John fitch

John Fitch was born to Joseph Fitch and Sarah Shaler in ( Connecticut ) on January 21, 1743 on a farm that is part of modern (Connecticut). He received only elementary school education and eventually became a student of a watchmaker, while studying Fitch was not allowed to study and even watch the work of a watchmaker (later he independently learned how to repair watches). December 29, 1767 John Fitch married Lucy Roberts ^[4] . After a period of apprenticeship, he discovered a brass foundry in East Windsor , CT, and then a brass and silver smelter in Trenton , New Jersey . Fitch worked successfully in this smelter for eight years, but then it was destroyed by British forces during the American Revolution . Subsequently, during the revolution, he served as a gunsmith of the Jersey militia. After a dispute about remuneration, he left office, but continued his work on the repair and conversion of weapons in Trenton. In the fall of 1777, Fitch supplied the Continental Army in Philadelphia with beer and tobacco. During the following winter and spring, he supplied beer, rum and other products needed by the forces in Valley Forge. In 1780, he began working as an inspector in Kentucky , where he acquired 1,600 acres (6.5 km²) of land. In the spring of 1782, during an inspection of the North-Western Territory, he was captured by the Indians and transferred to the British, who eventually released him ^[5] .

In 1785, Fitch settled in , Pennsylvania , where he began working on his ideas for creating a steamboat. He was unable to raise funds from the Continental Congress , and he convinced the state legislatures to give him a 14-year monopoly on the operation of steamboats in inland waterways. With this monopoly, he was able to secure financing from entrepreneurs and other citizens of the largest city in the state of Philadelphia .

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Fitch saw in the encyclopedia a drawing of one of the first British steam engines of Newcomen , but they were huge and intended to pump water from the mines. In addition, Fitch was aware of a more compact and efficient steam engine developed by James Watt in Scotland in the late 1770s, but at that time there was not a single steam engine in the United States. They will not be imported for many years (the first were imported models of Fulton on his ship in 1807), because the UK did not allow the export of new technologies to its former colony. Thus, Fitch tried to develop his own version of the steam engine. He moved to Philadelphia and began working with the watchmaker and inventor , who helped him build a working model and put it on the boat ^[5] .

The first successful trial launch of its steam ship Perseverance (Perseverance) was held on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787 in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention . The vessel was set in motion with the help of oars, located on both sides. Over the next several years, Fitch and Voigt worked to create the best designs, and in June 1790 installed a steam engine at the stern of a ship 60 feet long (18 meters) that set the oars in motion, which repeated the rowing movements of the duck's legs. During the summer of 1790, this boat operated between Philadelphia and ( New Jersey ), carrying up to thirty passengers. Over the summer, the boat passed about 3000 miles. Fitch claimed that the boat sailed 500 miles without any mechanical problems ^[5] . The estimated speed was at least 6 miles per hour under adverse conditions and a maximum of 7-8 miles per hour in good weather ^[6] .

Fitch received a patent on August 26, 1791, after a lawsuit with , who also invented the steam boat. Unfortunately, the newly created commission did not give a general patent for steamboats, as Fitch asked, but gave a patent for a specific model developed by Fitch. On the same day, the court issued patents for steam engines designed by Ramsey, and . The loss of monopoly prompted many investors to leave Fitch’s company. Although the boats were mechanically successful, Fitch no longer had the financial resources to continue development.

Fitch's ideas were implemented by Robert Fulton two decades later. Fulton was able to get a monopoly in the state of New York due to the powerful influence of his partner Robert Livingstone , but he could not get a US patent in many respects because the originality of Fulton’s designs could not be demonstrated. In addition, Fitch’s original member, William Thornton, became head of the newly created Patent Office and made a statement that made the process difficult for Fulton. Fitch also received a patent in 1791 in France . In 1793, while retaining the hope of building a steamboat in the United States, he went to France, where American investor Aaron Weil promised to help him build a ship. Unfortunately, Fitch arrived at a time when terror began in the country and he had to abandon all his plans. He moved to London to try to build a steamer there, but it also failed. Fitch returned to the United States in 1794 and made several more unsuccessful attempts to build a steamboat. As a result, he moved to (Kentucky) in 1797. Here, Fitch hoped to sell part of the land acquired in the early 1780s and build a steamer with the money received for use in Ohio or on the Mississippi River . Upon arrival, he found that the settlers had occupied part of his property. Legal disputes with them continued until his tragic death (suicide in Delaware) in 1798 ^[5] .

While living in Kentucky, Fitch continued to work on the creation of a steam engine. He built two models, one of which died during a fire at Bardstone. Another was found in the attic of his daughter's home in Ohio in 1849. The model exists now and is included in the exposition of the Historical Society of Ohio in the city of Columbus ^[7] . In 1950, a specialist from the Smithsonian Museum examined it and came to the conclusion that it was a “prototype steam engine used on land” designed for work on the roads - in other words, a steam locomotive ^[5] . In 1802, the Englishman Richard Trevithick invented a full-size steam locomotive, which in 1804 first traveled the train, and within a short time the British invention led to the development of railways. Americans began to import and copy the English locomotives.

A legal dispute with James Ramsey, another inventor of the steamer, over the state monopoly helped bring the first patent law into force in 1790. Fitch is mentioned in the personal letters of several historical figures, including George Washington ^[8] , Benjamin Franklin ^[9] , Thomas Jefferson and James Madison ^[10] .

Despite its relative obscurity compared to other American inventors and engineers, such as Robert Fulton and Peter Cooper , Fitch’s contribution was not forgotten. The 1:10 scale model of the John Fitch steamer is on display at the Stevens Museum at in Warminster, Pa. ^{[11] [12]} .

Other mentions:

• The fresco of Constantino Brumidi in 1876 in the US Capitol depicts how Fitch works on one of the models of the ship ^[13] .
• Monument to Fitch with a copy of his first ship in Bardstone (Kentucky) on Courthau Square.
• A small monument to Fitch in Warminster, Pa.
• John Fitch High School was built on Bloomfield Avenue in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1934. Transformed into primary school in 1950. Now it is a pension for seniors, but its building still bears the name Fitch and a memorial plaque is installed on the facade. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places of the USA ^[14] .
• John Fitch Elementary School in , Pennsylvania.
• John Fitch Boulevard in South Windsor (CT).
• The state of New Jersey called part of the road along the Delaware River "John Fitch Parkway."
• Fitch's diary and his memoirs were published many years later on the title of John Fitch's Autobiography .

• Fitch, John // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 t. (82 t. And 4 add.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Sutcliffe, Andrea . Steam: The Untold Story of America's First Great Invention. - N. Y .: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. - ISBN 1-4039-6899-3 .
• Boyd, Thomas . Poor John Fitch: Inventor of the Steamboat. - Manchester, NH: Ayer Company Publishers, 1972. - ISBN 0-8369-5684-2 ; ISBN 978-0-8369-5684-9 .
• The Autobiography of John Fitch. // Prager, Frank, editor. - Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1976.
• Watson, John F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. - King and Baird, 1850.
• Wescott, Thompson . The life of John Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat. - Philadelphia: JB Lippincott & Company, 1857.
• John Fitch. / Dictionary of American Biography. - 1928-1936.
• John Fitch. / Webster's American Biographies. - G & C Merriam Co., 1975.

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• John Fitch Steamboat Museum website
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