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The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

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Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#21
post #14

[stub for offtopicness] [[Come on you guys - you should know better than to post lazy internet ripostes to shallowly provocative titles. This is a fine and interesting historical article.]] [[[I've edited the title now so it starts fewer fires]]]

What have the Romans ever done for us?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#22
post #20

Funny, I'm Dutch and have an arts degree so obviously the name Van der Heyden is familiar to me, but I didn't know he was also an engineer who modernized our firefighting systems. Having said that, "Dutch golden age painter invented better way to pump water out of the Amsterdam canals" sounds more like someone tried to cram as many stereotypes about the Dutch into a sentence than an accurate summary of something that…

You sure he wasn't also a wearing his clogs while biking to his tulip farm before going home to make stroopwafels while eating Gouda?

And to be more specific, he was biking home on his fatbike.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#23
post #22
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure he wasn't also a wearing his clogs while biking to his tulip farm before going home to make stroopwafels while eating Gouda?

And to be more specific, he was biking home on his fatbike.

Nah, not a fatbike, he was a native Dutchman.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#25
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, not a fatbike, he was a native Dutchman.

As are many of the modern fatbike riders ;)

Indeed, fatbike riders come in all colours. Though I have noticed that it is mainly transportation for the poor.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#26

About 200 years after the Van der Heyden brothers turned firefighting into municipal infrastructure, Amsterdam did the same for horses falling into canals. Paardenreddingstoestel means "horse rescue apparatus." Johan Christoph Sinck's own technical term was verplaatsbare hijsinrichting, "portable lifting apparatus." The machine became known as het toestel van Sinck ("Sinck's device"), with the nickname het zinktoeste…

Why didn't they just build railings and fences so that horses don't fall into canals?

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#27
post #25
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As are many of the modern fatbike riders ;)

Indeed, fatbike riders come in all colours. Though I have noticed that it is mainly transportation for the poor.

Not so much "poor" 'cause that is rare in the Netherlands. Having said that fatbikes are significantly less expensive than other electric bicycles so they are more popular with those who don't want to or can't spend as much money on an electric bike.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#28
post #18

>Called a ‘snake’ (slang in Dutch) Disappointingly this isn't the origin of the English word slang. It seems to be of Viking origin.

”Viking” is not a language, it’s not even an ethnic group. The language you’re probably referring to is Old Norse.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#29
post #18

>Called a ‘snake’ (slang in Dutch) Disappointingly this isn't the origin of the English word slang. It seems to be of Viking origin.

Yeah, and "boomslang" means "tree snake". It's not some obscure possibly hip hop related subculture jargon.

Re: The firefighting system of the Van der Heyden brothers in 17th century Amsterdam

#30
post #26

About 200 years after the Van der Heyden brothers turned firefighting into municipal infrastructure, Amsterdam did the same for horses falling into canals. Paardenreddingstoestel means "horse rescue apparatus." Johan Christoph Sinck's own technical term was verplaatsbare hijsinrichting, "portable lifting apparatus." The machine became known as het toestel van Sinck ("Sinck's device"), with the nickname het zinktoeste…

Why didn't they just build railings and fences so that horses don't fall into canals?

Canals were used for transport by boats/ships. My guess would be that railings would be a hindrance for loading/unloading.
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