Note 65 — Chapter I

It seems important to record that the success of Mr. Symington’s engine consisted mainly in this: that, after placing in a boat a double acting reciprocating engine, he attached his crank to the axis of the paddle-wheel, a combination on which, as Mr. Woodcroft justly observes, “there has been no improvement even to the present time, either in this or in any other country.” The power thus applied secured rotary motion without the interposition of a lever or beam. Mr. Symington might fairly claim, as he does in his patent of October 14th, 1801, that “the principle of this invention comprehends any species of machinery thus put in rotatory motion by a steam engine which may be made use of to navigate boats, vessels, or rafts.”