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In its brutal efficiency, the dynamo symbolized the age and the aptitude the West was developing for converting knowledge into mechanical power. Previously, knowledge had been used occasionally as a source for wisdom, but more often it was turned to political and economic advantage. In the nineteenth century, it was used to expand human potential beyond the limitations of immediate conditions as people remade the world to suit their momentary needs and whims.
In this transformation of the world, it was practical technology, not speculative science, that led the way, albeit slowly at first. For example, in 1711, Thomas Newcomen employed a steam engine (which had been invented originally in Alexandria, France and England) to pump water out of a mine. For some sixty years, steam engines were so employed with no other use being found for them and little improvement being made in them. Then in the 1770's and '80's, James Watt, an instrument maker, improved their precision and efficiency so they could drive the machinery in the burgeoning textile factories. In 1786 on water and in 1804 on land, dedicated tinkerers first effectively applied steam power to transportation. These developments increased dramatically the speeds by which people and products moved and thereby extended the ranges of administrative and commercial stupidity. The first steamboat large enough to carry humans was developed by John Fitch (1743-1798)—an American who was not quite as practical as Yankee inventors are thought to be. He began with a model boat with vertical paddle wheels on the sides, but when he noticed the paddles lifted a considerable amount of water as they rose after immersion (thus losing power), he abandoned this mechanism and devised sets of canoe paddles which would stroke the water along the sides of the boat. They worked but were a curious regression away from the principle of the side-wheeler (the design upon which the first commercially successfully steamers were eventually built) and back to an imitation of the human motion for propelling a log or canoe if not a boat. As it turned out, the principle of commercial success was decisive in the development of the steamboat, but in the 1780's, Americans were poor, had neither time nor money for silly toys, and were in no mood for what most considered to be the flippant diversion of a madman. Still, Fitch managed to form a company, although his partners were visionaries like himself rather than what he needed—rich men willing to stake their wealth on his venture. He labored for ten years and tried, with varying degrees of technical success, paddle wheels again and even the brand new screw propeller. However, eventually he became disheartened, took to drink and finally committed suicide. Hence, the first successful steamboat is attributed in the popular mind to Robert Fulton (1765-1815), apromoter—not an inventor—who had the financial backing to make his side-wheeling Clermont a commercial triumph in 1807.
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