Jonathan Hulls or Hull (baptised 1699 – 1758) was an English inventor, a pioneer of steam navigation. Traditionally, he was recognised as the first person to make practical experiments with steam to propel a vessel; but evidence to substantiate the claim that he did more than propose a steam vessel on paper is lacking.

Life

Hulls was born at Hanging Aston,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. It has been suggested that the background to the efforts of Hulls was the 1734 publication in the abridged ''

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the second journ ...

'' of a paper by the French engineer Monsieur Duquet on ships and mechanical propulsion. Duquet was a controversialist also active at that time in a debate on his ideas with

Henri Pitot Henri Pitot (; May 3, 1695 – December 27, 1771) was a French hydraulic engineer and the inventor of the pitot tube. The incoming fluid in the internal tube may be blocked off where a pressure gauge can indicate the pressure, or fed to a clo ...

. He died in the middle of 1758 in Broad Campden, where he had lived almost all his adult life.

Work

The protection of his invention by Hulls depended on the financial support of his neighbour named Freeman at

Batsford Park Batsford Arboretum is a arboretum and botanical garden near Batsford in Gloucestershire, England, about 1½ miles north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh, at . It is owned and run by the Batsford Foundation, a registered charity, and is open to the pub ...

. The patent for the invention by Hulls is dated 21 December 1736, and his account of it appeared as ''Description and Draught of a new-invented Machine for carrying Vessels or Ships out of or into any Harbour, Port, or River against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm; for which his Majesty has granted Letters-patent for the sole benefit of the Author for the space of fourteen years'' (London, 1737). It was reprinted in facsimile in 1855. A

Newcomen engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is sometimes referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam being drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating ...

was to be set up on a tow-boat in front of another vessel, connected by a tow-rope. Six paddles in the stern of the tow-boat were to be fastened to a cross axis connected by ropes to another axis which was turned by the engine. Hulls showed how to convert the rectilineal motion of a piston-rod into a rotatory motion. The ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'' casts doubt on the traditional story about practical trials by Hulls. The ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' first edition related that they were made on River Avon at

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

in 1737; that they were a failure; and that Hulls was the butt of humour. In 1754 Hulls published ''The Art of Measuring made Easy by the help of a new Sliding Scale''; he also wrote the ''Maltmakers' Instructor''.

Influence

Augustus De Morgan Augustus De Morgan (27 June 1806 – 18 March 1871) was a British mathematician and logician. He is best known for De Morgan's laws, relating logical conjunction, disjunction, and negation, and for coining the term "mathematical induction", the ...

says that Hulls's work very likely gave suggestions to

William Symington William Symington (1764–1831) was a Scottish engineer and inventor during the Georgian era. He is most well known as the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas. The engine has been described as ''"without doubt the mo ...

; and that

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...

was thinking of Hulls when he prophesied that steam would soon "drag the slow barge".

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hulls, Jonathan 1699 births 1758 deaths English inventors People from Cotswold District