 Experiment | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Experiment |
| Builder | David Wilkinson |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 12 |
| Length | 100 ft (30.48 m) |
| Beam | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Installed power | eight horses on a treadmill contraption |
| Propulsion | "goose-foot paddle" large mechanical screw propeller |
| Speed | 4 knots (7.4 km/h) |
Experiment was an early 19th-century boat powered by horses and incorporating the idea of a screw propeller, which was a new idea at the time. [1] [2]
Experiment was a horse-powered ferry boat. It was a 12-ton, three-masted boat drawing a few feet of water, about 100 feet (30.48 m) long by 20 feet (6.1 m) beam. [3] ) in 1807 to 1810, depending on the source. [4] [5] [6] It was propelled by a "goose-foot paddle," a large mechanical screw propeller in the water instead of a paddle wheel at water surface. [5] The new technology devised by Grieve and Wilkinson was powered by eight horses on a treadmill. The technology to propel the boat upstream was originally invented by David Grieve and granted a patent 24 February 1801 in the category of "Boats to ascend rivers". The complete recorded patent was lost in the 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire. [1] The idea of propelling vessels by a mechanical screw in the water is now referred to as Ericsson's propeller. [3]
It is reported that Experiment made one unsuccessful voyage, as it ran aground on the return trip. The mechanism and associated parts were put together by Ephraim Southworth; little thought was put into the construction and it was poorly built. [7] The maiden voyage was in June 1809 with a group of gentlemen from the Grand Lodge of the State. [8] The first attempt of the "Screw Boat" began at Jackson's Wharf on Eddy's Point near Providence, Rhode Island, with a destination of Pawtuxet Village. [9] The eight horses for the "horse power" were owned by Marvin Morris; they were connected to a poorly designed contraption to make the boat move. It obtained a top speed of four knots with the help of a tide going in her direction and the wind on her back. It managed to get to Pawtuxet Village, where there was much celebration over its success. The return trip, however, resulted in humiliation when a gust of wind drove Experiment onto mud flats, causing its demise. [9] [10]
The Experiment venture had sold shares of stock from a prospectus to raise money to build it. [8] There was so much confidence in the venture that tickets were engraved by William Hamlin for its anticipated voyages to New-Port and Providence. [2] [11] Ultimately, the horse boat and all the associated items were seized by the Sheriff at the behest of Grieve's creditors and sold for lack of payments on the loans, since it was not a successful venture. [9] Wilkinson later said that "after the frolic" it was "hauled up" and allowed to go to waste and ruin. [5] Nevertheless, the ship was carefully studied by Daniel French, who did the drawings for Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat (known as Clermont), and may have benefited that enterprise. [5]
Experiment is important as a precursor of public transportation on rivers, and it was the forerunner of a number of horse-powered boats, chiefly ferries used for more than a half-century along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Most commonly, those were paddle wheel boats, not screw-type propellers. [12] [13] [14] Inclined treadmills were often used. [12]
A propeller is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working fluid such as water or air. Propellers are used to pump fluid through a pipe or duct, or to create thrust to propel a boat through water or an aircraft through air. The blades are shaped so that their rotational motion through the fluid causes a pressure difference between the two surfaces of the blade by Bernoulli's principle which exerts force on the fluid. Most marine propellers are screw propellers with helical blades rotating on a propeller shaft with an approximately horizontal axis.
A vehicle is a piece of equipment designed to transport people, cargo or both. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles, railed vehicles, watercraft, amphibious vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.
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A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS ; however, these designations are most often used for steamships.
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A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.
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The Lake Champlain Transportation Company is a vehicle ferry operator that runs three routes across Lake Champlain between the US states of New York and Vermont. From 1976 to 2003, the company was owned by Burlington, Vermont, businessman Raymond C. Pecor Jr., who is chairman of its board. In 2003, he sold the company to his son, Raymond Pecor III.
Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electric motor or internal combustion engine driving a propeller, or less frequently, in pump-jets, an impeller. Marine engineering is the discipline concerned with the engineering design process of marine propulsion systems.
Sir Francis Pettit Smith was an English inventor and, along with John Ericsson, one of the inventors of the screw propeller. He was also the driving force behind the construction of the world's first screw-propelled steamship, SS Archimedes.
SS Archimedes was a steamship built in Britain in 1839. She was the world's first steamship to be driven successfully by a screw propeller.
Chain-boat navigation or chain-ship navigation is a little-known chapter in the history of shipping on European rivers. From around the middle of the 19th century, vessels called chain boats were used to haul strings of barges upstream by using a fixed chain lying on the bed of a river. The chain was raised from the riverbed to pass over the deck of the steamer, being hauled by a heavy winch powered by a steam engine. A variety of companies operated chain boat services on rivers such as the Elbe, Rhine, Neckar, Main, Saale, Havel, Spree and Saône as well as other rivers in Belgium and the Netherlands. Chain boats were also used in the United States.
A paddle wheel is a form of waterwheel or impeller in which a number of paddles are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several uses, of which some are:
A screw steamer or screw steamship is an old term for a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine, using one or more propellers to propel it through the water. Such a ship was also known as an "iron screw steam ship".
Burra Bra was a Manly ferry on Sydney Harbour that operated by the Port Jackson & Manly Steamship Company from 1908 until 1940, before being requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy for use as an anti-submarine training vessel and target tow during World War II.
Robert Wilson FRSE FRSSA was a Scottish engineer, remembered as inventor of a special kind of a screw propeller, which he demonstrated in 1827. Wilson also designed a self-acting motion for steam hammers which was key to making them practical for industrial use, among many other inventions.
A team boat, horse boat, or horse ferry, is a watercraft powered by horses or mules, generally using a treadmill, which serves as a horse engine. Team boats were popular as ferries in the United States from the mid-1810s to the 1850s.
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