|
TAYLOR, JAMES, whose name
must ever bear a conspicuous and honorable place in the history of the
invention of steam navigation, was born, May 2, 1758, at the village of
Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, and received the rudiments of his education at
the academy of Closeburn. After fitting himself to enter the medical
profession, he was engaged, in the year 1785, by Mr Patrick Miller of
Dalswinton, to superintend the education of the two sons of that gentleman,
who were in attendance at the university of Edinburgh. It was also the aim
of Mr Miller, that Mr Taylor, whose scientific acquirements had been warmly
spoke of by the common friend who recommended him to the situation, should
assist him in those mechanical pursuits with which for some years he had
been in the habit of amusing his leisure hours. In the year just mentioned,
Mr. Miller was engaged in a series of operations for applying paddle wheels
to vessels, rather with a view to extricating them from perilous situations
against the impulse of wind and tide, than with any expectaion that such
machinery, driven, as he contemplated it to be, by human power alone, could
be of use in ordinary navigation. Mr Taylor entered at once into Mr Miller’s
views, and aided in the preparation of a double vessel, of sixty feet in
length, with intermediate paddles, driven by a capstan, which Mr Miller
tried in the Firth of Forth, in spring, 1787, against a custom-house wherry,
which it easily distanced. On this occasion Mr Taylor became convinced of
the utility of the paddles; but, observing that the men were much exhausted
by their labour, he was equally convinced that a superior mechanical power
was wanting, in order to realize the full value of the invention. Having
communicated his thoughts to Mr Miller, he received from that gentleman the
following answer:--"I am of the same opinion, and that power is just what I
am in search of. My object is to add mechanical aid to the natural power of
the wind, to enable vessels to avoid and to extricate themselves from
dangerous situations, which they cannot do on their present construction."
Invited to co-operate in this object, Mr Taylor applied himself to the
consideration of all the mechanical powers already in common use, but
without being able to convince himself of the applicability of any of them.
At length the steam-engine presented itself to him; and though he might be
naturally supposed to have been himself startled at the boldness of such a
thought, he soon convinced himself of its being practicable. On suggesting
it to Mr Miller, he found he had excited more astonishment at the novelty,
than respect of the feasibility of the scheme. Mr Miller allowed the
sufficiency of the power; but was disposed to deny that it could be applied,
more particularly in those critical circumstances to obviate which was the
chief aim of his own project. "In such cases," said he, "as that disastrous
event which happened lately, of the wreck of a whole fleet upon a lee shore,
off the coast of Spain, every fire on board must be extinguished, and of
course such an engine could be of no use." Mr Taylor was not daunted by
these objections, but, on the contrary, the more he thought of the project,
the more convinced he became of its practicability. He represented to Mr
Miller, that, if not applicable to purposes of general navigation, it might
at least prove useful on canals and estuaries. After many conversations, the
latter gentleman at length conceded so far to Mr Taylor’s suggestion, as to
request him to make drawings, for the purpose of showing how the engine
could be connected with the paddle-wheels. Mr Taylor did so, and Mr Miller,
being still further satisfied, though as yet, it appears, unconvinced,
agreed to be at the expense of an experiment, provided it should not amount
to a large sum, and that Mr Taylor should superintend the operations, as he
candidly confessed he was a stranger to the use of steam. The two projectors
were then at Dalswinton; but it was arranged that, when they should return
to Edinburgh in the early part of winter, an engine should be constructed
for the purpose. Part of the summer was employed by Mr Miller in drawing up
a narrative of his experiments upon shipping, with a view to its being
printed and circulated. This he submitted to Mr Taylor for the benefit of
his correction; and the latter gentleman, observing that no mention had been
made of the application of the steam engine, "I have not done that
inadvertently," answered Mr Miller, "but from a wish not to pledge myself to
the public for a thing I may never perform: you know my intentions on that
subject are as yet conditional." Mr Taylor replied, that he could hardly
look upon them in that light, as he was satisfied that any expense which
could attach to so small a matter would not prevent him (Mr Miller) from
making the experiment; that he considered the mention of the steam engine as
of importance; and that it could be alluded to in such a manner as to pledge
him to nothing. Mr Miller was convinced, and introduced an allusion to
steam, as an agent he might perhaps employ for the propulsion of his
vessels. Copies of the paper thus improved were transmitted to the royal
family, the ministers, many of the leading members of both houses of
parliament, and to all the maritime powers in Europe, besides the president
of the United States of America.
In November, 1787, Mr Miller
removed as usual to the capital, and Mr Taylor, having been empowered by his
employer to proceed about the construction of an engine, recommended to Mr
Miller’s notice a young man named Symington, who had attempted some
alterations upon the steam engine, and was now residing in Edinburgh for his
improvement in mechanics. It was agreed that Symington should form an engine
on his own plan, and that the experiment should be made in the ensuing
summer upon the lake of Dalswinton. The construction of the engine occupied
several months, and was not completed at the conclusion of that session of
the university; so that Mr Taylor was detained in town, to superintend the
operations, for some time after his pupils had returned with their father to
the country. When all was ready, he proceeded with Symington to Dalswinton,
where, on the 14th of October, 1788, the experiment was made in the presence
of Mr Miller and a considerable concourse of spectators. The boat was a
double one, and the engine, which had a four inch cylinder, was placed in a
frame upon the deck. The experiment was successful beyond the most sanguine
wishes of any of the parties concerned. The vessel moved at the rate of five
miles an hour, and neither was any awkwardness found in the connexion of the
engine with the wheels, nor hazard apprehended in any considerable degree
from the introduction of a furnace into so inflammable a fabric. The
experiment was repeated several times during the course of the few ensuing
days, and always with perfect success, insomuch that the invention became a
subject of great local notoriety. An account of the experiments, drawn up by
Mr Taylor, was inserted in the Dumfries Journal newspaper, and the event was
also noticed in the Scots Magazine of the ensuing month.
