106

Lot 106: Robert Fulton Sketch 1813

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
Lot  106: Robert Fulton Sketch 1813
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Robert FultonÕs 'Notes on a Steam Engine...'</b>

<b>ROBERT FULTON, Artist and Perfector of the Steamboat.</b>
Sketch Initialed, 'R.F. 1813' at the base of an ink drawing of an old woman, scowling out of her cottage door. 9.75' x 8,' Extremely Fine. Apart from being a surprisingly excellent rendering by this American inventor, the back of the sketch includes a cost analysis entitled 'Notes on a Steam engine...,' all in FultonÕs hand. He figured it would cost $40,000 to build the engine and building, then $12,800 a year to maintain it.

Fulton rose to fame with the launching of his first steamboat, the Clermont, in 1807. He was also the inventor of many useful devices, including a saw for cutting marble a primitive submarine. Later, he constructed a thirty-eight ton steam-ship, originally named the 'Demologos' and designed for the defense of New York Harbor during the War of 1812. The ship was completed in 1815 and renamed the 'Fulton' in honor of its inventor. By placing the vesselÕs thirty 32 pounders behind wooden sides nearly five feet thick and her huge paddle wheel between massive twin hulls, Fulton anticipated armored warships. In 1829, the Fulton was destroyed and twenty-four members of her crew were killed when several barrels of gunpowder exploded.

To FultonÕs list of inventions and improvements, we can now add another accomplishment -- artist!