lt1vet1tor, '""ovator, or Et1trepret1eur? obertFulton (l765-1815) is often ( { called
the "Father of the Steamboat," even though he did not invent it. He did, however, start the first successful commercial steamboat service in the United States.
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North raver Steamboat
a.k.a. the "Clertttont." "-
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The first steamboat had been invented by a man named John ""' ~~ Fitch in 1787, and Fulton built --~~- .. =~ on Fitch's ideas and designed a ¡ different type of steamboat, 150 feet long and 16 feet wide (or, in nautical speak, "on the beam"). Observers in New York, where the boar was being built, doubted it would work and nicknamed the boat "Fulton's Folly." Fulton had the last laugh in 1807, when he made his first successful run from New York City to Albany on the Hudson River aboard the North River Steamboat (larer known as the "Clermont "). With this trial run deemed a success, Fulton went on to offer regular steamboat service up the Hudson, finding a ready market among travelers in the region. At the time, transport by water was easier than on rough, unpaved roads-where roads existed at all. Within five years, Fulton-the entrepreneur-was running steamboat service on six rivers and in the Chesapeake Bay. Robert Fulton was a curious and creative person his whole life. He started out as a portrait artist and ended up becoming an engineer, at times he was an inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur. Whatever problem he came across, he'd put his thinking cap on and figure out new ways to make it work or to make something already in place work better. If you take a look at the article on submarines on pages 18-22, you'll see that the same Mr. Fulton was the person who had also invented a type of submarine (he called it a "diving boat") in 1804, plus underwater torpedoes rhat were deployed in the War of 1812. Perhaps digital and media strategist Tom Grasty, explains it best:
"In its purest sense, invention can be defined as the creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first tittte. Innovation, on the other hand, occurs if sottteone itttproves on or tttakes a significant contribution to an existing product process or service .. ..lf h,vention is a pebble tossed in the pond, innovation is the rippling effect that pebble causes. Sottteone has to to the pebble. fhat's the inventor. Sottteone has to recognize the ripple will eventually becottte a wave. fhat's he entrepreneur."1
FULTON IMAGES couRTEsY oF THE LIBRARY oF coNGREss
Sub1Marit1e desigt1 by Robert Fultot1, 1806
Robert Fulton wore many hats during his life-artist, engineer, and naval architect among them, bur his legacy for ushering in commercial steamboat travel was his most lasting contribution. Many of his inventions were tried but didn't take off, but he kept on trying something new regardless. In the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution would change the way people lived in lasting and dramatic ways. Inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs like Robert Fulton were key to making it a "revolution" and not just a fleeting event. ,!, 1 Media Shift Idea Lab, 29 March 2012, http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2012/03/