eBooks Base 2000

Many attempts to simplify
the working of the engine, and more to employ a means of dispensing
with the beam in converting the _libratory_ into a rotatory motion,
were made. For a short time, a passage-boat, rowed by a
steam-engine, was established between Borden-town and Philadelphia,
but it was soon laid aside. The best and most powerful steam-engine
which has been employed for this purpose--excepting, perhaps, one
constructed by Dr. Kinsey, with the performance of which I am not
sufficiently acquainted--belonged to a gentleman of New York. It
was made to act, by way of experiment, upon oars, upon paddles, and
upon flutter-wheels. Nothing in the success of any of these
experiments appeared to be sufficient compensation for the expense
and the extreme inconvenience of the steam-engine in the vessel.
There are, indeed, general objections to the use of the
steam-engine for impelling boats, from which no particular mode of
application can be free. These are:
First. The weight of the engine and of the fuel.
Second. The large space it occupies.


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