Model of screw-propeller lifting gear

H. Huijgens, 1853 - 1856

During favourable weather conditions, early steamships switched back to sail. The problem of screw propellers acting as brakes when not in use was solved by raising the propeller into the ship, utilizing the kind of lifting gear represented by this model. It was presented to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1856 by H. Huijgens, who had seen a similar piece of equipment on the British ship HMS Duke of Wellington.

  • Artwork typedemonstration model
  • Object numberNG-MC-562
  • Dimensionsheight 80.5 cm x width 60.2 cm x depth 25.8 cm
  • Physical characteristicswood, brass and rope

H. Huijgens

Model of a Lifting Screw

Netherlands, United Kingdom, 1853 - 1856

Inscriptions

  • label, on the frame:562 former inventory label

Provenance

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

Object number: NG-MC-562

Entry

Wooden model of the well of a lifting screw between sternpost and rudder post, with part of the keel.

In the well, a common two-blade propeller is hung in a frame, which can be lifted by means of a rope running over two sheaves in the frame and two at the top of the well of the screw. The propeller fits to the propeller shaft in a slot; when the slot is set in a vertical position, the screw can be disengaged. The ascent of the frame is controlled with vertical rails against sternpost and rudder post with teeth for the ratchets of the screw frame, which prevent the frame from falling back; by pulling two other ropes the ratchets can be released, thus lowering the screw. A prop mechanism that prevents the screw from turning when it is lifted, is fitted to the frame and operated from above with a long socket wrench.

The model is very detailed and can be taken apart, revealing such parts as the lining of the screw, the composition of the shaft, etc. It was offered to the Department of the Navy by H. Huijgens in 1856.1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 562; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/8/1856 N68. He was the first in the Netherlands to mention this particular uncoupling mechanism of screw and shaft, which he had noticed on the British vessel Duke of Wellington in 1853.

Scale unknown.

Literature

H. Huijgens, Opmerkingen op eene reis naar Engeland betrekkelijk voornamelijk inrigtingen en schepen, bijzonder die met stoomvermogen en waterschroef & rapport betreffende verschillende punten op schroefstoommachinerie betrekking hebbende, s.l. 1853, manuscript in HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 20/10/1853 N 11.; J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 562; A.A. Lemmers, Techniek op schaal. Modellen en het technologiebeleid van de Marine 1725-1885, Amsterdam 1996, 259; 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, pp. 196-99; J. Holtrop et al., ‘Schroefvoortstuwing. Een 19e eeuwse technische uitdaging’, Scheepshistorie 17 (2014), pp. 48-71

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'H. Huijgens, Model of a Lifting Screw, Netherlands, 1853 - 1856', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200315829

(accessed 13 December 2025 11:03:39).

Footnotes

  • 1J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 562; HNA 2.12.01 Min. Marine, Exh. 8/8/1856 N68.