Patent to Mr. Roosevelt
The United States of America

 

To all to whom these LETTERS PATENT shall come:

Whereas, NICHOLAS J. ROOSEVELT, a Citizen of tho United States, hath alleged that he has invented a new and useful improvement

IN PROPELLING BOATS &c. BY STEAM,

which improvement he states has not been known or used before his application; hath made oath that he does verily believe that he is the true inventor or discoverer of the said improvement; hath paid into the Treasury of the United States the sum of thirty dollars, delivered a receipt for the same, and presented a petition to the Secretary of State, signifying a desire of obtaining an exclusive property in the said improvement, and praying that a patent may be granted for that purpose: These are therefore to grant, according to law, to the said NICHOLAS J. ROOSEVELT, his

heirs, administrators, or assigns, for the term of fourteen years, from the first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, the full and exclusive right and liberty of making, constructing, using and vending to others to be used, the said improvement: a description whereof is given in the words of the said Nicholas J. Roosevelt himself, in the schedule hereto annexed, and is made a part of these presents.

In testimony wherof, I have caused these Letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.

Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, this first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen and of the independence of the United States of America, the thirty-ninth.

JAMES MADISON.

By the President.

Jas. Monroe, Secretary of State.

City of Washington, to wit:

I DO HEREBY CERTIFY, That the foregoing Letters Patent were delivered to me on the first day of December in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen to be examined; that I have examined the same, and find them conformable to law: and I do hereby return the same to the Secretary of State within fifteen days from the date aforesaid, to wit:  on this first day of December in the year aforesaid.

Richard Bush,  Attorney General of the United States

To All To Whom these Presents shall come:

Nicholas J. Roosevelt., of the State of New Jersey, Esqr., sends greetings:

Be it known, That I, the said Nicholas J. Koosevelt have discovered, invented and constructed a new & useful mode & improvement in the propelling of boats or vessels through water by the force & agency of fire & steam, the construction of which discovery, invention & improvement is specified as follows, as the mode to which I have given a preference reserving to myself the right of varying and changing the proportions and combinations of the several parts of the said discovery and invention as experience may suggest or as I shall think advisable or expedient, to wit.

A true copy from the Specification filed in the Patent Office.

Geo. Lyon, Clk. Patent Office, 3 December, 1814.

THE SCHEDULE referred to in these Letters patent and making part of the same containing a description in the words of the said Nicholas J. Roosevelt himself of his improvement in propelling Boats, &c. by steam.

In a boat or vessel of any form, but of sufficient capacity to contain the machinery required, I place a Steam Engine of a power proportioned to the restance to be overcome, in propelling a boat or vessel a given distance in a given time, this steam Engine is supplied by a boiler of the usual form or made Cylindric one or more at pleasure so as to be of sufficient capacity to feed the Engine. I next place two wheels over the sides, on the axis of which I put flyes, dispence with them or otherwise combine them at pleasure, either to regulate motion or give additional velocity, or they may be connected with the water shaft and steam Engine, by wheels so as to give any number of revolutions that may be desired.  The arms of the water wheels I would make of wood, to which I attach floats or paddles of cast Iron, or of Boiler plate thick sheet Iron, though they may be made of wood.  These floats I make move up and down on the arms, by means of screws and holes, so as to make them enter deeper or shallower in the water, in taking a purchase or hold on the water agreeably to the depth of water the boat my draw, and the lading there may be on board, or agreeably to other circumstances.  The supporters of the outer ends of the water wheels shaft to be made of Iron with braces, though if required they may be made of wood.

N.J. Roosevelt

Witnesses:  Jere'h Ballard, John Dev'x DeLacy


 









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How to cite this article:  “Patent to Mr. Roosevelt,” appended to J.H.B. Latrobe, A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat (Baltimore, Md.: Maryland Historical Society, 1871), 42-44, available at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/1811.