Object data
wood, brass, iron, lead and leather
model: height 85.3 cm × width 41 cm × depth 34.5 cm
packaging capsule: height 91 cm × width 44.5 cm × depth 40 cm
anonymous
Model of an Oscillating Pump
? Netherlands, United States of America, 1821
Conservation
- P. Borst, 1986: restored
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-646
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an oscillating pump on a wooden tripod.
Double-acting pump with two trunks, square in section, joined to one single round trunk at the base. The upper pump boxes consist of a metal plate, inserted diagonally into each trunk, with two triangular flaps on top, covered with leather; they are weighted with lead. In the base of both square trunks, lower pump boxes of the same design are placed. The upper pump boxes are connected with a chain running over a wheel in the pump cistern. On the outside a pendulum is attached to the axle of the wheel, and a yoke for a chain or rope is mounted on top. With the yoke the swinging motion of the pendulum can be set in action, lifting and lowering the upper pump boxes alternately.
The original design of this pump came from the United States.1 The model is a reconstruction based on incomplete information and could probably only be made after additional instructions were provided by Rear Admiral Job Seaburne May (1765-1827).2 The pump proved very satisfactory when tested on Kenau Hasselaar (the former Diana). G. Debranson Clark from Brussels received a fifteen-year patent for oscillating pumps in 1839.
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.C. Rijk, Handleiding tot de kennis van den scheepsbouw, s.l. 1822, pp. 265-67, pl. IV, fig. 122; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 646; G.P.J. Mossel, Handleiding tot de kennis van het schip, Amsterdam 1859, p. 280; G. Doorman, Het Nederlandsch octrooiwezen en de techniek der 19de eeuw, The Hague 1947, p. 234, no. 1037
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of an Oscillating Pump, Netherlands, 1821', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244461
(accessed 5 January 2025 05:10:26).