Captain Robert M. Fryer, an American sea captain and inventor, designed and built his own variation of the roller ship concept in 1882 named the Alice No.1, which became known as the "queerest craft to ply the Hudson". Built at a yard in the village of Hastings-on-the-Hudson, New York, the unusual craft consisted of a triangular frame that supported the main deck and the small deckhouse and engine room which floated on and was propelled by three cylindrical wheels. She was approximately 12 meters long and was 10 meters wide at the stern. On her maiden voyage, she traveled to the town of Hastings, New York through the Oneida River, traveling part of the way on land.
Before the Alice No.1 was built, Robert Fryer had built a smaller prototype to test the design which used spherical rollers instead, a holdover from his original roller design which was tested on a water velocipede (waterbike) in 1870.
Robert M. Fryer planned a larger ocean going steamship based on the Alice No.1 named Alice No.2, however it was never built.