was an American inventor who made the first successful trial of a steamboat on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of members of the Constitutional Convention. Fitch designed and built a number of different steamboats with engines that had features of both Watt and Newcomen's steam engines. His models utilized various combinations of propulsive force, including ranked paddles (patterned after Indian war canoes), paddle wheels, and screw propellers. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch failed at his commercial enterprises. Robert Fulton built his first boat after Fitch's death, and it was Fulton who became known as the "father of steam navigation" after he turned the steamboat into a commercial success.