BELL’S “COMET.”
They did so, and this is something of what they saw. They found a small vessel, forty feet long and ten and a-half wide, and only about twenty-five tons burthen. The furnace was bricked round, and the boiler, instead of being in the centre, was seated on one side of the ship, with the engine beside it. But the funnel was bent and rose aloft in the middle, and it answered the purpose of a mast—to carry sail.
“But look at the machinery,” we can imagine Bell saying to his friend. “We have one single cylinder, you see. The piston is attached to a crank on an axle. This axle carries a big cog wheel, which, working two more placed on the paddle axles, causes them to revolve.”
“And the paddles?”
“Well, you see, we have now two sets on each side, and each paddle is shaped something like a malt shovel; but I think I shall alter them, and have paddle wheels soon.”
Bell carried out his improvement, and in a short time he did adopt the better form of paddle wheel. The improved Comet, with a new engine, attained six or seven miles an hour. But before this, Mr. Hutchison, a brewer, built another boat, bigger than the Comet, and her engine was of ten horse-power, while the Comet’s was but three. She travelled at an average of nine miles an hour, and her fares were but a-third of those charged by coach.
The news of the steamers on the Clyde became noised abroad, and steamboats began to appear on other British rivers. The success of the new venture became assured.
But how had it been brought about? Bell had referred to the labours of others, and, indeed, his was not the first steamboat, though, doubtless, it was the first in Britain to ply for passengers.