A Description and Draught of a New-Invented Machine

First edition of the first book on steam navigation.

This work is the result of a successful application by Hulls for a patent, granted on 21 December 1736, for an atmospheric steam engine to facilitate marine propulsion. Hulls proposed a paddle towboat with a pair of wheels in the stern. It was to hold a boiler connected to a vertical steam cylinder. Pistons within the cylinder would be depressed by steam condensing, and would raise a counterweight through a system of ropes and pulleys which on its own descent would rotate the layshaft in the contrary direction. This alternative motion would provoke, through friction, the continuous rotation of the paddle-shaft mounted on a framework over the stern. There is no evidence, however, that Hull was ever able to offer a practical demonstration of his invention.