Fountain
Date
3 June 1685
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p192
Dimensions
height (page): 376mm
width (page): 240mm
width (page): 240mm
Description
A drawing of a perpetual fountain, designed by Denis Papin.
A glass cylinder (A) placed on a suspended base (C), with a coral-like central pole (E) which holds shell-like dishes to receive the water jetting up from two holes at the base (D).
Papin said that because the device was too fragile, he could only show its draft at a meeting of the Royal Society on 3 June 1685. The image was then printed in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 15, no. 173 (1685) to advertise the invention as a 'riddle' for others to guess its design, which was a way to claim priority.
This is copied from RBO/6/072.
A glass cylinder (A) placed on a suspended base (C), with a coral-like central pole (E) which holds shell-like dishes to receive the water jetting up from two holes at the base (D).
Papin said that because the device was too fragile, he could only show its draft at a meeting of the Royal Society on 3 June 1685. The image was then printed in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 15, no. 173 (1685) to advertise the invention as a 'riddle' for others to guess its design, which was a way to claim priority.
This is copied from RBO/6/072.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 3 June 1685, ‘Dr. Papin produced the draught of a fountain of his own contrivance, which being liable to be spoiled by being removed, he desired the Society to appoint some persons to see the working of it for a whole day together, whether it will not run constantly without losing any thing of its strength’ (Birch 4:405).
Printed in Denis Papin, ‘A new way of raising water’, Phil. Trans. vol. 15, no. 173 (July 1685), pp. 1093-94.
Printed in Denis Papin, ‘A new way of raising water’, Phil. Trans. vol. 15, no. 173 (July 1685), pp. 1093-94.
Related fellows
Denis Papin (1647, French) , Natural philosopher