8184. STEAM, Rumsey's ship.—
Mr.
Rumsey has obtained a patent in England for
his navigation by the force of steam, and is
soliciting a similar one here [France]. His
principal merit is in the improvement of the
boiler, and instead of the complicated machinery
of oars and paddles, proposed by others,
the substitution of so simple a thing as the
reaction of a stream of water on his vessel.
He is building a sea vessel at this time in
England. He has suggested a great number
of mechanical improvements in a variety of
branches; and, upon the whole, is the most
original and the greatest mechanical genius I
have ever seen.—
To Doctor Willard. Washington ed. iii, 16.
(P.
1789)
