Robert Fulton, an American inventor, born at Little Britain, Lancaster co., Pa., in 1765, died in New York, Feb. 24, 1815. When about three years old he lost his father. He received a common school education, went to Philadelphia at the age of 17, and became a miniature painter. Mechanical pursuits, however, mingled with those of the artist. Before attaining his majority he had laid by a sum sufficient to buy a small farm, upon which he placed his mother, and soon afterward went to London to study under West, with whom he remained several years. Afterward he became acquainted with the duke of Bridgewa-ter, at whose instance he adopted the profession of civil engineer. He had in the mean time become acquainted with Earl Stanhope, who was engaged on a scheme of steam navigation. In 1793 Fulton wrote to him, suggesting some of the views which he afterward reduced to practice on the Hudson. At Birmingham he was brought into communication with Watt, who had just succeeded in his great improvement of the steam engine, with the structure of which Fulton made himself familiar. During his residence here he devised an improved mill for sawing marble, for which he received a vote of thanks and an honorary medal from the British society for the promotion of arts and commerce.

To this period also are referred his patented machines for spinning flax and for making ropes, and the invention of an excavator for scooping out the channels of canals and aqueducts. In 1796 he published in London his treatise on the improvement of canal navigation. Having obtained a patent in England for canal improvements, Fulton went to France with the view of introducing them there, but his attention was soon diverted to other objects. In 1797 he took up his residence at Paris, where he resided for seven years with Joel Barlow, and superintended the illustration of his "Columbiad." At this time he devised the submarine boat, afterward styled a nautilus, connected with which were submarine bombs, afterward known as torpedoes. This invention he offered several times to the French government, and once to the Dutch ambassador at Paris, without exciting their favorable attention. Negotiations were subsequently opened with him by the British government, which induced him to visit London in May, 1804. A commission, at the head of which was Sir Joseph Banks, reported that the submarine boat was impracticable. In October, 1805, he was permitted to experiment on a brig of 200 tons burden with a carcass of 170 lbs. of powder.

In 15 minutes from the application of the carcass the explosion took place; the brig, according to Fulton's account, made no more resistance than a bag of feathers, and went to pieces like a shattered egg shell. Notwithstanding this success Fulton was disappointed in his hopes of government patronage, and at length embarked for his native country, He reached New York in December, 1806, and in the following month went to Washington, where his models and drawings made a favorable impression, and a sum was appropriated to defray the cost of experiments with the torpedoes. The probability of a rupture with England, consequent on the affair of the Leopard and Chesapeake, made the summer of 1807 propitious to his project, and on July 20 he decomposed a large hulk brig in the harbor of New York with a torpedo containing 70 lbs. of powder. In 1810 he again visited Washington, and explained some improvements in his plans to Jefferson, Madison, and a number of members of congress. So successful was he in his explanations that congress appropriated $5,000 for further experiments, to be prosecuted under the direction of the navy department. The sloop of war Argus had been prepared, under the orders of Commodore Eodg-ers, to defend herself against Fulton's attack, which proved unsuccessful.

Various reports were made by the commissioners, but Rodgers pronounced Fulton's system to be impracticable. Fulton still believed in it, but he had engaged in other schemes which left him no time to continue his experiments. While residing in Paris he had become acquainted with Robert R. Livingston, then United States minister to France, who had previously been connected with Nicholas Roosevelt and John Stevens in steamboat experiments at home. He now entered into the views of Fulton, and offered to provide funds for an experiment, and to contract for the introduction of the new method, if successful, into the United States. In 1798 an act was passed by the legislature of New York, repealing the act of 1787 in favor of John Fitch, and transferring to Livingston the exclusive privilege of navigating the waters of the state by steam, on condition that he should within a twelvemonth give proof of his having built a boat of 20 tons capable of a mean progress in the Hudson river of four miles an hour, and at no time omit for one year to have a boat of this construction plying between Albany and New York. This act was from time to time continued, and Fulton was finally included within its provisions.

Late in 1803 Fulton constructed a working model of his intended boat, and at the same time commenced building a vessel 66 ft. in length and 8 ft. in width. When finished, it did not move with the speed that was expected. In the same year, however, he sent an order to Watt and Boulton for a steam engine to propel a boat of large size, which was completed and reached New York in 1806. Fulton had meanwhile informed himself of everything that had been attempted in steam navigation in Europe and the United States. He planned for the new machinery a boat that was completed and fitted in 1807 and named the Clermont. Its progress through the waters of the Hudson is stated at five miles an hour. In the course of the ensuing winter it was enlarged to a boat of 140 ft. keel and 16 1/2 ft. beam. So completely was the utility of the invention established that the legislature extended the exclusive privilege of Livingston and Fulton five years for every additional boat, provided the whole term should not exceed 30 years; and in 1808 passed another act subjecting to forfeiture any vessel propelled by steam which should enter the waters of the state without their license.

His second large boat on the Hudson was the Car of Neptune, built in 1807. In 1809 Fulton obtained his first patent from the United States; and in 1811 he took out a second patent for some improvement in his boats and machinery. Meanwhile the power of the legislature to grant the steamboat monopoly was denied, and a company was formed at Albany to establish another line of steam passage boats on the Hudson, between that city and New York. The state grantees filed a bill in equity, and prayed for an injunction, which was refused on the ground that the act of the state legislature was repugnant to the constitution of the United States and against common right. This decree was reversed by the court of errors, and a compromise was effected with the Albany company by an assignment to them of a right to employ steam on the waters of Lake Champlain. Other litigation followed, the result of which was that the waters of the state remained in the exclusive possession of Fulton and his partner during the lifetime of the former. A similar controversy arose in New Jersey, which was also compromised.

Pending these controversies, Fulton constructed ferry boats to run between New York and New Jersey, one for a Brooklyn company, a boat for Long Island sound, five for the Hudson river, and several boats for steamboat companies in different parts of the United States, some of them for the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In 1811 he was made one of the commissioners appointed by the legislature to explore the route of an inland navigation from the Hudson river to the lakes. In 1814 congress authorized the president to build and employ one or more floating batteries for coast defence, and Fulton was appointed the engineer. He commenced immediately the construction of a war steamer, which was launched within four months, and was styled by the constructor the Demologos, though it was afterward named Fulton the First. This first war steamer was a heavy and unwieldy mass, which obtained a speed against the current of some 2 1/2 miles an hour; but as the pioneer of the steam navies of the world it was regarded as a marvel, and as a most formidable engine of defence. The war having terminated before her completion, she was taken to the navy yard at Brooklyn, where she was used as a receiving ship till June 4, 1829, when she was accidentally blown up.

While engaged in the construction of this war steamer, Fulton was employed by the president upon an improved modification of his submarine boat, which was arrested by his death. The "Life of Robert Fulton," by C. D. Colden, was published in 1817. His life has also been written by James Renwick, in Sparks's "American Bioeraphy."