ANECDOTES, DESCRIPTIONS, ETC., ETC., RELATING TO THE MECHANIC ARTS. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE FRONTISPIECE. Fitch's Steamboat The first American Locomotive; or, the "Oructor Am 31 Longitudinal Section of Thames Tunnel, showing its course under the river Longitudinal Section of Thames Tunnel, with an end view PAGE 434 AMERICAN MECHANICS. JOHN FITCH, AN EARLY STEAMBOAT INVENTOR. "The invention all admired, and each how he Who invented the first steamboat?-Early experimenters in steam.-Blasco de Garay.-Jonathan Hulls.-Fitch's manuscript.-Birth.-Character of his parents.-Loses his mother.-Juvenile heroism.-Mother-in-law.-Schoolboy days.-Becomes a great arithmetician.-Father's austerity.-Hears of a wonderful book.-Great thirst for knowledge.-Self-denial and industry.-Makes a purchase.-Becomes a great geographer.-Father purchases him scale and dividers. Great joy thereat.-Studies surveying.-Surveys with the governor, and paid in glory.-Leaves school for the farm.-Brother's tyranny.-Desires to study astronomy.-Relaxes from studious habits.-Embarks as a cabin-boy in a coaster.-Cruel treatment.-Leaves, and enters another.-Makes a short voyage. Returns.-Accidental meeting with a clockmaker.-Wishes to enter his service.-Selfish opposition of his parents.-Kindness of his brother-inlaw. Enters the clockmaker's service. His neglect.-Leaves in ignorance of his profession.-Enters the service of a clockmaker and watch repairer.Gross injustice.-Leaves.-New employment, and success.-A change, and misfortune.-Marries.-Unhappy life.-Abandons his wife.-Wanders.-Visits the Jerseys.-Sickly appearance a prevention to obtaining employment as a day laborer.-Turns button-maker.-Revolutionary war.-Repairs arms for the continental army.-Employed in Kentucky as a surveyor.-Taken prisoner by the Indians, and carried into captivity.-Release.-Returns to the east.-First idea of a steamboat.-Curious reflections.-Dr. Thornton's account of his experiments. Note,-Biographical Sketch of Rumsey.-Description of Fitch's boat.-Goes out to France.-Return.-Misfortunes.-Generosity of a relation. -Visits Kentucky.-Better prospects.-Death. "WHO invented the steamboat?" is a question which has excited great controversy,-an achievement of which nations as well as individuals have been covetous. Several of the early experimenters in steam appear to have conceived of the idea. The first account we have on the subject is given in a work recently published in Spain, containing original papers relating to the voyage of Columbus, said to have been pre |