Construction of steamboats and the engines used on them

The steamships in America and the engines used by them are of three entirely different constructions: those on the eastern waters, including the seacoast from Boston to Charleston and all the rivers emptying there, need condensation engines with large, vertical-standing cylinders making long strokes; the largest boats usually go no deeper than 5 to 7 feet into the water, and they have a speed of 10 to 15

English miles an hour. On the Hudson River, the distance from New York to Albany, 145 miles, is achieved, going against the current in 11 to 12 hours, and downstream in 9 hours, including stops at 15 to 20 places to load and unload passengers. During the actual traveling it makes four German miles going downstream and three going upstream. On 23 November 1838, I went with the steamship North America from New York to Albany; since half the river was covered with ice the next day, much floating ice was already to be seen. The boat set out at 5 o’clock from New York and arrived in Albany the following morning at 7 o’clock. Even including all stops, we made more than 10 English miles per hour going upstream. The length of the ship was 200 feet, its greatest width 26 feet; it had two decks, of which the lower, on which the engine rested, lay about two feet above the waterline; on the upper deck there is a large dining hall with some beds brought in for the men, and nearby a second hall for the ladies. The dining hall is covered with a platform on which people pass the day; in the summer, a tent is spread. We were 320 persons (Cabin Passengers) on board, which dined in two divisions in the evening before going to bed, but many beds had to be set up in the dining hall. Since there was still

sufficient room left, you may win a sufficient idea of the colossal nature of such a

swimming structure. Two steam engines with cylinders 52 inches drive the paddlewheels 22 feet in diameter. The steam here has a pressure, as with all other engines in the Eastern Waters, averaging 15 pounds a square inch, and the stroke in these machines is 8 to 10 feet; the steam ordinarily streams in when the cylinder is a third or half through the stroke and then cut off, continuing through its expansion.

For the entire journey of 145 miles 25 to 39 cords of soft wood are required, each cord of 128 cubic feet. The North America travels loaded six feet deep in the water, but there are passenger boats on other rivers in the eastern states that travel loaded 24 to 30 inches deep, moving against strong current.

The steamship in the West, or the “Western Waters,” are all built very flat and ordinarily travel loaded 5 feet into the water, although many others are only 30 to 36 inches deep. Where the water is 30 inches or less, just the machine and its wood fuel and cabins for the crew are used, and then two or three boats loaded with goods are hauled behind. The passenger boats again have two decks, of which the upper deck is for the Cabin Passengers. On the elegant ships there is a large dining hall decorated in all possible splendor and luxury, with an attached salon for the ladies. Around this salon and often around the dining hall are small rooms (State rooms), each with two beds. Outside of the dining room and the ladies’ salons is a gallery to which a door leads from each State room. Such a ship supplies a European with a grandiose, utterly new vision. All steamships on the western waters have high-pressure engines with a steam pressure of 60 to 100 pounds a square inch.

There ordinarily are two engines, each driving a paddle-wheel. The cylinders of the engines lie horizontally, their stroke distance measures 8 to 10 feet, and the steam is usually cut off at ⁵/8 of the stroke, continuing the rest of the stroke through

expansion. The expelled steam is used to heat up the water pumped out of the river.

The third type of steamship is found on the Great Lakes in the north and northwest of the Union; these ships ordinarily are much deeper as the others, and some are condensation and some high-pressure engines.

[38] 3) Improvement of steamship travel since its introduction in the United States.

Improvement of steamship travel is best shown by comparing earlier and contemporary performance, and the prices earlier and currently charged for passengers and goods.

In 1818 cabin passengers on steamships from New Orleans to Louisville for the river stretch of 1,450 English miles paid $120 upstream and $70 downstream; the journey upstream took 20 days, that downstream 10 days. Currently cabin passengers in the most elegant steamboats pay $50 for passage upstream, $40 for passage

downstream, and the first journey is done in 6 days, the second in 4 days. Included in these prices is support for the traveler, which according to the richness of the food and drink on the steamboat will not be less than $2 a day per person. In keeping with this, on the most elegant steamboat the median between the journey upstream and downstream without food is 2.41¢ a mile. The less elegant boats carry cabin passengers for $30 in 8 days upstream, and for $25 downstream in 5 days, which

after subtracting $1.50 for daily feeding leaves a passenger merely 1.22¢ per mile as the average between upstream and downstream.

