Robert Fulton essays

Robert Fulton essays Robert Fulton is not a name that children hear often like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. But with his invention, Fulton changed the way people get around. He made the first steamboat. With the help of a friend, Fulton changed history forever. Robert Fulton was born on November 14, 1765 in Lancaster County, Pa. Fulton was born to an Irish immigrant family. For six years, Fulton lived on an unproductive farm until the farm lost its mortgage in 1771. After they lost the farm, the Fultons moved to Lancaster. Fultons father died in 1774. Since Fulton learned to read and write at home, he was sent to a Quaker school when he was eight. A few years later, Fulton became an apprentice at a jewelry shop in Philadelphia. He specialized in painting pictures on ivory for lockets. After settling his mother on a small farm, Fulton want to Bath, VA to recover from a bad cough. The people in Bath admired Fultons paintings. They suggested he study in Europe. When going back to Pennsylvania, Fulton looked for someone to sponsor him so he could go to London. He found a person that wanted more culture in the town and sponsored his passage to London. When he was in London, people showed little interest towards his work. While in London, he got to know the idea of propelling boats. Then in 1794, Fulton admitted that he was not a painter. His new interest was canal engineering. In 1796, Fulton proposed the Treatise of Improvement of Canal Navigation. That treatise consisted of small canals extending through the countryside. Instead of locks, Fulton also included details on inclined planes to raise boats. Only a few parts of his idea was excepted in the British Isles and no where else. Since the war between Britain and France was going on, Fulton had an idea to improve fighting. Fulton went to Paris and proposed the idea of a submarine named the Nautilus. In Fultons idea, the Fren...