Steam-ships

CHAPTER I

PRIMITIVE EXPERIMENTS IN PROPULSION--SOME EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH STEAM

Opinions are divided as to whether the paddle-wheel is a development from the action of a man paddling a canoe, or the result of applying to a vessel an ordinary wheel, with blades to make it bite the water; or it may be stated thus: Did the paddle-blades grow out of the wheel, or the wheel out of...