Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, was originally a banker, and ultimately became possessed of considerable independent property. At different periods of his life he embarked in many schemes of great public utility. He made considerable improvements in artillery and naval architecture, and during the course of his various experiments expended upwards of thirty thousand pounds. One of the immediate results of his experiments in the first-named science was the invention of the well-known carronade; while in the course of his experiments in naval architecture, he constructed double and triple vessels, and was the first to practically apply the present form of the paddle-wheels now in ordinary use to their propulsion. Having satisfied himself of the usefulness of his researches in this respect, by many costly experiments undertaken at his own expense, Mr. Miller published at Edinburgh, in 1787, a book in English and French, containing a full account of them, and sent a copy of his work to every sovereign in Europe, and also to the American States, inasmuch as he considered that his inventions ought to be the property of the human kind.[26] The paddle-wheels in these experiments (undertaken in the years 1786-7) were turned by manual labour, and on the occasion of a severe contest between one of his double boats and a Custom-house boat, reckoned to be a fast sailer, the want of a more powerful force to turn the wheels was greatly felt. Mr. James Taylor, at that time a tutor in Mr. Miller's family, suggested steam power, and ultimately introduced Miller to Wm. Symington, with whose aid Mr. Miller commenced and carried out those experiments (in the years 1788-89) which have justly entitled him to the honour of being the first to originate the present system of steam navigation.[27]