"steam boat" 1786, antedates 1787

[victor steinbok]

Wiki article on Fitch has a picture of Fitch's "plan for [his] steam boat"
from December 1786 Columbian Magazine. This is later than the other
citations--also obviously referring to /plans/--but certainly puts the
discussion firmly in 1786, long before the "first successful run" in August
1787 and much longer before Fulton's commercial success. But, yes, it's
typical of received wisdom to skip a few steps in giving credit to
inventors. That's why we worship Edison, among others--or at least are told
to do so by powers that be.

VS-)

On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

>
> At 4/24/2011 12:20 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >Sorry, I don't understand what myth was busted.
>
> The myth I received, that Fulton *invented* the steam boat.  Rather,
> I am now informed that he is merely "widely credited with developing
> the first commercially successful steamboat" (Wikipedia).
>
> Joel
>

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