Mr Miller now formed the
design of covering his own and Mr Taylor’s joint invention by a patent; but,
in the first place, it was judged expedient that experiments should be made
with a vessel and engine more nearly approaching the common size. For this
purpose Mr Taylor went to the Carron foundry, with his engineer, Symington,
and there, in the summer of 1789, fitted up a vessel of considerable
dimensions, with an engine, of which the cylinder measured eighteen inches
in diameter. In the month of November this was placed on the Forth and Clyde
canal, in the presence of the Carron Committee of Management, and of the
parties chiefly interested. The vessel moved along very smoothly for a space
beyond Lock Sixteen, when, on giving the engine full play, the flat boards
of the paddles, which had been weakly constructed, began to give way, which
put an end to the experiment. The paddles having been reconstructed on a
stronger principle, another experiment was made on the 26th of December,
when the vessel made easy and uninterrupted progress, at the rate of seven
miles an hour. Except in speed, the performances on these occasions were as
perfect as any which have since been accomplished by steam-vessels. The
project was now conceived, by all parties, to have gone through a sufficient
probation, so far as the objects of inland navigation were concerned; and in
an account of the latter experiments, drawn up by Mr (afterwards lord)
Cullen, and published in the Edinburgh newspapers, February 1790, this view
is firmly taken.
On reviewing the expenses of
these proceedings, Mr Miller found considerable cause of chagrin in their
amount, which, chiefly in consequence, as he said, of the extravagance of
the engineer, greatly exceeded what he had been led to expect. Subsequently
he devoted his attention and means to agricultural improvements; and Mr
Taylor could never prevail on him to resume their project. The cultivation
of florine grass at last took such hold of the mind of Mr Miller, that, in
the belief of Mr Taylor, no other object on earth could have withdrawn him
from it. Mr Fergusson, younger of Craigdarroch, in 1790, endeavoured, but in
vain, to engage the interest of the court of Vienna in the new invention.
The indifference of Mr
Miller, the direction of public attention to the war which soon after
commenced, and the unfavourable situation of Mr Taylor, in an inland part of
the country, and unable of himself to do anything, conspired to throw the
project for several years into abeyance. At length, in 1801, Mr Symington,
who had commenced business at Falkirk, resolved to prosecute a design, in
the origination of which he had borne an active and serviceable, though
subordinate part. He wished lord Dundas to employ him to fit up a small
experimental steam-vessel, which was tried on the Forth and Clyde canal,
but, causing much disintegration of the banks, was forbidden by the Company
to be ever set in motion again. This vessel was laid up at Lock Sixteen,
where it remained for a number of years. Symington was afterwards in
terms with the duke of Bridgewater for introducing steam navigation on his
grace’s canal, and Messrs Miller and Taylor were about to take measures to
protect their joint invention from being appropriated by this individual,
when the death of the duke, and the abandonment of the scheme, saved them
that trouble.
Some time after, Mr Fulton,
from the United States of America, accompanied by Mr Henry Bell of Glasgow,
when on a visit to the Carron works, waited on Mr Symington, and inspected
the boat which he had fitted up for the Forth and Clyde canal. The
consequence was, that, in 1807, the former gentleman launched a steam vessel
on the Hudson, and, in 1812, Mr Bell another upon Clyde, being respectively
the first vessels of the kind used for the service of the public in the new
and old hemispheres. Thus, after all the primary difficulties of the
invention had been overcome,--when the bark was ready, as it were, to start
from the shore, and waited only for the master to give the word for that
purpose,--did two individuals, altogether alien to the project, come in and
appropriate the honour of launching it into the open sea. Unquestionably,
the merit of these individuals in overcoming many practical difficulties, is
very considerable; yet it is clear that they were indebted for the idea to
the previous inventions and operations of Messrs Miller and Taylor, and that
if the latter gentleman had, in the one instance, been inclined, and in the
other able, to carry their project into effect at the proper time, they
would not have been anticipated in this part of the honour, any more than in
the suggestion of the paddles and the engine.
It appears that Mr Taylor by
no means sat tamely by, while Fulton and Bell were reaping the credit due to
their labours. Mr Taylor repeatedly urged Mr Miller to renewed exertions,
though always without success; kept his claims as well as he could before
the public eye; and, on finding that Mr Symington had obtained a patent,
forced him into an agreement to share the profits, none of which, however,
were ever realized. When the vast importance of steam navigation had become
fully established, the friends of Mr Taylor, who was not in prosperous
circumstances, urged upon him the propriety of laying his claims before the
government, and soliciting a reward suitable to the magnitude and importance
of the discovery. At last, in 1824, he was induced to draw up a statement of
his concern in the invention of steam navigation, which he printed and
addressed to Sir Henry Parnell, chairman of the select committee of the
House of Commons, upon steam boats. He hoped that his narrative might be the
means of obtaining from the government some remuneration for the
incalculable services he had performed to mankind; but it had no such
effect. Bowed down by infirmities, and the fruits of a long life of
disappointments, this ingenious man died on the 18th of
September, 1825, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. |
