Daniel French (inventor)
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__NOTOC__ Daniel French (1770–1853), a "Yankee" inventor, was born in
Berlin, Connecticut Berlin ( ) is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,175 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of ...
. From an early age French strove to become a "mechanician," an artisan trained in the theory of mechanics and skilled in the working of metals at increasing levels of precision. His friend
Oliver Evans Oliver Evans (September 13, 1755 – April 15, 1819) was an American inventor, engineer, and businessman born in rural Delaware and later rooted commercially in Philadelphia. He was one of the first Americans to build steam engines and an advo ...
, an accomplished engineer, described French as an "original and ingenious inventor." French's most significant invention was the horizontally mounted, high-pressure, non-condensing, directly connected
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...
for mills, boats, etc. French was awarded a patent for his steam engine in 1809. This type of engine became standard on the western
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...
. In 1807
Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...
placed on the Hudson River the steamboat '' North River'' (aka ''Clermont'') which was powered by a low pressure
Boulton and Watt Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Engl ...
steam engine. The heavy and inherently inefficient engine required an increase in the size, and hence the weight, of the steam cylinder for an increase in power. Mounting the cylinder vertically, Fulton "invented" a complex series of levers and cranks to transmit the power of the piston to each
paddle wheel A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...
crank. Two paddle wheels, one on each side, were mounted midway between the bow and the stern. On the western rivers, Fulton's design was the standard for steamboats until the ''
Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...
'' which was designed by French. Daniel French's steam engine and drive train were substantially different from Fulton's. By employing Oliver Evans' patented (1804) high-pressure steam principle, French increased the power of his engine. By omitting the condensing of steam French reduced problems with construction and also reduced the weight of his engine. He also eliminated the
flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device that uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy, a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, a ...
. The resulting engine was more powerful, lighter, and more efficient and was easier to construct and repair than the Boulton and Watt engine. Another important improvement French made was to mount his steam cylinder horizontally, level with the axis of the paddle wheel, and with the piston rod connected directly to the paddle wheel
crank Crank may refer to: Mechanisms * Crank (mechanism), in mechanical engineering, a bent portion of an axle or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it * Crankset, the componen ...
. As the crank rotated by the application of steam, the cylinder, which was mounted on
trunnion A trunnion () is a cylinder, cylindrical Boss (engineering), protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development. In mechanical engineering (see the Trunnion#Trunnion bearin ...
s, oscillated above and below the horizontal. Over the years, French's steam engine and drive train proved to be a significant improvement compared to Fulton's. French successfully applied his engine to a steam ferry to cross the Hudson River, but was denied the Paulus Hook ferry lease by the legal monopoly of Fulton and Robert Livingston. French then established a ferry on the
Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...
between
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and
Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...
. After moving to
Brownsville, Pennsylvania Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the defeat of the Iroquois enabled a resumption of westward migration after the American Revolutionary ...
, French built, for the shareholders of the
Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company The Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company (or MOSBC) was the second company to engage in steamboat commerce on the rivers west of the Allegheny Mountains. The company was founded in 1813 under the leadership of Elisha Hunt and headquartered i ...
, the engine and drive train for the highly successful ''
Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...
'', the first steamboat to ascend the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers from New Orleans to Louisville. The steamboat ''Washington'' was built by George White at
Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...
, for Henry Shreve and partners. The engine and drive train were constructed by French at Brownsville.Maass, Alfred R. (1996), "Daniel French and the western steamboat engine", ''The
American Neptune ''The American Neptune: A Quarterly Journal of Maritime History and Arts'' was an academic journal covering American maritime history from its establishment in 1941 until it ceased publication in 2002. History Established by Samuel Eliot Moriso ...
'', 56: 29–44
To power the 400-ton vessel, French cast and bored a steam cylinder larger than the one he used on the smaller ''Enterprise''. The larger cylinder required a larger steam boiler which was placed on the ''Washington'' main deck. Since the steam cylinder was too heavy for French's oscillating-type engine, he fixed it in a horizontal position below the main deck immediately forward of the stern paddle wheel. French connected the piston rod directly to the stern paddle wheel crank by means of a "pitman", to adjust for the crank's circular motion. To utilize the increased steam power French increased the width of the paddle wheel from six feet (as on the ''Enterprise'') to twelve feet. With the highly successful ''Washington'', French set a standard for powerful and swift steamboats.


Gallery

File:American Telegraph 7-5-1815.jpg, ''Enterprise'' completes her epic 2,200-mile voyage and ''Despatch'' is launched. File:American Telegraph 3-5-1817.jpg, Daniel French's new steam engine.


See also

* ''Experiment'' (horse-powered boat) *
Henry French House The Henry French House, also known as the Salmon-French House, is a historic house located in the Port Fulton area of Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana in the United States. It was built about 1832, and is a two-story, Federal style bric ...


References


Daniel French's autobiographical letter to his mother
*Hunter, Louis C. (1949), ''Steamboats on the western rivers, an economic and technological history'', Cambridge: Harvard University Press


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:French, Daniel Engineers from Pennsylvania Inventors from Connecticut People from Brownsville, Pennsylvania American steam engine engineers 1770 births 1853 deaths People from Berlin, Connecticut