Stories of Great Inventors | Page 3

officers had to interfere.
But Robert was all this time fast growing up.
He had to choose some way of taking care of himself.

He was more fond of his pencil and brush than of anything else.
Near his home, had lived a celebrated painter.
His name was Benjamin West.
Benjamin West's father and Robert's father had been great friends.
Mr. West had become famous.
He now lived in England.
Robert thought he would like to be an artist, too.
So he left his home and went to the city of Philadelphia.
He knew that it meant hard work.
He was industrious and pains-taking.
He had many friends.
Benjamin Franklin was one of his friends.
Soon he did very nice work.
In the four years after he was seventeen, he not only took care of
himself, but sent money to his mother and sisters.
He spent his twenty-first birthday at home.
He had then earned enough money to buy a small farm for his mother.
For this farm he paid four hundred dollars.
He helped his family to get nicely settled in their new home.
Then he went back to Philadelphia.
At this time Mr. Fulton, as we must now call him, was not well.

Partly for this reason he decided to take a voyage to Europe.
He carried letters from many well-known Americans.
He found friends in Europe.
Benjamin West was kind to him there.
[Illustration: A CANAL SCENE.]
He soon had plenty of work to do.
One of his friends was an English gentleman, who was called the Earl
of Stanhope.
The Earl was much interested in canals.
Canals, you probably know, are artificial rivers.
Boats are drawn on them by horses, which walk along a path on the
shore.
The path is called the tow-path.
Railways were almost unknown then.
So canals were very useful in carrying goods across the country.
They had been in use in Europe and Asia for hundreds of years.
Mr. Fulton invented a double inclined-plane.
This could be used in raising and lowering canal boats without
disturbing their cargoes.
The British government gave Mr. Fulton a patent upon it.
Mr. Fulton wrote a book about canals and the ways in which they help
a country.

He sent copies of this book to the President of the United States, and
other men in high offices.
He thought canals would help America.
But it was ten years before he could get people to think much about it.
Then Mr. Fulton helped in planning the Erie Canal.
This was very successful.
You can see this canal now.
It is in the State of New York and is still used.
Mr. Fulton planned a cast-iron aqueduct which was built in Scotland.
An aqueduct is often made to carry water to cities.
He invented a mill for sawing marble, a machine for spinning flax,
another for scooping out earth, called a dredging machine, and several
kinds of canal boats.
You will wonder before reaching the end of this story how one man
could do so many things.
But you must remember that he was never lazy as a boy, and so learned
to make good use of every moment.
In 1797, Mr. Fulton went to the greatest city in France, called Paris.
There he made a new friend.
This was Joel Barlow, an American and a poet.
Mr. Fulton thought that all ships should have the freedom of the ocean.
He thought it would take hundreds of years to get all nations to consent
to this.

He believed that he could find a quicker way.
He thought it would be best to blow up all warships.
He made a little sub-marine boat.
Sub-marine means under the sea.
This boat could be lowered below the surface of the water.
He found a way to supply it with air.
But he could not get it to run swiftly.
It took much money to build such boats.
He tried to get the French government to help him.
He was often tired and disappointed.
But he never stopped trying.
He tried to destroy some large boats.
This was to be done with torpedoes.
But he was not very successful.
He succeeded in destroying one boat.
But since then others have carried out his plan, and torpedoes are often
used in war.
This little story is told of Mr. Fulton:--
He was once in New York working upon his torpedoes.
He invited the Mayor and many others to hear him lecture.
They came and were all much interested.

He showed them the copper cylinders which were to hold the powder.
Then he showed them the clockwork, which, when it was set running,
would cause the cylinders to explode.
He turned to a case and drew out a peg.
He then said, "Gentlemen, this torpedo is all ready