Object data
wood and paper
height 0.4 cm (scale) × width 38.9 cm × depth 7.8 cm
Rasmus Dekker
Scale for Navigation
Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1791
Inscriptions
- inscription, on the scale: R DEKKER
- label: Eene schaal op palmhout dienende in plaatse van de gewoone tabellen, om de routen der schepen te berekenen gemaakt door Rasmus Dekker collegie-meester te Amsterdam en geapporbeert van den ... Admiraal van Kinsbergen. 28 July 1791
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-853-1
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Wooden scale and two documents (NG-MC-853-2 and NG-MC-853-3).
The scale is a simple wooden ruler with on one side a number of different scales, and on the other a number of tables and two verniers.
The scale worked as a tidal computer, meant to replace the printed tables to solve computations in navigation. The handwritten patent application is addressed to stadholder Willem V and was signed by Rasmus Dekker. The handwritten letter of recommendation is also addressed to Willem V and was signed by Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen (1735-1819), dated 28 July 1791.
Dekker repeatedly tried to sell his inventions to the Dutch and French governments between 1791 and 1815, but was turned down on each occasion. They were tested by Hendrik Willem Lantsheer in 1810 and a number of instruments were bought for further testing in 1814, but in 1817 the Navy definitively declared Dekker’s inventions unsuitable for the service.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 853; G. Doorman, Het Nederlandsch octrooiwezen en de techniek der 19de eeuw, The Hague 1947, 1801, p. 94; C.A. Davids, Zeewezen en wetenschap. De wetenschap en de ontwikkeling van de navigatietechniek in Nederland tussen 1585 en 1815, Amsterdam/Dieren 1985, pp. 247-50
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rasmus Dekker, Scale for Navigation, Amsterdam, 1791', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244667
(accessed 23 November 2024 23:28:55).