Robert Fulton

A 1915 biography that traces the arc of one America's most consequential inventors from curious boy to world-changer. Sutcliffe opens with a telling scene: 1778, a Pennsylvania town bans traditional Fourth of July candles, and thirteen-year-old Robert Fulton crafts an ingenious workaround. This early glimpse of his inventive mind sets the trajectory for a life that would reshape global commerce. The narrative follows Fulton from his farm childhood through his encounter with steam power at age twelve, through his work designing the Nautilus submarine for Napoleon, to the 1807 launch of the Clermont, which conquered the Hudson River and transformed American transportation. Written for young readers with admiration and clarity, the book presents Fulton's journey as proof that stubborn curiosity and relentless tinkering can reshape the world.