yomara velez

Robert Fulton was born in Pennsylvania. He may have interested for the first time in the steam engine in 1777 when, at the age of 12 years, visited Lancaster delegate William Henry, who had studied the Watt steam engine on a visit to England. On his return, Henry built his own machine and in 1763 (two years before the birth of Fulton) attempted to place it as the engine of a boat sinking ended.
When Fulton came of age, in 1786, went to England to study painting. In this country created his first invention, consisting of an elevator system applied to the internal navigation.

Already in 1793 had proposed plans to build steamships the British and American governments, and in England he met the Duke of Bridgewater, whose canal shortly thereafter would use for testing a steam barge, and who later bought Steamboats William Symington. Symington had successfully steamships to sail in 1788, and it is likely that Fulton was unaware of these developments.

In 1797 Fulton went to France, where the Marquis Claude de Jouffroy had built a steamboat propelled by paddle wheels in 1783. There he began experimenting with submarine torpedoes and naval torpedoes. He designed his first propeller submarine, called the Nautilus, commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Nautilus was first tested in 1800.

In June 1802 the British minister called for a commission to evaluate the Fulton submarine project. The commission was composed Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Canvesdih, Sir Home Riggs Popham, Major Congreve and Mr. John Rennie. The commission after several weeks of work determined that the project was inviable.1

Robet Fulton (1803) by Jean Antoine Houdon.
In 1800 he met Robert Livingston, ambassador of the United States (Father which later became his wife), and decided to build a steamboat to test in the River Seine. Fulton experimented with the water resistance of different boat hulls, making designs and patterns and even built a full steamboat. His first prototype sank, but was rebuilt and strengthened the frame. On August 9, 1803 his ship sailed up under the watchful eye of a crowd of people. The ship was 20 meters long, 2.4 meters wide, and reached a speed of between 5 and 6 km / h upstream