STEVENS, JOHN (1749-183S). Au American inventor, engineer, and steamboat builder. He was born in New York City, and in 1768 gradu ated at King's (now Columbia) College. He then studied law, and in 1771 was admitted to the bar. In 1790 he petitioned Congress for legis lation for the protection of American inventors, and through his efforts a bill was passed which laid the foundations for the present patent sys tem of the country. As early as 1788 he had be gun experiments in the application of steam as a motive power. and in 1792 took out two patents for marine engines under the new law. Subse quently, in association with Nicholas Roosevelt and Robert R. Livingston. he built a steamboat, and attempted to obtain from the New York State Legislature the exclusive right of naviga tion of the Hudson River, hut the boat, when completed in 1801, failed to fulfill the speed conditions imposed, and Livingston subsequently became associated with Fulton in his more suc cessful attempt. In 1804 he built a steamship propelled by twin screws, and in 1807, with his brother Robert, built the paddle-wheeled steam boat Plurnixs which was put in successful opera tion only a few days after Fulton's Clermont. The
Pilo-nix was shut out of the by the monopoly of Fulton and Livingston, but was operated for six years on the Delaware River, to reach which the Phwnix sailed around from New York City, and was thus the first steamship to navigate the ocean successfully. In October, 1811, between Hoboken and New York City be estab lished the first steam ferry in the world. Ile invented and designed many improvements in steamboat and steam-engine construction. and de signed in 1512 a circular iron-clad floating bat tery for harbor defense. lu 1826 he constructed a locomotive model after his own designs, which he exhibited in opt-ration in Hoboken. and which was said to have been the first locomotive ever to run on a track in America.