Steam: The Untold Story of America's First Great Invention

by Andrea Sutcliffe

In 1807, Robert Fulton, using an English mail-order steam engine, chugged four miles an hour up the Hudson River, passing into popular folklore as the inventor of the steamboat. However, the true first passenger steamboat in America, and the world, was built from scratch, and plied the Delaware River in 1790, almost two decades earlier. Its inventor, John Fitch, never attained Fulton's riches, and was rewarded with ridicule and poverty. Considering there was not a single working steam engine in America in the early 1780s, Fitch's steamboat's development was nothing short of remarkable. But he faced competition from the start, and he and several other inventors fought a string of bitter battles, legal and otherwise. Steam tells the dramatic story of Fitch and his adversaries, weaving their lives into a fascinating tale including the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. It is the story behind America's first important venture in technology, the persevering and colorful men that made it happen, and the great invention that moved a new nation westward.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, American History, Science

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Originally from San Antonio, Andrea Sutcliffe has a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She was a writer, editor, and publications manager in the Washington, DC, area for twenty years. Her writing and editing career began in 1990 as director of the EEI Press in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1996, Andrea Sutcliffe moved to Virginias Shenandoah Valley to devote herself full-time to writing. Andreas love of her new home in the mountains of western Virginia, and a desire to learn more about the regions fascinating history, led to her book, Touring the Shenandoah Valley Backroads. "

Reviews

[Dan Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good read about all kinds of troubles inventors and mechanics had in the 18th century trying to get their ideas financed and realized. Some familiar characters--Washington, Jefferson, Franklin--play important roles, but the narrative focuses on steamboat pioneers who are largely forgotten because of patent fights and other hindrances. Robert Fulton got credit for showing steamboats could be a financial success, but John Fitch and James Rumsey did the most work, and failed the most while having modest successes.

Some characters are hard to keep track of, and some seem to be introduced multiple times. A list of people to accompany the list of important dates would have been helpful.

[Terezi Pyrope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially, this book provides a credible intention to describing the struggle and adversity that had occurred between two innovators that fought for patent rights for the steam engine in the newly-established late 1700's America. Although the novel only briefly describes the mechanics and engineering of the steam engine itself, Sutcliffe thoroughly explains the intentions and character of the two men who fabricated the ideologies of a steam powered engine. One prominent con presented here would be the over concern with describing the patents and patent applying process, and not enough about the steam engine itself. This book is purely about the two discernible inventors of the steam powered engine (more like a biography perhaps) and not the actual steam engine; however, the journey that the inventors crawl through is encapsulating and well worth the lack of substantial information regarding the steam engine's mechanics.

Also, Sutcliffe seems to take an affinity to John Fitch, one of the innovators seeking patent rights; however he is easily perceived to be a whiny, selfish loser who borrowed his ideas from other inventors, even through the author's positive bias. Of course this is only the authors opinion, but claiming Fitch as the true inventor of the engine is relatively contradictory to the evidence portrayed in the book.

[Aadisht · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a story of heroic invention. It is a story of heroic failure. There is no scientific genius here. Just hardscrabble experimentation, most of which keeps ending in miserable negative results and swallowing up capital and condemning inventors to poverty.

For most of the book, the only things discussed are a succession of false starts, failures, and squabbles. There's no narrative about scientific or technical insight. What there possibly is insight on, is on the need for venture capital in some form, and on the early history of IPR law. Which was not personally interesting to me, but might be to people who are inclined that way.

It wasn't until almost the last chapter where things got fun for me. This is the point at which the two principals die, and the narrative switches to Robert Fulton, an American legend who first sold defective weapons to the French, then sold defective weapons to the British, then blackmailed the British for more money by threatening to make the details of his (defective) weapons public, and then used the proceeds from all this to finally build the steam powered riverboat that the actual inventors never had the money to do, and then finally buy himself monopoly rights to run steamboat services in various territories.

I would recommend this book despite the slow start to anybody interested in IPR law, monopolies, robber barons, or heroic failures.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read of the history of Steam in America and Europe. While Fulton gets most of the credit in our history books, there is much more to the story and the life of John Fitch is so much more interesting. All of this development took place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with, as other reviews have indicated, cameos from George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and even Napoleon. The discussion of the early patent office and Jefferson's frustrations were interesting. Bottom line is there is no "father" of steam engineering or steamboats. Each inventor and visionary were developing their own takes on what had been developed before them. As the book concludes, there are really three "fathers of steam" and those are Fitch, Steven, and lastly Fulton. In fact, Fulton didn't invent the steam engine, adapt it to a boat, develop paddle wheels, he simple gets credit for putting them all together.

[Kayla Tornello · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject of this book is interesting. The development of steam power really affected industry. However, the book itself was a bit on the dry side. It failed to keep my interest.

[Dale Bay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting read focused on the who did what when, who ripped who off, who got back stabbed by whom and how that affected the development of steam power in the emerging US of A. A very inside baseball approach to a subject I suspect only a small number of us find fascinating.

For general readers I give it three stars because there are more comprehensive works on early steam power. For the specialist reader it's definitely five stars. Accordingly, I'll compromise and rate it four stars.

I read this a few months ago. Not sure of the dates.

[Edward Fenner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Fascinating story well told.

[Matthew Gilmore]

A bit quixotic--popular in tone but lots of scholarly backup.