North River Steamboat

Clermont

The North River Steamboat, also known as Clermont, was the first commercially successful steamboat used in the world. The Seitenraddampfer was constructed by the American Robert Fulton and taken in 1807 as liner in operation.

History

Historical Context

The North River Steamboat was not, as is often claimed in the literature, the first functional steam ship in the world, but the first that was used with commercial success. The first driven by steam ship ever, a side wheel steamer, was built by the Frenchman Claude de Jouffroy d' Abbans with the Palmipède in 1776. Overall, the North River Steamboat, the twelfth functional steamboat in history. At the same time it was after built by the Englishman William Symington Charlotte Dundas from 1802, the second suitable for practical use ship with this drive.

Clermont

The development of the North River Steamboat, called by later generations only Clermont, was a joint project of the politician and investor Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton of the engineer. It was used from 1807 as a ship of the line along the Hudson River between New York and Albany ( Distance 240 km or 150 miles). The maiden voyage took place on August 17, 1807. For this trip, the steamer took two days, so that the previous period was significantly shortened by one week. The ship of Robert Fulton also proved to be economically successful, and prepared the way for the other steamboat traffic. 1809 they were put into service with the Raritan and 1811 with the Car of Neptune two other steamships.

The North River Steamboat stood for many years as a passenger ship in operation before it was retired and replaced by newer, faster ships, which were also steamers.

The ship

The timber ship originally had a length of 40.54 m, the hull was flattened at the bottom and had the ship's bottom, a width of 3.96 m and on deck of 4.88 m. In winter 1807, the ship was converted into the fuselage was extended to 45.42 m and stabilize the ship, it was widened to 4.88 m and on deck at the bottom to 5.46 m. In this reconstruction, the ship also received a new copper boiler.

Although the Clermont had a single-cylinder steam engine by Boulton & Watt to type, but was still equipped with sails and reached a speed of 4.5 knots (8.3 km / h). The steam was generated in a 6.10 m long, 2.44 m wide and 2.13 m deep box-shaped boiler. The cylinder of the steam engine had a diameter of 0.61 m and a piston stroke of 1.22 m. This two paddle wheels were driven with a diameter of 4.57 m, which were not enclosed.

On February 11, 1809 Robert Fulton received a patent on its drive system, which was primarily due to an extensively modified draft of Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet, who had on February 1, 1788 received a patent for it (the first patent for a steamboat at all).

Designation

The name North River Steamboat was derived from North River, the old name of the Hudson River. The designation of Clermont for the ship comes from the estate of Livingston, which often started off the steamer. After the conversion, the ship on May 1, 1808 put back into service under the name North River Steamboat of Clermont and later only the name North River used. In a biography of Fulton from 1817, the ship was mistakenly called Clermont. This name is used to this day.