Robert Fulton

1765–1815

Fulton, Robert, an American engineer and inventor; born in Lan-caster County, Pennsylvania, in 1765. He turned his attention at an early age to drawing and portrait-painting, which he practised with skill and success in Philadelphia, where he had re-moved at the age of seventeen. After spending some years as an artist in London he decided to become a civil engineer, in 1793 formed a project to improve inland navigation, and at a later period invented a machine for spinning flax and another for making rope, both of which were patented in England. He subsequently went to Paris, where he resided in the family of Joel Barlow, and became the proprietor of the first panorama exhibited in that city. He also invented a submarine boat, called a "torpedo," to be used in naval warfare, which attracted the favorable notice of Napoleon, and in which Fulton succeeded in remaining under water and guiidi it with ease. Returning to New York in 1806, he, with the assistance of Robert Livingston, succeeded in completing, in 1807, the valuable discovery of steam navigation. He launched his first steam-boat, the Clermont, in 1807. It proved to be a decided success, making trips between that city and Albany at a speed of five miles an hour, which was soon increased by improved machinery. Many larger steamboats were constructed under his direction. Though Fulton expended a large amount of money upon his invention, he gained nothing by his patent. He married, in 1806, Harriet, daughter of Walter Livingston. Died 1815.

Key events during the life of Robert Fulton:

Year	Event

Other Resources

Story Links	Book Links
Robert Fulton and the Invention of the Steamboat  in	Great Inventors and Their Inventions  by  Frank P. Bachman
Paddle-Wheel Boat  in	Fifty Famous People  by  James Baldwin
Robert Fulton and the Steamboat  in	A First Book in American History  by  Edward Eggleston
Quicksilver Bob  in	Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans  by  Edward Eggleston
The First Steamboat  in	Story of the Great Republic  by  H. A. Guerber
Robert Fulton  in	Heroes of Progress in America  by  Charles Morris
Robert Fulton  in	Four American Inventors  by  Frances M. Perry
Robert Fulton  in	Builders of Our Country: Book II  by  Gertrude van Duyn Southworth

Image Links
Robert Fulton  in Great Inventors and Their Inventions	Fulton and the Lead Pencil  in Great Inventors and Their Inventions	Fulton showing his boat to Livingston, in Paris  in Great Inventors and Their Inventions
Watching the Clermont Steam up the Hudson River  in Great Inventors and Their Inventions	Robert Fulton and his paddle boat  in Fifty Famous People	Fulton's First Invention  in A First Book in American History
Fulton's First Steamboat  in A First Book in American History	Robert Fulton  in Four American Inventors	Fulton's first Experiment  in Four American Inventors

Contemporary	Short Biography