From: Harper's
Encyclopedia of United States History
(1910)
Stevens,
ROBERT LIVINGSTON, engineer;
born in Hoboken, N.J., Oct. 18, 1787; son of John Stevens, the
inventor.
At the age of twenty years he built a
steam-boat with concave water-lines, the first application of the
wave-line to ship-building. He discovered the utility of employing
anthracite coal in steam navigation in 1818, when coal was about to
become an article of commerce. In 1822, he first substituted the
skeleton wrought-iron for the heavy cast-iron walking-beam, and in 1824
first applied artificial blast to the boiler furnace. In 1827 he
introduced the "hog-frame" for steamboats to prevent their bending in
the centre.
Mr. Stevens began the first steam
ferriage between New York and New Jersey shores in 1816, and was the
inventor of the T rail for railroads. He was a projector of the Camden
and Amboy Railroad, and its president for many years. In 1815, he
invented an improved bomb for the naval service.
Stevens's Iron-Clad Floating Battery
In 1842 he was commissioned by the
United States Government to build an immense steam iron-clad floating
battery for the defence of the harbor of New York. It was left
unfinished at the time of his death, and was bequeathed to the state of
New Jersey, and afterwards sold for its materials.
He died in Hoboken, N.J., April 20, 1856.
From: Harper's
Encyclopedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909,
by Benson John Lossing and Woodrow Wilson, published by
Harper (1910) p.421.
Links:
Today in Science History page for R.L. Stevens' birth 18 October, and death 20 April
Today in Science History page for John Stevens
