Rijksmuseum

Object data

wood, brass, iron and chamois

model: height 37 cm × width 59.2 cm × depth 24 cm
packaging capsule: height 45 cm × width 67 cm × depth 41.5 cm

Inscriptions

inscription, below the ventilation shaft: C / Nº 34
label, top: 568 former inventory label

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-568

Copyright: Public domain

Entry

Demonstration model of a ventilator.

In the large rectangular compartment a board, attached with hinges at mid-height to the short front side, can be moved up and down by means of a handle; the compartment is thus divided into two halves, which can be alternately compressed or enlarged by moving the board. Air is admitted through two square valves at the front, consisting of simple wooden flaps covered with chamois leather, one situated above and one below the hinges of the board. Through similar valves the air is expelled to a small compartment at the front and led through a single exit into a square wooden ventilation shaft leading upwards; this shaft can be removed.

Dr Stephen Hales presented his ventilator to the Royal Society in London in May 1741. It was used for a variety of purposes, notably on ships.

Scale unknown.

Literature

S. Hales, A Description of Ventilators, s.l. (1743); S. Hales, A Treatise on Ventilators, s.l. (1758); A.M. Bailey, The Advancement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, s.l. (1776); J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 568

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Ventilator, Netherlands, 1800 - 1850', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244383

(accessed 23 November 2024 23:31:14).