT TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.

Experiment made & Opinion of the Spanish Minister—Again Coaxes to have Vertical Wheels tried.

Second River, _Oct. 21st, 1798_.

Dear Sir,

I dropped you a line in haste on Friday last, since which I received your favour of the 10th: the person to whom you gave it in charge did not put it in the post office until yesterday. Your instructions therefore came too late for the rims, as they had by your former request been left off and no bad consequence has resulted. I have not yet seen Mr. Stevens, but have been expecting him every day, as he requested me by letter to inform him what time we would be ready, which I did. Had I received your letter sooner I would also have sent to see if Mr. Mouchet was still at N. Ark & requested him to come up.

There was no occasion to try the wheels from 5 Inches upwards, as I found the Engine overloaded at 5. I think at present the most advisable mode of proceeding for us will be to change the wheels on shaft and spindle so as to give the Engine her full speed with 50 revolutions of the lower wheels, and if she will carry more, then increase the width of the paddles. I have ordered a pattern made for two wheels accordingly and will cast them the first casting we make after it is finished. Please to write me if you agree in this respect. The Spanish Minister was on board the day we made the last experiment and was perfectly well pleased with the operation of the Engine and will give us an order for one of 36 Inches. This will cost him upwards of 13,000 Dolls: Our small one is not equal to the purposes for which he wants his. During our sail he, at the time the tide and wind favoured us, supposed we went at the rate of 6 miles an hour; but I think the delight he felt expressed at the novelty of the Voyage was the cause of his mistake. My report to you was three miles, still water, which I have reason to believe was accurate. I have at present a better opinion of your plan than ever, and could wish them to be contrasted with paddles upon Mr. Stevens’ plan, OR WHEELS OVER THE SIDES, so as fairly to ascertain the difference of the application of the power. We have by the last experiment a striking proof in favor of your plan which is demonstrated by the diminution in width and slow motion of the wheels. At our last experiment the effect was certainly greater than we could have promised ourselves.

I hope to hear from you soon, and in the meanwhile will do what strikes me as reasonable upon our present plan so that no time is lost.

Mrs. Mark requests me to thank you for your polite invitation of visiting Mrs. Livingston, but does not think it will be in her power this fall, as Mr. Mark is at present too much occupied with business to leave home.

Yours respectfully, N. J. ROOSEVELT.

This letter is complim’y to Livingston—about his plan of wheel—but still Roosevelt mentions that it would be prudent to try in contrast _Stevens’ paddles_—(& his _own_ plan) wheels _over the sides_. (Note by Judge Griffith.)

R. R. LIVINGSTON TO N. J. ROOSEVELT.

Liv’n Acknowledges the Boat to Answer & Refuses to use Vertical Wheels.

Clermont, _28 Octr., 1798_.

Dear Sir,

After sending mine of yesterday I received your favor of the 21st, in which you enter more particularly into the experiments you have made, but not so fully as I would wish, as you will find by the queries I have troubled you with. If you are right as to the motion through the water, the Spanish Minister could not err much in his calculation, for it appears to me that the tide in your river is not short of 2 miles & I have found in my models that the velocity of the boat with the tide is greater in proportion than the mere difference between that and still water.

This is one of the experiments I wished you to ascertain accurately by running one hour with the tide & determining the distance and running back the same distance against the tide. Be it as it will, we now know what we can do with a sufficient power, and tho’ _paddles should even do more they are too inconvenient and too liable to accidents to be used_—AS FOR VERTICAL WHEELS THEY ARE OUT OF THE QUESTION.

What I principally write now for is to ask you whether it would not be better instantly to fit the boat for passengers by putting a deck over so much as you make cabbin of. This should be the whole, only leaving room for wood near the engine. This deck should be of inch pine boards & rounded so as to carry off the water and made as tight as possible. It should be raised about ten Inches so as to admit of glasses that shove past each other all round The inside only wants to be papered with any cheap common paper and to have two rows of benches the one behind the other. The rear bench so low as to admit the knees under the front one. A narrow table of one board should run through the middle. The back cabbin should be fitted for the ship’s company and have windows and shutters in case of bad weather. Some arrangement should also be made for boiling in pot and kettle. All this should be going on while you are fitting the machinery. It will I believe be best to get two or three quick hands from New York to do it as your shipwright is both slow and extravagant. We have yet one month to use and a pretty important one, because the roads will soon be bad, and tho’ we should only go 3 miles an hour we shall still be able to pick up something besides our expenses and acquire some experience of what further is necessary. I have provided a Captain at £5 a month who understands the river. You say you have a steward and fire engine hand. Tho’ I think Smallman should make the first voyage.

I am, Dr. Sir, R. R. LIVINGSTON.

Mr. N. J. Roosevelt.

The headings of the foregoing letters are copied from their respective indorsations which would seem to have been made by different hands and as though in the preparation of a case.

L.