On board these steamships on the lower deck are found what is called Deck Passengers, who supply their own food, and for this journey of 1,450 miles they pay

$8; however, if they help hauling wood, they only pay $5. In this case they pay only 0.55¢ a mile.

Before the introduction of steamship transporting goods was done on sailboats, which carried as much as 150 tons; in 1817 the freight price per pound from New Orleans to Louisville 7¢ to 8¢; in 1819 steamships started to carry goods, and they reduced the price to 4¢ per pound. Currently the freight price for 100 pounds from New Orleans to Louisville, depending on the classification of goods and the season, 33¢ to a maximum of $1.50. The average comes to 62¹/2¢ for the 1,450 English miles-long distance. This gives 0.86¢ per ton and per mile.

In 1819 the first steamship, General Pike, was launched that traveled once a week between Cincinnati and Louisville, 150 English miles, 18 hours downstream, 40 hours upstream. A cabin passenger then paid $12 for the journey. Currently steamboats have become so numerous that at least six boats go down and as many up. On the most elegant boat, such as the Pike and the Franklin, you pay $4 and travel including all support in 15 hours upstream, and 11 hours downstream; but often this journey takes 12 hours up and 11 hours down, in which latter case 4 German miles are covered every hour. If you subtract $1 for food, $3 remain for the travel, or 2¢ per mile. Deck passengers, who help with loading wood, pay $1 or ²/3¢ per mile, and must feed themselves. Goods pay on the average 15¢ per 100 pounds or 2¢ per ton per mile.

From Cincinnati to St. Louis the journey goes 538 miles down the Ohio and 192 miles up the Mississippi, 750 miles in all. You make the journey to St. Louis or from there in return in 4 days. A Cabin Passenger pays $12, of which at least $4.70 must be deducted for the inexpensive food on the whole journey; for the travel itself there remains 1¢ a mile. The deck passengers pay $4 without food, which gives incidentally ¹/2¢ a mile. Goods pay on average 50¢ per 100 pounds or 1.37¢ per ton per mile.

You pay on the most elegant steamboats on the Hudson River $3 for the stretch of 145 miles from New York to Albany; this results in 2¢ per passenger per mile; food is paid separately. On less elegant steamboats travelers are carried for a dollar and at this moment even 50¢, which gives a mere ¹/2¢ per mile.

According to the data given above, it can be taken as an average that Cabin Passengers on American rivers, in keeping with the elegance of the ship pay

between 2¹/2¢ to 1¢ (food not included), but Deck Passengers pay only an average of

1/2¢ per mile; both travel on the average between upstream and downstream 12 miles an hour. Goods traveling on the same steamship pay on average 1¹/3 ¢ per ton per mile. The highest price of 2 ¹/2¢ per traveler gives 5 Prussian Silbergroschen per German mile, but 7.9 Kopecks Ass. per werst; the lowest price of 1¢ per English mile gives 2 Prussian Silbergroschen per German mile, or 3.2 Kopecks Ass. for the werst. The freight price of 1 ¹/3 ¢ per ton per mile gives 0.137 Prussian

Silbergroschen for 100 Rhenish pounds and a German mile, or 0.076 Kopecks Assignat per pud and per werst.

These surprising results, which no one ever asserts, arise simply from the continuing improvement in the construction of steamships and of the steam engines themselves. It is notorious among the 800 steamships currently operating no two are built exactly the same; steam engines, although subject to the same principles of steam power, still are different from English machines in almost all of their parts. As recently as three years ago you needed eight days to go from New Orleans to

Louisville, while today only six days are needed. The most remarkable fact is that a ship of 400 tons required 360 cords of wood at 128 cubic feet, and that today that same amount of wood is needed, but while 20 years ago the ship needed three weeks, it today needs only six days for the same journey.

4) Increase of salaries and the prices of all things needed for steamships in