STEAM NAVIGATION. 55

disappointment; for on the same day that he was informed by LordDundas of the final determination of the Committee not to allowsteam boats to be employed on the Canal, he received intelligence ofthe death of the Duke of Bridgewater.

Unable longer to struggle against his misfortunes, his resourcesbeing exhausted, he was obliged, with great reluctance, to lay uphis boat in a creek of the canal, near to Brainsford draw-bridge,where it remained for a number of years exposed to public view.

From the experience that Symington had obtained in his experi-ments with Mr. Miller’s boats, and from the circumstance of thedouble-acting Cylinder and Crank being at the time of his engage-ment by Lord Dundas used in Stationary Engines, he abandonedhis own old engine, and obtained a Patent for applying a Double-Acting Reciprocating Engine to a Boat, and for plaeing his crankupon the axis of the paddle-wheel, which was a good subject-matterfor a patent, and a very important discovery and improvement. Fromthe establishment of this combination of machinery to a Boat, no im-provement on this system has even to the present time. been effected,either in this or in any other country; and this the parent Boatof the present system of Paddle-Wheel Steamers is representedfrom a drawing by the late Mr. Symington himself."The secondPatent, to which I have already alluded, was obtained in the year1801, and the title of it is-—“ A new mode of constructing Steam En-gines, and applying their power to the purposes of producing Rotatoryand other motions without the interposition of a Lever or Beam.”The deseriptive part of the Specification begins as follows:“TheDrawing annexed shows my new method of constructing Steam En-gines and applying their power for the purpose of producing RotatoryMotion without the intervention of a Lever or Beam, viz.:—TheSteam Cylinder A is placed in a horizontal position, and the piston-rodB coupled to one end of the crank arm C, and the other end of the armattached to the Crank(the piston-rod being kept parallel to the axisof the Steam Cylinder by slides or rollers as represented in the draw-

1793,

1801.Oct, 14.