Colonel Robert Livingston Stevens (October 18, 1787 – April 20, 1856) was an American inventor and steamship builder who served as president of the

Camden and Amboy Railroad The Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company, usually shortened to the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A), was a railway company in New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1830 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest r ...

in the 1830s and 1840s.

Early life

Stevens was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

on October 18, 1787. He was the second son of thirteen children born to Rachel (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Cox) Stevens and Colonel John Stevens III. His siblings included older brother

John Cox Stevens John Cox Stevens (September 24, 1785 – June 10, 1857) was the founding Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. He was a member of the ''America'' syndicate which, in 1851, won the trophy that would become the America's Cup. Early life Stevens w ...

, the first commodore of the

New York Yacht Club The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. The members have contributed to the sport of yachting and yacht design. ...

, and younger brother Edwin Augustus Stevens, who founded the

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

. His paternal grandparents were John Stevens Jr., a prominent New Jersey politician who served as a delegate to the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

, and Elizabeth (née Alexander) Stevens, who was the daughter of James Alexander, the

Attorney General of New Jersey The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

, and Mary (née Spratt) Provoost Alexander, a prominent merchant. His aunt Mary Stevens married Robert R. Livingston, the first Chancellor of the State of New York.

Career

In 1807, the Stevens and their father built the '' Phœnix'', a steamboat which became the first to navigate the ocean successfully when she traveled from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to 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 ...

in 1809. The ''Phœnix'' could not operate in the harbor at New York City because

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 ...

and his partner Robert Livingston, the U.S. Minister to France, had obtained a monopoly there. Robert Stevens applied the ''wave line'', concave waterlines on a steamboat hull, in 1808, as well as other improvements to shipbuilding. He and his brother, James, involved with the passenger steamship business on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

in 1834, and both were members of the Hudson River Steamboat Association, a

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

which sought a monopoly on passenger traffic between

and Albany. Stevens was president of the

(C&A) in the 1830s and 1840s. When the ''

John Bull John Bull is a national personification of England, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter-of-fact man. He originated in satirical works of ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

arrived on the C&A property, it was originally named ''Stevens'' in his honor. Although his father is occasionally credited with the invention of the

flanged T rail The rail profile is the cross-sectional shape of a Railway track#Rail, rail as installed on a railway or railroad, perpendicular to its length. Early rails were made of wood, cast iron or wrought iron. All modern rails are hot rolled steel ...

for railways, Robert Stevens at 42 is considered to have been the inventor of the first all-iron rail construction of the Camden & Amboy. Before 1831, the rails of all previous American railroads were strap iron rails made of wood with a metal strap applied to the wood. One of the two men had traveled to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to purchase the new rails since there was no rolling mill in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that was capable of producing the rails. The flat bottomed rail profile is used by railways of every nation. It replaced the cast-iron edge rails that had been introduced in England in 1789, which were made without flanges; instead, flanges were placed on the wheels. (The

was introduced in

in 1836 by engineer Charles B. Vignoles (1793-1875), therefore the term " Vignoles rails" came into use in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

). He invented a percussion shell, the rights to which he sold to the government. In 1842, he was commissioned by the government to build the first ironclad warship ever constructed, but he died without ever completing it. Stevens, who never married, died in Hoboken on April 20, 1856.

References

For further reading

*
Today in Science History: October 18
'. Retrieved October 18, 2005. *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Robert L. 1787 births 1856 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives American railroad pioneers 19th-century American inventors People from Hoboken, New Jersey Inventors from New Jersey