Object data
wood and brass
height 19.5 cm × width 40 cm × depth 18 cm
anonymous
Model of a Caisson in its Bed
? Netherlands, France, 1800
Conservation
- Ab Hoving, January 2012: cleaned; revarnished
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-991
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Frame model of a double-keeled caisson serving as a lock gate for a dry dock, placed at the entrance of a dock.
One side of the caisson is finished, the other half is open. Parts of the three decks can be removed and are joined by stairs. Inside, the caisson is divided into compartments. Two small floodgates are at the closed side. Their operation is unclear, but seems to work with a wedge-shaped valve. Only one pump is indicated to either side. There are three rabbets in the walls and floor of the dock entrance, enabling the caisson to be placed in two alternate positions.
This model of a caisson has many similarities with the design by the French engineer Antoine Groignard (1727-1799) dating from 1778 and has exactly the same dimensions.1 A very similar model of this caisson is in the collection of Teylers Museum in Haarlem.2
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 991
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Caisson in its Bed, Netherlands, 1800', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244805
(accessed 28 December 2024 08:00:39).