Details
FITCH, JOHN (1743-1798), builder of first steamboat. Letter signed ("John Fitch") to John O'Conner, Philadelphia, 2 December 1788. 1 full page, 4to, 223 x 186mm. (7 x 7.3/8 in.), slightly browned. [With:] Pennsylvania, Legislature. Manuscript act. "for granting & securing to Jno. Fitch the sole right & advantages of making & employing the Steam Boat, by him lately invented..." [Philadelphia], 28 March 1787. 4 pages, folio. Signed at end by J. Shalling, Asst. Clerk of the General Assembly, certifying it as "a true copy."
FITCH'S PLANS TO EXPORT THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL STEAMBOAT
A year after he first successfully tested a steamboat on the Delaware River (22 August 1787), Fitch spells out terms to an agent seeking overseas contracts for steamboats of Fitch's design: "Sir, Believing [sic] that navigation may be much facilitated, and the wealth of every country increased, that shall think proper to Introduce, by granting an exclusive right for my newly Invented Vessel, to be propelled by Steam; and placing the highest confidence in your Honor... and not doubting but you will endeavour to procure grants for my Steam-boats in the Dominions of the King of Spain; and...convey one half of all the emoluments thereof to me...These are therefore to authorize you to procure for the longest term of years possible, an exclusive grant...In the countries or any of them Subject to the King of Spain, provided you take no more than one half the Scheme under the patents or grants you actually obtain, to effect such procurements. The expence of building the Boats or Vessels to be used under such grants or patents, to be borne by each proprietor agreable to his share..."
The accompanying transcript consists of the Pennsylvania act granting Fitch an exclusive contract to build and operate steamboats. Fitch obtained similar licenses from New Jersey (1786), New York, Delaware and Virginia (1787). A second, larger vessel was successfully launched in 1788 and a still larger one in 1790; Fitch was granted a U.S. patent in 1791, but passengers were few, the machines experienced difficulties and the loss of the one boat in a storm was a powerful deterrant to his investors. Fulton's Claremont, launched in 1807, was the first practicable steamboat. FITCH'S LETTERS ARE VERY RARE. (2)
FITCH'S PLANS TO EXPORT THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL STEAMBOAT
A year after he first successfully tested a steamboat on the Delaware River (22 August 1787), Fitch spells out terms to an agent seeking overseas contracts for steamboats of Fitch's design: "Sir, Believing [sic] that navigation may be much facilitated, and the wealth of every country increased, that shall think proper to Introduce, by granting an exclusive right for my newly Invented Vessel, to be propelled by Steam; and placing the highest confidence in your Honor... and not doubting but you will endeavour to procure grants for my Steam-boats in the Dominions of the King of Spain; and...convey one half of all the emoluments thereof to me...These are therefore to authorize you to procure for the longest term of years possible, an exclusive grant...In the countries or any of them Subject to the King of Spain, provided you take no more than one half the Scheme under the patents or grants you actually obtain, to effect such procurements. The expence of building the Boats or Vessels to be used under such grants or patents, to be borne by each proprietor agreable to his share..."
The accompanying transcript consists of the Pennsylvania act granting Fitch an exclusive contract to build and operate steamboats. Fitch obtained similar licenses from New Jersey (1786), New York, Delaware and Virginia (1787). A second, larger vessel was successfully launched in 1788 and a still larger one in 1790; Fitch was granted a U.S. patent in 1791, but passengers were few, the machines experienced difficulties and the loss of the one boat in a storm was a powerful deterrant to his investors. Fulton's Claremont, launched in 1807, was the first practicable steamboat. FITCH'S LETTERS ARE VERY RARE. (2)