It turned out that Gaoli of the Tang Dynasty invented the "paddle boat". He installed paddle wheels with paddles on the side or stern of the ship, and stepped on the paddle shaft by manpower, so that the paddles on the periphery of the wheel pushed the hull forward. Because the lower part of the paddle wheel of this kind of ship is immersed in the water and the upper part is exposed to the water, it is called "open boat" or "boat" to distinguish it from wooden boats with manual paddles and sailboats driven by wind.
The earliest steamboat was built by the French inventor Geoffrey, who built the world's first steamboat "Piro Scafi" in 1769 and started it with a steam engine. Later, the Englishman Xue Mingdun also built a steamboat at 1802. Unfortunately, none of them have been applied in practice.
It was not until1September, 807 that the steamboat "Clermont" designed and manufactured by Fulton, an American, was successfully tested, which made the steamboat truly become the protagonist on the water stage. Clermont is 45.72 meters long and 9. 14 meters wide, with a displacement of 100 tons and a speed of 6.4 kilometers per hour.
After the invention of the steam engine ship, the paddle wheel was driven by the steam engine instead of human power, which has been used for more than 100 years.
Later, the propeller propeller replaced the paddle wheel, and this "open boat" was eliminated. Due to the popularity and habit of appellation, propeller-propelled ships are still called "ships" and have been passed down to this day.