Steam Engine

Steam Engine

Patent Date

1802-10-09

Patent Number

X401

Location

Likely Jefferson, Jackson County

Keywords

propulsion and energy : steam engines

Biographical Data

This inventon was a prototype for a riverboat steam engine meant to traverse the Savannah River from Augusta south to Savannah. Isaac Briggs of Maryland and William Longstreet of New Jersey, though both were Georgia residents at the time, invented this engine. They obtained their original patent in 1789 through an Act of the Georgia General Assembly on February 1, 1788, which was the Articles of Confederation’s final year as the country’s governing document.[1] Under the Articles, the federal government did not possess the right to issue patents, so this was issued by the State of Georgia itself for a term of fourteen years. Article I, Section 8, subsection 8 of the US Constitution now grants the power to issue patents to the federal government. This is likely the first US Patent for a steamboat.[2] Scholarship by PTRC representatives affirm that some of these earlier patents could have been issued by a state, a colony, or even another country like Great Britain.[3] After the US Constitution was enacted, Briggs and Longstreet submitted for a U.S. patent application, which was granted on October 9, 1802, with the US patent number of 401X.

The story of Robert Fulton and his voyage of the Clermont down the Hudson River in New York state marks him as the first person to navigate a steam-powered boat on August 17, 1807—almost five years after Briggs and Longstreet filed their patent with the US government. However, Fulton did not receive his patent until February 11, 1809—US patent number 996X. Meanwhile, Briggs and Longstreet had already obtained their patent and navigated their own steamboat down the Savannah River on August 19, 1807, unaware of Fulton's achievement just two days prior. Additionally, Briggs and Longstreet traveled against the current of the Savannah River, whereas Fulton traveled downstream with the current to New York City.

When describing Briggs and Longstreet, Lucian Lamar Knight, author of A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians from 1917, wrote that “Dame Fortune eluded them at every turn; and it was reserved finally for Robert Fulton, a New Yorker, with his little boat, the Clermont, on the waters of the Hudson River, in 1807, to overtake the fleet wings of the fickle goddess.”[4] While efforts to create a steam engine go back to the 18th century, Knight further claims that Fulton should only get the credit for the invention of the modern paddlewheel steamboat, and not William Pool of Great Britain.[5]

[1] Vol. CCC, Bonds, Assembly, Colonial Government, RG 49-1-9, Georgia Archives, RG 49-1-9, Georgia Archives, University of Georgia: Virtual Vault, https://vault.georgiaarchives.org/digital/collection/adhoc/id/125

[2] "Steam Engine Patent," Digital Public Library of America, accessed March 21, 2024, https://dp.la/item/ea3d32b72a945e7f44d275f2ac1aff39.

[3] Janice Comfort, "Finding Grandpa’s Patent,” King and Rohan, "Creating a State Patent Database”

[4] Lucian Lamar Knight, A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, vol. 1 (Chicago, New York: Lewis Pub. Co., 1917), 369.

[5] Knight, A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, 370

Comments

Courtesy Georgia Virtual Archives, University System of Georgia

Citation: Vol. CCC, Bonds, Assembly, Colonial Government, RG 49-1-9, Georgia Archives

Rights statement: Held by Georgia Archives, 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260. Contact repository re: reproduction and usage. The Archives grants permission for a single use of images for inclusion in a specific approved educational project.

Steam Engine

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