Robert E. Fulton Jr., an adventurous inventor whose more than 70 patents included a car that could fly and a rescue system for spies behind enemy lines, died May 7 at his home in Newtown, Conn.His … ...

The next year, however, John Fitch and Robert Fulton received a patent for their larger vessel. In 1806, Fitch and Hudson successfully sailed their steamboat, The Clermont, up the Hudson River.