The use of a paddle wheel in navigation appears for the first time in the mechanical treatise of the Roman engineer Vitruvius (De architectura, X 9.5-7), where multi-geared paddle wheels working as a ship odometer are described. The first mention of paddle wheels as a means of propulsion comes from the late 4th century military treatise De Rebus Bellicis (chapter XVII), where the anonymous Roman author describes an ox-driven paddle wheel warship:
Paddleboats were built in China from the 5th-6th Centuries,[2] and according to the Water Margin were used in the 12th century. In 1543 Blasco Garay in Barcelona made an experimental vessel propelled by a paddle-wheel on each side, worked by forty men, and in 1787 Patrick Miller of Dalswinton invented a double-hulled boat, which was propelled on the Firth of Forth by men working a capstan which drove paddles on each side.[3]
The first paddle steamer was the Pyroscaphe built by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy of Lyon in France, in 1783. It had a horizontal double-acting steam engine driving two 13.1 ft (4 m) paddle wheels on the sides of the craft. On July 15, 1783 it steamed successfully up the Saône for fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Political events interrupted further development.
The next successful attempt at a paddle-driven steam ship was by the Scottish engineer William Symington who suggested steam power to Patrick Miller of Dalswinton.[3] Experimental boats built in 1788 and 1789 worked successfully; in 1802, Symington built a barge-hauler, Charlotte Dundas, for the Forth and Clyde Canal Company. It successfully hauled two 70-ton barges almost 20 miles (30 km) in 6 hours against a strong headwind on test in 1802. There was much enthusiasm, but some directors of the company were concerned about the banks of the canal being damaged by the wash from a powered vessel, and no more were ordered.
While Charlotte Dundas was the first commercial paddle-steamer and steamboat, the first commercial success was possibly Robert Fulton's North River Steam Boat in New York, which went into commercial service in 1807 between New York City and Albany. Many other paddle-equipped river boats followed all round the world.
Very indepth answer thanks. :) by oldgirl
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