Editing Steamboat (section)

===Early designs===
An apocryphal story from 1851 attributes the earliest steamboat to [[Denis Papin]] for a boat he built in 1705. Papin was an early innovator in steam power and the inventor of the [[steam digester]], the first [[pressure cooker]], which played an important role in [[James Watt]]'s steam experiments. However, Papin's boat was not steam-powered but powered by hand-cranked paddles.<ref name=wootton>{{cite book |author=Wootton, David|title=The Invention of Science |year=2015|publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |pages=498–504, 647 }}</ref>

A steamboat was described and patented by English physician [[John Allen (physician)|John Allen]] in 1729.<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=John |author-link=John Allen (physician) |title=Specimina ichnographica: or, a brief narrative of several new inventions, and experiments |url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/tq9afthh/items?canvas=1 |date=1730 |location=London |publisher=W. Innys |access-date=19 February 2022}}</ref> In 1736, [[Jonathan Hulls]] was granted a patent in England for a [[Thomas Newcomen|Newcomen]] engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by [[James Watt]] that made the concept feasible. [[William Henry (delegate)|William Henry]] of Lancaster, [[Pennsylvania]], having learned of Watt's engine on a visit to England, made his own engine, and put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others.<ref name=jordan49>[[#jordan|Jordan, 1910]], pp. 49–50</ref>

[[File:D'AbbansSteamshipModel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Model of the steamship built in 1784 by [[Claude de Jouffroy]].]]
The first steam-powered ship, ''[[Pyroscaphe]]'', was a paddle steamer powered by a double-acting [[steam engine]];<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.wired.com/2011/07/0715france-marquis-steamboat-trial/|title=Wired.com:Marquis Invents Steamboat|magazine=Wired |last1=Alfred |first1=Randy }}</ref> it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis [[Claude de Jouffroy]] and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt, the 1776 ''Palmipède''. At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, ''Pyroscaphe'' travelled upstream on the river [[Saône]] for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Basil |date=1 March 2007 |title=Steamboat Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruLraHeDq7MC |location=UK |publisher=Lulu.com |page=54 |isbn=9781847532015}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="University Press of Kentucky">{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOMeBgAAQBAJ&q=Steamboat+De+Jouffroy&pg=PA28 |title = French Inventions of the Eighteenth Century|isbn = 978-0-8131-6397-0|last1 = McCloy|first1 = Shelby T.|date = 13 January 2015| publisher=University Press of Kentucky }}</ref> Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on the Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country.<ref>{{cite book |last=Clark |first=Basil |date=1 March 2007 |title=Steamboat Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ruLraHeDq7MC |location=UK |publisher=Lulu.com |page=56 |isbn=978-1-84753-201-5}}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref name="University Press of Kentucky"/>

Similar boats were made in 1785 by [[John Fitch (inventor)|John Fitch]] in [[Philadelphia]] and [[William Symington]] in [[Dumfries]], Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along the [[Delaware River]] between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make {{convert|7|to|8|mph}} and travelled more than {{convert|2000|mi|km}} during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a second boat made {{convert|30|mi|km|adj=on}} excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the [[Delaware River]] before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing.<ref name=jordan49/>

Meanwhile, [[Patrick Miller of Dalswinton]], near [[Dumfries]], [[Scotland]], had developed double-hulled<!--catamaran?--> boats propelled by manually cranked paddle wheels placed between the hulls, even attempting to interest various European governments in a giant warship version, {{convert|246|ft}} long. Miller sent King [[Gustav III]] of Sweden an actual small-scale version, {{convert|100|ft}} long, called ''Experiment''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Charles |last=Dawson |title=Patrick Miller's English (sic) Sea Spook |journal=The Mariner's Mirror |volume=88 |number=1 |date=February 2002 |page=95}}</ref> Miller then engaged engineer [[William Symington]] to build his patent steam engine that drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a larger steamboat the next year. Miller then abandoned the project.