Stevens, John Cox

Stevens, John Cox (1749–1856) engineer, inventor; born in New York City. After serving in the American Revolution, Stevens joined the growing group of men interested in steam power, especially as applied to ships. He designed boilers and engines that received some of the first American patents (1791) and he collaborated with such pioneers in steamboats as Nicholas Roosevelt and Robert R. Livingston. In 1803 he built the Little Juliana, which was propelled by twin Archimedean screws; it served as a ferry between Manhattan and Hoboken, N.J. Design problems led him to revert to paddle wheels, but Robert Fulton's Clermont sailed up and down the Hudson River (1807) before Stevens' Phoenix was ready (1809). The Phoenix sailed to Philadelphia, however, becoming the world's first ocean-going steamboat. Stevens then turned his interest to steam-powered railways and in 1825 he operated the first steam locomotive in America. He proposed several other engineering projects that would not be accomplished for many decades.