Jonathan Hulls or Hull (baptised 1699 – 1758) was an English inventor, a pioneer of steam navigation. Traditionally, he was recognised as the first person to make practical experiments with steam to propel a vessel; but evidence to substantiate the claim that he did more than propose a steam vessel on paper is lacking.

Life

Hulls was born at Hanging Aston, Gloucestershire. It has been suggested that the background to the efforts of Hulls was the 1734 publication in the abridged ''

Philosophical Transactions ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...

'' of a paper by the French engineer Monsieur Duquet on ships and mechanical propulsion. Duquet was a controversialist also active at that time in a debate on his ideas with

Henri Pitot Henri Pitot (; May 3, 1695 – December 27, 1771) was a French hydraulic engineer and the inventor of the pitot tube. In a pitot tube, the height of the fluid column is proportional to the square of the velocity of the fluid at the depth of the ...

. He died in the middle of 1758 in

Broad Campden Broad Campden is a small village in Gloucestershire, England, with a church and pub, and notable for its beauty and fine walking trails. History The village is the site of the listed partly 12th century Norman Chapel House that was renovated by C ...

, where he had lived almost all his adult life.

Work

The protection of his invention by Hulls depended on the financial support of his neighbour named Freeman at Batsford Park. The patent for the invention by Hulls is dated 21 December 1736, and his account of it appeared as ''Description and Draught of a new-invented Machine for carrying Vessels or Ships out of or into any Harbour, Port, or River against Wind and Tide, or in a Calm; for which his Majesty has granted Letters-patent for the sole benefit of the Author for the space of fourteen years'' (London, 1737). It was reprinted in facsimile in 1855. A Newcomen engine was to be set up on a tow-boat in front of another vessel, connected by a tow-rope. Six paddles in the stern of the tow-boat were to be fastened to a cross axis connected by ropes to another axis which was turned by the engine. Hulls showed how to convert the rectilineal motion of a

piston-rod In a piston engine, a piston rod joins a piston to the crosshead and thus to the connecting rod that drives the crankshaft or (for steam locomotives) the driving wheels. Internal combustion engines, and in particular all current automobile ...

into a rotatory motion. The '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' casts doubt on the traditional story about practical trials by Hulls. The ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' first edition related that they were made on River Avon at

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

in 1737; that they were a failure; and that Hulls was the butt of humour. In 1754 Hulls published ''The Art of Measuring made Easy by the help of a new Sliding Scale''; he also wrote the ''Maltmakers' Instructor''.

Influence

Augustus De Morgan says that Hulls's work very likely gave suggestions to William Symington; and that

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

was thinking of Hulls when he prophesied that steam would soon "drag the slow barge".

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Hulls, Jonathan 1699 births 1758 deaths English inventors People from Cotswold District