born 1699, Campden, Gloucestershire, Eng.

died 1758, London

British inventor, possibly the first person ever to devise detailed plans for a steam-propelled ship. In 1736 Hulls obtained a patent for a machine to carry “ships and vessels out of and into any harbour, port, or river against wind and tide or in a calm.” This steam tugboat was illustrated in a pamphlet published in 1737. Its stern paddle wheel was to be driven by a Newcomen atmospheric engine. To obtain continuous rotation of the paddle wheel, Hulls proposed the use of ratchet wheels driven by ropes from the piston. Neither the patent nor the pamphlet, however, led to a practical trial of Hulls's scheme.