Nicholas Roosevelt (inventor) 74-gun ships. In 1797, with Robert R. Livingston and John Stevens, he agreed to build a boat on joint account, for which the engines were to be constructed by Roosevelt, and the propelling agency was to be that planned by Livingston. The experiment failed, the speed attained being only equivalent to about in still water. On September 6, 1798, Roosevelt described and earnestly recommended to Livingston a vertical wheel, which is the first practical suggestion of the combination that made steam navigation a commercial success, although four years later Robert Fulton believed that chains and floats were alone to be
Steam tank Earlier fighting vehicles projects had employed steam power because petrol engines were not yet powerful enough; the Steam Tank however used it for the main reason that it was meant to be a specialised flame thrower to attack pillboxes and the original design had this weapon driven by steam. When the main device to build up sufficient pressure became a auxiliary gasoline engine, the two main 2-cylinder steam engines with a combined power of remained, each engine driving one track to give a maximum speed of . The transmission allowed two speeds forward and two in reverse. The steam engines