Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/274

FULTON 230 FULTON powder, is made by precipitating a solu- tion of chloride of gold by an excess of ammonia. FULTON, a city of Missouri, the county-seat of Callaway co. It is on the Chicago and Alton railroad. The city is the center of an important agri- cultural and stock-raising region and of coal and fire clay deposits. Its indus- tries include the manufacture of flour, fire brick, and overalls. It is the seat of the State School for the Deaf, State Hospital No. 1, an insane asylum, West- minster College, Synodical College, Con- servatory of Music, and William Woods College. Pop. (1910) 5,228; (1920) 5,595. FULTON, a city of New York, in Oswego CO. It is on the Oswego river, the Oswego canal, and the New York Central, the Lackawanna, and the New York, Ontario, and Western rail- roads. The city has an important trade in milk and tobacco, and has manufac- tures of chocolate, flour, woolen goods, paper, pulp, cutlery, paper-mill ma- chinery, motor boats, etc. It has a pub- lic libraiy and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 10,480; (1920) 13,043. FULTON. BOBERT, an American in- ventor, celebrated as being the introdu- cer of steam navigation; born of Irish decent, in Little Britain, Lancaster co., Pa., in 1765. Early in life he mani- fested a taste for painting, and repaired to England to study under Benjamin West. In that country, however, he be- came acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, the founder of the canal system of Great Britain, who induced Fulton to abandon art and study mechani- cal science. This nobleman was at the time engaged in a scheme of steam naviga- tion, which he imparted to Fulton. The latter visiting Birmingham was brought into communication with James Watt, who had just succeeded in his great im- provement of the steam engine, with the construction of which Fulton made him- self thoroughly familiar. About this time he invented a machine for spinning flax, and another for making ropes, for which he obtained patents in England. In 1796 he published a treatise on the im- provement of canal navigation. From 1797 to 1804 he resided in Paris vnth Mr. Joel Barlow, the American representa- tive at the French court. During this period he invented a submarine or plung- ing boat, called a "Torpedo," designed to be used in naval warfare. He invited the attention of the French Government to his invention, and Bonaparte, then First_ Consul, appointed a commission to examine it. Several experiments were made in 1801 in the harbor of Brest. He could easily descend to any depth, or rise to the surface; and where there was no strong current, the boat was quite obedi- ent to her helm while under water. But the motion of the boat while submerged was very slow, and it was clearly unequal to the stemming of a strong current. The French Government declined to patronize the project, and Fulton accepted an invi- tation from the English ministry, who also appointed a commission to test the ROBERT FXJLTON merits of his torpedo. He appears, how- ever, to have received but little en- couragement, and in 1806 he returned to the United States. Having been supplied with the necessary funds by Robert Liv- ingston, who had been American ambas- sador at Paris, Fulton had the satisfac- tion of proving, in 1807, that steam could be applied to the propulsion of vessels with entire success. His first steamboat, called "The Clermont" (of 140 feet keel and 16% feet beam), made a progress on the Hudson of 5 miles an hour. His sec- ond large boat on the Hudson was the "Car of Neptune," and was built in 1807. He afterward built other steam vessels, one of them a frigate which bore his name. His reputation became estab- lished, and his fortune was rapidly in- creasing, when his patent for steam ves- sels was disputed, and his opponents were in a considerable degree successful. The lawsuits about his patent rights, together with his enthusiasm, which led him to expose himself too much while directing his workmen, impaired his constitution, and he died in New York City, Feb. 24, 1815. In 1900 the centenary of the "Cle- mont" was celebrated in conjunction with