Object data
wood, copper, brass and lead
model: height 122 cm × width 119 cm × depth 36 cm
packaging capsule: height 49 cm × width 139.5 cm × depth 40 cm
anonymous
Model of a Vessel with Paddle Wheels Amidships
? Netherlands, 1700 - 1820
Provenance
...; collection Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1765-1837), Amsterdam, 1807;1 Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, 1837;2 transferred to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-1013
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Schematic construction model of a vessel with paddle wheels amidships.
The model is a bracket model to starboard and has only two main frames to port. It has two decks with a number of hatches. Longitudinally, the vessel is divided into two halves, leaving a channel underneath the vessel from bow to stern: the vessel thus has two keels, two stems and two sternposts. In the channel two consecutive paddle wheels and the gear train are located. The mechanism is driven by a crank, fixed between the frames to port. The paddle wheels, which can be set at various heights, have spoon-shaped boards and a flat toothed wheel on either side; the crank drives two parallel toothed wheels, which in turn drive the toothed wheels of the paddle wheels. The rudder is forked with two parallel blades, leaving space for the outlet of water. The mast is set against the forward bulkhead of the paddle box between decks. The mast can be lowered and has a lead counterweight.
A vessel described by Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717) resembles this model.3 The construction of the model suggests a later date, however. The model was part of the private collection of Jochem Pietersz Asmus (1755-1837).4
Scale unknown.
Literature
N. Witsen, Architectura Navalis et Regimen Nauticum ofte Aeloude en Hedendaagsche Scheeps-bouw en Bestier, Amsterdam 1690 (2nd ed.), p. 195; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1013; A.J. Hoving, ‘Aandrijving door spierkracht’, Scheepshistorie 10 (2010), pp. 14-31; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 40-41
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Vessel with Paddle Wheels Amidships, Netherlands, 1700 - 1820', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244828
(accessed 15 November 2024 07:39:08).