In 1802 with the help of his partner Robert R. Livingston, Fulton launched a small, steam-driven paddle wheel boat that traveled up the Seine River. He then sailed to New York City, and then on August 18, 1807, Fulton's 150 foot Clermont made its famous successful run 150 miles form New York City to Albany in 32 hours, a trip that normally took four days (Pursell, 1995). It was not until the builders, however, of threshing machines begun to make their portable engines self-propelling that real progress was made. The earliest traction engines still depended on horses to steer them, and in 1882 the first self-steering, self-propelled traction engine was produced. These advances greatly stimulated the use of steam on the farm: in 1880 it produced 1.2-million horsepower; and in 1890, 2 million (Pursell, 1995). .
In 1900 the electric motor and the internal combustion engine were the most significant inventions. They contributed greatly to human welfare and they replaced horse drawn transport. The real breakthrough, however, did not come until ships powered by compound engines operating at far higher steam pressures and capable of carrying cargoes of 3,000 tons for 8,500 miles at 10 knots (Barker, 1996).
The advancement of the steam engine during the industrial revolution is very similar to a lot of the advances in technology and computers that has been occurring recently. John Steele Gordon wrote in Forbes magazine about when Intel brought the first microprocessor to market he said, "In less than a lifetime this little device has turned our society upside down all by doing just one thing: making information cheaper." He also relates this to the steam engine in which he stated that, "Our ancestors of two centuries ago had to go through the same process without this kind of experience. They were born into a world that differed little form the one known to their grandparents, but they lived to see the steam engine change nearly everything: manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and politics.
