The Great Eastern—Her Paddle Wheels and Screw

The Great Eastern—Her Paddle Wheels and Screw—Who is the Inventor?

From Scientific American, New Series, Volume 3, Issue 8, page 116. August 18, 1860

The public has been somewhat astounded by several notices that have recently appeared in the daily papers, in which it has been stated that measures had been taken to institute a suit for $50,000 dollars damages against the directors of the Great Eastern. It has also been stated that the active agents in this movement are Messrs. C. J. Gilbert and S. T. Armstrong, and that the cause of damages is the infringement of the patent granted to James E. Smith, of Greenport, N. Y., on March 14th, 1848. Foreign vessels visiting our ports are not subject to our patent laws, but it is contended by those who are interested in Smith's patent, that the Great Eastern has forfeited her foreign character by engaging in the coasting trade, and making excursions for profit. On such a basis the grounds for proceedings against the directors of the great ship appear to be well taken, for assuredly Mr. Smith did obtain the patent referred to for the combination of a propeller and paddle wheels. If it can be proved, however, that Mr. Smith is not the first inventor of such a combination of propelling devices, then his patent will become void. In our opinion, good evidence can be adduced to prove that John Fitch, the first American inventor of steamboats, was also the original inventor of the screw and its combination with paddle wheels for propelling boats.

Early steam boat with screw propeller

The accompanying engraving represents a boat which John Fitch fitted up with a rude steam engine in 1796 or 1797, and which was propelled on several occasions with screw and paddle wheels on the Collect Pond, a sheet of deep water, which once occupied the place where the New York Tombs and other buildings in that vicinity now stand. The cut is copied from the second volume of the Documentary History of New York, and was formerly published by us on page 104, Vol. V. (old series), SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. It was transferred, with an amendment by the historian, from a rare chart which was published in 1846, by John Hutchings, of Wesley Place, Williamsburg, L. I. Two of the persons in the illustration represent Robert Fulton and Chancellor Livingston; John Fitch is shown attending the machinery, and John Hutchings (then a lad between fifteen and sixteen years of age) acting as steersman with an oar. John Fitch could only obtain a big iron kettle for a steam boiler, and his mechanism was very rude; still, the boat was run at the rate of six miles per hour. The chart of Mr. Hutchings was designed from memory, and published two years before Mr. Smith's patent was granted. It contains two cuts of the same boat, the one having the screw and the other the paddle wheels, which were both used, but not shown combined as in the Documentary History. A line of print at the bottom of the chart, however, states that the screw and paddle wheels were both employed on the boat. Mr. John Hutchings is now more than 80 years of age, and is probably the only man living who saw John Fitch's boat running on the Collect Pond. He is still quite vigorous, and possesses a good memory. He lives in comfort, but with untiring industry he still works daily at the bench as a cooper; and a few days since we derived from his own lips an account of his early steamboat trips and remarkable experience. In 1796 he steered the 17-feet boat here represented, which was the only one then in existence in the world. But 64 years have passed away since then, and what a change to the Greet Eastern-692 feet in length, 83 feet in width, and 60 feet in depth!

We have always claimed the screw propeller as an American invention, also the combination of the paddle wheels and screw in one vessel as the invention of John Fitch. Were this not the case, we could not have claimed this mode of propulsion for America by basing our proof on Mr. Smith's patent. The English claim that, in 1842, a steamer, named the Bee, belonging to Portsmouth, was fitted up with both paddle wheels and screw propeller, which could all be connected and driven with the same engines. This is stated in Tredgold's work on the Steam Engine, and mentioned on page 333, Vol. IV., of the English Patent Abridgements, under the head of "Marine Propulsion." We have given a simple narration of the facts relating to this case, so that the public may be made fully acquainted with all its merits as the statements hitherto published respecting it have been very unsatisfactory. We do not envy the spirit of those men who have exhumed a musty patent which had never been applied practically and usefully by its owners, for the purpose of harassing the directors of the noblest specimen of naval architecture and enterprise the world has ever seen. Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the managers of the Greet Eastern, our people will not tolerate any unjust or ungenerous act towards them; for meanness is no part of our national character.

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