...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-556

Model of a two-blade parabolic propeller in a frame, mounted on a base.

The helicoidal surface of the pressure side of the blades is fashioned in a parabolic curve. The propeller can be turned by means of a handle. The model has a pitch of 286 mm, a diameter of 200 mm; the boss is 75 mm long and has a diameter of 26 mm.

Robert Hodgson’s parabolic screw aimed to drive the water backwards in lines parallel to the axis of the propeller in order to increase the effect of the screw. A parabolic screw was tested on Samarang in 1847,¹¹‘Hodgson’s Parabolic Propeller in Holland’, The Mechanics’ Magazine 49, 5 August 1848, pp. 130-32. but this one was probably a different type than the one represented by this model: its proportions do not fit the propeller frame. However, the model – according to Obreen it was made by Petrus van der Loo (1806-1864)²²J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 556. – was probably used on that occasion to demonstrate the principle of Hodgson’s propeller to the Dutch Navy.

Scale (derived) 1:10.

British Patent 1844, no. 10034; ‘Hodgson’s Parabolic Propeller in Holland’, The Mechanics’ Magazine 49, 5 August 1848, pp. 130-32; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 556; B.J. Tideman, Verhandeling over de scheepsbouwkunde als wetenschap. Zamengesteld vooral met het oog op het geheel stelselmatig ontwerpen van stoomschepen, voor oorlogs-marine en koopvaardij, s.l. 1859, p. 316; J. Bourne, A Treatise on the Steam-Engine in its Various Applications to Mines, Mills, Steam Navigation, Railways, and Agriculture, London 1861 (5th ed.), p. 384, fig. 516; B.J. Tideman, Woordenboek van scheepsbouw, s.l. 1861, p. 304; G. Doorman, Het Nederlandsch octrooiwezen en de techniek der 19de eeuw, The Hague 1947, p. 266, no. 1386; J.M. Dirkzwager, ‘De introductie van de “waterschroef” in de Nederlandse Marine’, Industriële archeologie 7 (1983), pp. 80-96; J.M. Dirkzwager, ‘Problemen en oplossingen bij de ontwikkeling van de stoomvaart in Nederland’, Erfgoed van Industrie en Techniek 3 (1992), pp. 74-90, p. 83; J.M. Dirkzwager, ‘De Nederlandse marine als pionier in de technische ontwikkeling. Schroefvoortstuwing in het tweede en derde kwart van de negentiende eeuw’, Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 12 (1993), no. 1, pp. 13-26, pp. 22-23; A.J. Hoving, ‘Screw Propulsion’, Model Shipwright 80 (1992), pp. 58-62; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, p. 196

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'attributed to Petrus van der Loo, Model of a Two-Blade Parabolic Propeller, The Hague, c. 1847', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20053812