Steamboats on the Hudson: An American Saga

In the Beginning

October 1781. The war – known here as the American Revolution – was over. In the new United States of America men could devote themselves once again to reading, to thinking about ways to make life easier, and to dabbling in the sciences of chemistry and physics and the like.

By the mid-1780s the idea of using steam to propel boats on bodies of water had moved from being a dream of visionaries to being a means of making money.

The Prize: Fortune and fame coming from having the monopoly to operate steamboats.

Obtaining the right to exclusively sell a product or service (aka having a monopoly)

Inventors are encouraged to invent, in part, if they can make some money from their inventions. A patent gives an individual the right to exclusively profit from his invention for a certain number of years, allowing him to recoup his investment and make some money.

Why didn't Fulton just apply for a patent?

The first United States patent act was not enacted until 1790. To obtain the exclusive right to profit from an invention before 1790, inventors had to apply to each state legislature for a monopoly in that state.