born 1749, New York, N.Y.
died March 6, 1838, Hoboken, N.J., U.S.
U.S. lawyer, engineer, and inventor.
He served as a colonel in the American Revolution. To protect his boiler and engine designs, he submitted his outline for a patent law; the resulting Patent Law of 1790 formed the basis of the U.S. patent system. In 1802 he became the first person to employ a powered screw to propel a ship. In 1809 his steamship Phoenix became the world's first seagoing steamboat. In Philadelphia in 1811 he inaugurated the world's first steam-ferry service. In 1825 he built the first American steam locomotive . He developed his New Jersey estate into the city of Hoboken. He was the father of Robert L. Stevens . Another son, Edwin Augustus Stevens (17951868), was the inventor of the Stevens plow and a pioneer builder of ironclad warships and established the Stevens Institute of Technology by a bequest. A third son, John Cox Stevens (17851857), headed the group that sent the yacht America to Britain, where it won the race that established the America's Cup .