We continue to acquaint readers of salik.biz with historical sources. This time I bring to your attention a book dedicated to the art of engineering, specifically concerning hydraulics and construction in water and on water. This book was published in France in 1737 and it is called "Hydraulic architecture, or the art of diverting, raising and managing waters for the various needs of life" (Architecture hydraulique, ou, L'art de conduire, d'elever et de menager les eaux pour les différens besoins de la vie). The book is quite voluminous: in 4 volumes, each of which contains from 400 to 700 pages and about 50-70 detailed drawings. The drawings are very interesting. Text, perhaps too. But it's hard for me to read it, because it's written not just in French, which I don't know, but in Old French,which is not always readable for a google translator. I will give selectively some pictures from this book (all are clickable).
Water mills
Volume 1 tells about the general principles of mechanics, the various mechanisms that drive the wheels of mills and crushers.
The device of mills.
Cross-section plan of the 1st floor of the mill and tower.
The thickness of the walls of this mill is impressive. If we take the thickness of the chimney as 0.5 m, then the thickness of the walls is more than 2 meters in the upper part and about 4 in the lower part.
Longitudinal section of the mill.
Promotional video:
A drawing of the mill in Provence and Dauphin.
Plan, section and sections of the chain (elevator) machine used to pump out water from Rochefort's buildings.
Rochefort (French Rochefort) is a commercial port in the French department of Charente Primorskaya, on the right bank of the Charente, 16 km from its confluence with the Bay of Biscay and the Ile d'Ex islands with a citadel, a fort and a lighthouse.
Design of a new machine for discharging large quantities of water Side view; Archimedes screw; counterbalancing a double zigzag, front view.
Water lifting wheel design.
Channels and gateways
The second volume deals with the arrangement of ports, channels leading to them, gateways and various mechanisms and tools for their construction. Mainly based on the example of the French port of Dunkirk. This port is located on the banks of the English Channel, 75 km north-west of Lille and 295 km north of Paris and 10 km from the border with Belgium. This is the same Dunkirk where the famous Dunkirk operation took place:
Even the film was shot on this topic. It is called "Dunkirk". This drawing shows the development of Dunkirk:
1 Plan of the first walls of Dunkirk in 960 under Baudouin 3 Earl of Flanders 2 Plan of the first fortification of Dunkirk, known in 1400 under Robert de Marte 3 Plan of the city of Dunkirk, which was adopted by Marshal Turenne on June 28, 1658.
The Atlantic Ocean has the highest tides. Which occur regularly twice a day. The highest tide height of -18 m is observed off the coast of Nova Scotia (in Canada). Off the coast of France, they can reach 14-15 m, in the English Channel (where the port of Dunkirk is located) - up to 11 -12 m. Therefore, it has always been important for France to have ports that do not depend on the tidal movement of the ocean. To do this, a canal was broken through to the port, which was blocked off with sluices so that during low tide the water would not leave it and the ships located there remained afloat.
Map of the city, citadel, port and fort of Dunkirk before its destruction.
Here you can clearly see the coastline at high tide - it is marked by a bank. The actual length of the channel is just the difference in the coastline at high tide and at low tide.
Calais plan (port at the Pas-de-Calais, France) regarding the project of the gateway for deepening the port and canal.
Design work plan for the city and port of Cherbourg (Normandy, France).
In all these plans, we see the same principle: a long canal running from the coastline at low tide into the fortress, and a sluice at the entrance to the fortress itself. Water retention may have been necessary not only for anchorage of ships, but also for a number of defensive ditches.
On the black and white drawing, it is perhaps difficult to see that the beautiful, regular teeth are a combination of earthen ramparts and ditches filled with water. This diagram can be seen more clearly:
Dunkirk plan, reconstruction.
All star fortresses were surrounded by a double or triple ring of water. But were such complex forms necessary for defense? This is another question.
Lock plan with two passages typical of the canals leading to the sea Method of bonding stones.
General development of a large lock, showing the main parts that make up it: plan of the surface of the lock, view along the line A-B, view along the line C-D.
Drawings of the sluice gates previously used in various French ports and the profile of the machine used to lift the valves of small sluices located in the side walls of the sluice chambers.
Several drawings of different pile driving machines.
Method of driving horizontal piles from the water surface.
Inclined pile driving machine.
Pumps and water towers
The third volume is devoted to the art of supplying, raising and purifying water, as well as the description of pumps and other mechanisms and products required for this.
Development of a domestic (French) pump.
Development of a machine made in Nymphenburg.
Facade of a building incorporating a hydraulic machine applied to a new bridge in Paris.
Base plan and sectional view of a building with a hydraulic machine applied to a new bridge in Paris.
Development of the main parts of the previous car.
Development of a pump for extinguishing fires used in Strasbourg.
The appearance of the cylinder and accompanying pipes for the operation of a fire engine.
Plan and profile of the wheel of the Marley machine and all related parts from the river to the aqueduct.
From another source:
Marley's car in the 1723 painting by Pierre-Denis Martin.
Special pump profiles of one of the machine equipment applied to the North Dame Bridge.
This is how this bridge looked in the 18th century:
Notre Dame Bridge, 1756 Artist Nicolas Raguenet.
Or did the artist depict the helmsmen on the boats disproportionately large, or did the giants still live in the middle of the 18th century?
Plan of the water tower used for the North Dame Bridge Plans, sections and facades of the dispensing bowls of the fountains of Saint Catherine and the Gate of Saint Germain in Paris.
And different valves and taps, a picture without a signature:
The pipes were made mainly of copper and lead. Here is a quote from the book:
That's all for now. To be continued
Author: i_mar_a