Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran   By: Howard I. Chapelle (1901-1975)

This is Paper 39 from the Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34 44, which will also be available as a complete e book.

The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the Bulletin are included in each single paper e book.

Note that several Figures in this paper consist of two images separated from each other in the original layout, with separate labels. These separate labels are preserved in this text only version.

Typographical errors have been corrected as follows:

P152: "the Simon & Jude , later called Invention I " (was "latter"). P159: "Its importance is that it..." (was "is that is"). Index: "Emmet, , 144" (was Emmett).]

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

BULLETIN 240

[Illustration]

SMITHSONIAN PRESS

MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

Papers 34 44 On Science and Technology

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966

Publications of the United States National Museum

The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National Museum include two series, Proceedings of the United States National Museum and United States National Museum Bulletin .

In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and Technology setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different subjects.

The Proceedings , begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume.

In the Bulletin series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related subjects. Bulletins are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been published in the Bulletin series under the heading Contributions from the United States National Herbarium , and since 1959, in Bulletins titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of that Museum.

The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34 44, comprises Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each paper.

FRANK A. TAYLOR Director, United States National Museum

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:

PAPER 39

FULTON'S "STEAM BATTERY": BLOCKSHIP AND CATAMARAN

Howard I. Chapelle

SURVIVING DESIGNS FOR FLOATING BATTERIES 145

CONTROVERSIAL DESCRIPTIONS 147

COPENHAGEN PLANS 150

HISTORY OF DOUBLE HULL CRAFT 152

SAIL AND INBOARD PLANS 157

RECONSTRUCTING THE PLANS 161

APPENDIX 167

[FOOTNOTES]

[INDEX]

[Illustration: Figure 1. SCALE MODEL of Fulton's Steam Battery in the Museum of History and Technology. (Smithsonian photo P 63390 F.)]

Howard I. Chapelle

FULTON'S "STEAM BATTERY": BLOCKSHIP and CATAMARAN