Model of a Lock Gate

anonymous, 1808

Gate of a wing-gate sluice. Model, 1808. Whatever the water level, the gates of this sluice could be operated by using the water pressure. In 1808 King Louis Napoleon granted engineer Jan Blanken a patent for this type of sluice, known as a Blanken sluice. According to Blanken's colleague Goudriaan, the invention had already been made by someone else. This clash led to an acrimonious conflict between the two inspectors general.

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-990
  • Dimensionspackaging capsule: height 45 cm x width 55 cm x depth 40 cm, model: height 29.5 cm x width 44.1 cm x depth 30.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood and brass

anonymous

Model of a Lock Gate

Netherlands, Netherlands, 1808

Conservation

  • P. Borst, 1976: restored
  • Ab Hoving, mei 1995: cleaned; revarnished

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-990

Entry

Model of a lock gate on pile foundations, mounted on a base.

The gate has two doors. Each door consists of a pair of doors joined at an angle of ninety degrees: one door closes the lock, the other turns in a compartment beside the lock entrance and has a sluice. The door is operated with this sluice and the sluice of the compartment: it turns under the pressure of the water, and the other door swings along with it.

This model probably originates from the private collection of Jan Blanken Jansz (1755-1838). The purpose of the gate was that it worked using the pressure of the water, in either direction, irrespective of the water levels.

Blanken’s claim to having invented this type of lock (since then known as a ‘Blanken lock’), as well as the patent granted in 1808,1HNA 2.02.01 Staatssecretarie, inv. no. 161, patent 10/11/1808. were challenged by his colleague A.F. Goudriaan (1768-1829), who attributed the invention to Jan ten Holt in 1777. The ensuing conflict between Goudriaan and Blanken would dominate the corps of engineers in the first half of the nineteenth century.2R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, p. 20. Locks like these were placed along the water defence line of Holland in the early nineteenth century.

Scale unknown.

Literature

J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 990; G. Doorman, Het Nederlandsch octrooiwezen en de techniek der 19de eeuw, The Hague 1947, pp. 96-97, KH1; H. Brand and J. Brand, De Hollandse waterlinie, Utrecht/Antwerpen 1986, pp. 50-51; H.W. Lintsen, Ingenieurs in Nederland in de negentiende eeuw. Een streven naar erkenning en macht, The Hague 1980, pp. 88 ff.; R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, pp. 20, 54-57, 137, nos. 103-105; A.A. Lemmers, ‘De waaiersluis. Een omstreden octrooi uit 1808’, Spiegel Historiael 27 (1992), no. 1, pp. 37-38; G.J. Arends, ‘De ontwikkeling van sluisdeuren in Nederland’, Erfgoed van Industrie en Techniek 3 (1994), no. 2, pp. 73-89; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 124-27

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of a Lock Gate, Netherlands, 1808', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316014

(accessed 8 December 2025 16:24:57).

Footnotes

  • 1HNA 2.02.01 Staatssecretarie, inv. no. 161, patent 10/11/1808.
  • 2R.M. Haubourdin et al., De physique existentie dezes lands. Jan Blanken, inspecteur-generaal van de waterstaat (1755-1838), exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1987, p. 20.