Who Invented the Paddleboat?

[herrmill]

The subject line says it all.  

Who & when was the first paddleboat invented & better yet, when did it become commerically viable.  

The bonus question will be what propulsion system was used?

I may be mistaken, but I've included several illustrations to help point the way.  Who knows, this may have to be a future project once the DQ is completed.

Chuck

[Bierjunge]

Quite famous is Leonardo's paddleboat design:
http://www.leonardo3.net/leonardo/machines_eng.htm
Scroll down to "Paddleboat"

Or even earlier, but less known:
http://www.ingolstadt.de/stadtmuseum/frameset.cfm?url=http://www.ingolstadt.de/stadtmuseum/documents/ast_2003_konrad_kyeser_mi.htm
Scroll down to "Allgemeinder Nutzungsbereich"

But commercially available? Maybe not before Fulton...

In use for many centuries was however the inversion of a paddleboat, so to say, in german the Schiffsmühle (ship mill?), a grist mill with paddlewheels floating on a pontoon or hull, and being moored in a river to make the wheels spin and to drive the mill.

[Bierjunge]

In use for many centuries was however the inversion of a paddleboat, so to say, in german the Schiffsmühle (ship mill?), a grist mill with paddlewheels floating on a pontoon or hull, and being moored in a river to make the wheels spin and to drive the mill.

Addition: A picture and a brief english description of such mill can be found at http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/collections/machines/power-engines/water-power/waterwheels/ship-mill/

Again, not a real paddler, because the power flow is just the other way round, but it looks almost like an Australian paddleboat ;-) and would make a nice funny model even in a powered version!
Btw, they say these mills were used since Roman times...

And after all, it's a boat with paddlewheels, so why not call it paddleboat?
Inventors in this case would be the Romans, power source would be the river, and the commercial viability was quite high...

[mjt60a]

Quite famous is Leonardo's paddleboat design:
http://www.leonardo3.net/leonardo/machines_eng.htm
Scroll down to "Paddleboat...

...scroll down to 'Pianale con ruote chiodate', is that a 4 wheel drive?

[herrmill]

Try China.

Along with many other items, the Chinese invented the paddlewheel a millenia before Leonardo da Vinci's birth.  Sources attribute different dates, but several point to 589 when paddleboats were cited as being used during the Southern Dynasty period.

Paddlewheel boats were used on inland rivers, canals & lakes to carry freight & passengers. Sung (Song) Dynasty (960-1279) paddlewheel driven warships like is shown below were used against rival dynasties as well as the Mongols.

Coolies were used exclusively for propulsion.

http://udel.edu/~roe/Anth222/anth222_notes_lecture_subsistence.pdf

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01780/transportation/tools-shipbuilding.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Caishi

More information on Chinese inventions can be viewed at:

http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/westdebt.htm


Chuck

[Roderick Smith]

Vaguely related to this thread, and following from the inverse use of paddles to drive a hull-mounted grist mill:
* lazy paddles have been mentioned in a couple of threads.  These are used on diesel-propelled (screw or water jet) tourist boats to simulate being a paddlesteamer.
* I recalled reading of Flettner's failed experiment to exploit wind turbines to propel boats, but the principle was exploited successfully as a rotary ventilator (presumably with many used in marine environments).  I have just googled on Flettner, where there is lots of material, with two wikipedia references.  The turbine is actually a Savonius wind turbine; Flettner did build two boats which worked.  Presumably they used screw propulsion, but there would be nothing stopping a wind turbine propelling via paddles.
* Every water-driven overshot or undershot Pelton wheel, used to generate electricity or to power bush/forest sawmills.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I was saving this for CSAY 'Unusual upper Clyde paddler', but is seems to sit more happily with some of the inverse uses of paddles discussed in this thread.

'They say the bird is on the wing, but that's absurd
For we all know the wing is on the bird'.

Enclosed: if you can't have a paddle on a boat, you can have a boat on a paddle.  Both are from one of the websites about the feature.