Abstract
IN a paper read to the Newcomen Society on October 17 by Eng.-Lieut. J. J. Bootsgezel, late of the Dutch Navy, an account was given of the pumping engines erected about ninety years ago for draining the Haarlemmermeer, or “The Meer”, a tract of flooded land stretching from Haarlem and Amsterdam to Ley den. The task of draining this area was en trusted to the two Dutch engineers A. Lipkens (1782-1847) and G. Simons (1802-68). Three large pumping stations were erected and in them were installed Cornish pumping engines made in Cornwall. The three stations were named after three individuals associated with the draining of the Meer: J. A. Leeghwater, F. G. van Lijnden and N. Cruquius. The engines were put into commission in 1848, and on July 1, 1852, the State Gazette announced: “The Meer is dry.” The area drained was more than 44,000 acres. Two of the engines have been dis mantled, but through the action of the Koninklijk Instituat van Ingenieurs, the Cruquius engine, which last worked on June 10, 1933, has been put in a state of preservation, and the boiler house will be main tained as a museum. Lieut. Bootsgezel was able to give many interesting particulars of the engines. The main features of the Cruquius engine included a single vertical high-pressure cylinder of 7 ft. diameter within a low-pressure cylinder of 12 ft. diameter.
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A Famous Dutch Pumping Engine. Nature 134, 766–767 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134766c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134766c0