| Description | Engine Designs by James Watt, Edward Bull and Jonathan Hornblower’s Engines, Dutch Windmill etc. (18 items).
1344. Dutch Windmill. Oct. 1799, Feb., Mar., Aug., Dec. 1800, May 1801. 18 items.
Iron windmill parts for drainage schemes, Holland.
Drawings:
Shafts and arms and sockets etc. - reverse drawing marked "Sketch for Directors of Drainage in Holland"; wheels with iron teeth - original and reverse drawings (both are marked as reverse drawings; sections of wheel - reverse drawing; cross for holding arms, block for end of great shaft - original and reverse drawings; elevation showing the iron shafts, wheels etc., with copy of the key to the drawing on a separate sheet.
Memoranda, printed agreements etc.:
Memorandum "Remarks of the Director General & Inspectors of the drainage of the Nieuwkoop & Zevenhoven, on a certain English memorial respecting the use that can be made of cast iron on mills for raising water"; 2 printed agreements (in Dutch) for the mills, 10 Feb. 1800 (the agreements have manuscript additions and are similar but not identical); memorial (in French) with wrapper marked "Mr. Bruning's Memorial of the 15 Mar. 1800 containing the order for the iron work for one windmill"; translation of the memorial of 15 Mar. 1800; coloured section of a windmill marked "Drawing of the present most approved Construction of the Windmills used in Holland for raising Water sent with the Memorial of the 15 Mar. 1800, and received at Soho on the 20 May 1800"; 2 sheets of calculations (partly in John Southern's hand).
Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 405. Catalogue of Old Engines p. 338.
For the Nieuwkoop drainage, Holland. Cast iron parts for a windmill. Boulton & Watt and the Dutch drainage engineer J. D. H. van Liender had been exploring the possibility of using cast iron to replace the wooden parts of windmills since around 1797, partly inspired by the shortage of timber in Holland. However their correspondence was often interrupted by war and political events in Holland, and it was not until 1799, when van Liender was President of the Commission of Superintendance of the Nieuwkoop Drainage that he was able to order iron mill parts from Soho, for two mills, one for Nieuwkoop and one for Zevenhofen. The Nieuwkoop mill was not set to work until Sep. 1803, and while it was a success, the cost of getting parts from Soho prevented any more orders being placed with Boulton & Watt. |