248 On the Antlquify and 



both named John van tier Heide *, who were infpeAors of 

 the apparatus for cxlincuifliing fires at Amfterdam. The firft 

 pubUc experiments made with them took place in the year 

 1672, and were attended with fo much fuccefs, that at a fire 

 next year the old engines were ufed for the laft, and the en- 

 ijines with moveable hofe for the firft, time. In the year 1677 

 the inventor obtained an exclufive privilege to contlruft en- 

 gines according to their principle for twenty-five years. In 

 the vear 1683 a fut^icient number of thcfe engines were dil- 

 tributed in the dillerent quarters of the city, and the old en- 

 gines were entirely laid afide. In the year 1695 there were 

 m Amllerdam more than fixtv of thefe engines, the fix of 

 which neareft the place where a fire broke out, were rcqvnred 

 to be prefent to give afliliance. In a few years they were 

 common in all the towns of the Netherlands. 



AH thefe circumftances have been related by the inventor 

 himielf in a particular work, w hich, on account of the ex- 

 cellent copper- plates in it, has become exceedingly fcarcef. 

 The firft feven of ihele reprefent fome dreadful conflagrations, 

 at which the old engines were ufcd without producing much 

 effeft. Among thpm is the conflasration of the liadt-houfe 

 of Amftcrdam in the year 1652. The twehe following plates 

 are reprcfentations of fires which were extinguiihed by means 

 of the new engines, and exhibit at the fame time the various 

 ways in which they could be erfiployed with advantage. 

 According to an annexed account, it appears that the city of 

 Amllerdam loft by ten fires, at which the old apparatus was 

 ufed, I,0'^4,I30 florins; but during the ten following years, 

 when the npw engines were introduced, only 18,355 were 

 loft by forty fires ; fo that the annual faving by this invention 

 was 98 per cent. 



The internal conftrnftion of thefe engines has no where 

 been reprefented, nor do I remember to have read a paflage 

 in any author which proves that thev were furniflied with 

 an air-chamber, though in the privilege they are called 



♦ In the privilege, however, they are called Jan ende Nico'aas van dcr 

 Heyden. 



t Bcfchryving der nieuvvlijks uirgevonden en geoclrojeerdc Slang- 

 Brand-i( u ten, en haare uijze van Brand-ElulTen, tegenwoordig binntn 

 Amfterdarn in gebiuik zij-ide. — Door der zelver Invcnttur Jan van dcr 

 Heide en Jan van der Hcide de jongc, geneiaalc Brandmeefters dcr Stad 

 Anifterdam. Amfterd. 1690. To this lubjeit belongs aifo the following 

 ^vork, a copy of which is in our library : Be'"cl.ry\ing der Brand-orders, 

 en wiize Vdn BrandblufTen, tegenvioord\g binnen AmlUrdam in gebruik 

 zijn.de, door Jan van der Hcide, en Jnn van dcr Heide de Joi:ige,generaaie 

 Braudmccfters der zelver Sreede. Anifierd. 1695 ; one Ihect and a half 

 4to. with four plates, and a defcription of them. One of thcfe dcfcriptions 

 is infertcd iu the Leipfic Fiie Regulations for the year ly^g. 4to. 



Jpouting 



