Fire Engines with Water Hoses and the Method of Fighting Fires Now Used in Amsterdam by Jan van der Heyden Sr. and Jan van der Heyden Jr.

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 139 where it sometimes seems that ownership of books was more impor­ tant than whether or not the books were ever read, much less under­ stood or appropriated into an individual’s mental world. Other problems are more minor: a map inset, identified in the text, seems to be missing from the map in question, and one author’s name appears twice in the index, misspelled both times and in two differ­ ent ways. Such criticisms aside, this brief book will be much appreciated— especially by those who have read Martin’s thousand-page thesis. Martin’s discussion of printing’s influence on early modern society offers a clear account of the literary marketplace, the growth ofread­ ership, changes in books themselves, and their development along­ side the major institutions of the 17th century. Michael Lynn Mr. Lynn is a doctoral student in the history department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he is completing a dissertation on the popularization of natural philosophy in Enlightenment France. Fire Engines with Water Hoses and the Method ofFightingFires Now Used in Amsterdam. ByJan van der Heyden Sr. andJan van der Heyden Jr. Foreword by Peter M. Molloy. Translated and with an introduc­ tion by Lettie Stibbe Multhauf. Canton, Mass.: Science History Publications, 1996. Pp. xxi+102; illustrations. $55.00 (cloth). First published in 1690, the van der Heydens’ Beschryvingdernieuwlijks uitgeuonden en geoctrojeerde slang-brand-spuiten was an unusual work for its time and, except for readers in some specialized areas of interest, has remained largely unknown outside Holland. This translation of the 1735 edition should reduce the book’s obscurity by making it available and more accessible to non-Dutch readers. Jan van der Heyden Sr. was a renowned painter before establish­ ing the first street lighting system in Amsterdam in 1669 (see Lettie Multhauf, “The Light of Lamp-Lanterns: Street Lighting in 17thCentury Amsterdam,” Technology and Culture 2d (April 1985): 23652 ). Two years later, along with his brother Nicolaas, van der Heyden surveyed the state of firefighting in Amsterdam and found it want­ ing; especially problematic were the fire engines then in use. The van der Heydens began work designing and making their own and in 1677 were granted patents from the States-General of the United Netherlands and the States of Holland and West Friesland “to con­ struct, employ, put to work or use, the aforementioned, newly in­ vented fire engines with hoses” (p. 6). This they did with consider­ able success. Shortly after Nicolaas’s death in 1681,JanJr.joined his father in the fire engine business, and later the two served as firechiefs general for Amsterdam. Like Jan Sr.’s street lamp endeavor, 140 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE which was based on developing improved oil lamps and a system of lamp-lighting patrols, this effort made important technical improve­ ments in fire engines and resulted in the reorganization and training of firefighters. The original book was divided into three parts: the first compared the system of firefighting based on the van der Heydens’ engines with previous equipment and practices; the second gave accounts of firefighting between 1651 and 1690; and the third described fire bylaws and ordinances enacted in Amsterdam during this period. As evidence of the ineffectiveness of the old fire engines, van der Heyden noted the frequent resort to demolishing buildings, either by pulling them down or blowing them up. The old engines lacked intake hoses and had to be supplied with water by bucket brigades; they lacked pressure hoses and could discharge water only through gooseneck nozzles fixed to their tops; and their pumps lacked air chambers, producing only intermittent streams of water. Conse­ quently, it was difficult to apply much water to fires, least of all to the base of the flames where it would be most effective. The van der Heydens’ engines had intake and pressure hoses and air chambers; equipped with long hoses, firefighters could direct continuous streams of water from positions other than where the engines were placed, greatly increasing the effectiveness of their efforts. There is no mistaking the self-promoting tone of the book, but even discounting the sometimes exaggerated claims made by...