PATENT TO MR. ROOSEVELT.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

_To all to whom these LETTERS PATENT shall come_:

Whereas, NICHOLAS J. ROOSEVELT, a Citizen of the United States, hath alleged that he has invented a new and useful improvement

IN PROPELLING BOATS &c. BY STEAM,

which improvement he states has not been known or used before his application; hath made oath that he does verily believe that he is the true inventor or discoverer of the said improvement; hath paid into the Treasury of the United States the sum of thirty dollars, delivered a receipt for the same, and presented a petition to the Secretary of State, signifying a desire of obtaining an exclusive property in the said improvement, and praying that a patent may be granted for that purpose: These are therefore to grant, according to law, to the said NICHOLAS J. ROOSEVELT, his heirs, administrators, or assigns, for the term of fourteen years, from the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using and vending to others to be used, the said improvement; a description whereof is given in the words of the said Nicholas J. Roosevelt himself, in the schedule hereto annexed, and is made a part of these presents.

In testimony whereof, I have caused these Letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.

SEAL

Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, this first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen and of the independence of the United States of America, the thirty-ninth.

JAMES MADISON. _By the President._ Jas. Monroe, _Secretary of State_.

City of Washington, _to wit_:

I do hereby Certify, That the foregoing Letters Patent were delivered to me on the first day of December in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen to be examined; that I have examined the same, and find them conformable to law: and I do hereby return the same to the Secretary of State within fifteen days from the date aforesaid, to wit; on this first day of December in the year aforesaid.

Richard Rush, _Attorney General of the United States_.

To all to Whom these Presents shall come:

_Nicholas J. Roosevelt, of the State of New Jersey, Esqr. sends greeting_:

Be it known, That I, the said Nicholas J. Roosevelt have discovered, invented and constructed a new & useful mode & improvement in the propelling of boats or vessels through water by the force & agency of fire & steam, the construction of which discovery, invention & improvement is specified as follows, as the mode to which I have given a preference reserving to myself the right of varying and changing the proportions and combinations of the several parts of the said discovery and invention as experience may suggest or as I shall think advisable or expedient, to wit.

A true copy from the Specification filed in the Patent Office. Geo. Lyon, _Clk._ Patent Office, _3d December, 1814_.

_THE SCHEDULE referred to in these Letters potent and making part of the same containing a description in the words of the said Nicholas J. Roosevelt himself of his improvement in propelling Boats, &c. by steam._

In a boat or vessel of any form, but of sufficient capacity to contain the machinery required, I place a Steam Engine of a power proportioned to the restance to be overcome, in propelling a boat or vessel a given distance in a given time, this steam Engine is supplied by a boiler of the usual form or made Cylindric one or more at pleasure so as to be of sufficient capacity to feed the Engine. I next place two wheels over the sides, on the axis of which I put flyes, dispence with them or otherwise combine them at pleasure, either to regulate motion or give additional velocity, or they may be connected with the water shaft and steam Engine, by wheels so as to give any number of revolutions that may be desired. The arms of the water wheels I would make of wood, to which I attach floats or paddles of cast Iron, or of Boiler plate thick sheet Iron, though they may be made of wood. These floats I make move up and down on the arms, by means of screws and holes, so as to make them enter deeper or shallower in the water, in taking a purchase or hold on the water agreeably to the depth of water the boat may draw, and the lading there may be on board, or agreeably to other circumstances. The supporters of the outer ends of the water wheels shaft to be made of Iron with braces, though if required they may be made of wood.

Ns. J. ROOSEVELT. Witnesses: Jere’h Ballard, John Dev’x DeLacy.

Of the foregoing correspondence, but a small portion relates to the question of wheels over the sides. It is inserted at length however,—going, as it does, to shew the warm interest, and the active measures that were on foot at the close of the eighteenth century to develope one of the mighty agencies of the nineteenth. The crudeness of many of the suggestions and the literary carelessness of the correspondence on both sides, is indicative of a very different condition of things from that which exists at present.

L.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Somewhere about the year 1842, the writer of the foregoing address was narrating the substance of it at the White Sulphur Springs of Virginia. Among his hearers was Mr. Samuel Davis, of Philadelphia, but formerly of Natchez, Mississippi, who supplemented the story with the following anecdote. He was standing on the wharf at Natchez, one of a crowd, watching the approach of the New Orleans on her first voyage. There was a rise in the river at the time; and when the steamboat rounded to, to head up stream, she was some short distance below the landing,—and, for a while, the current was more than she could overcome. At Mr. Davis’ side, was an old negro servant, who watched the struggle with much excitement, slapping his thighs and gesticulating in a most outlandish way. When at last, after a more rapid revolution of the wheels started the boat ahead, the negro threw up his hat, exclaiming, “By golly, Sa, old Massesseppa got her massa; hooraw.” Mr. Davis sent a quantity of his cotton by the boat to New Orleans, against the advice of all his friends. He was the first person who ventured a bale on such a risk!

[2]The reference here is to a letter of the Chancellor (numbered 25 in the collection I have,) in which, being then in a dissatisfied and complaining mood, he says: “I again repeat, Sir, that I trust in a few days to hear that experiments have been made and to be minutely acquainted with the result, that I may take my measures accordingly. In doing of which should wish to receive your advice. From a frank and candid communication much more advantage will result to all parties than from reserve, silence and distrust.

I am, dear Sir, your most obt. hum. servt. R. R. LIVINGSTON.

_See letter of Aug. 31, 1798._

[3]The plan here referred to is not among the papers. L.

[4]The Chancellor had evidently forgotten the concluding paragraph of his letter of August 31, 1798.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos, including listed errata.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.