A Tale of Three Thirsty Cities : The Innovative Water Supply Systems of Toledo, London and Paris in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century

In A Tale of Three Thirsty Cities: The Innovative Water Supply Systems of Toledo, London and Paris in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century , Chaim Shulman presents an analysis of three projects of urban water supply systems carried out between 1560s-1610s. The technical and economic differences between these projects resulted from external conditions not directly related to the water supply problem. Although the same basic technology was apparently available at the time in all cases, the geographical, engineering, entrepreneurial and cultural nature of each region differed. The inhabitants' wellbeing improvement achieved varied accordingly. Much broader insights are drawn on the policies of the three monarchies regarding the initiative of and support for grand scale public works in general. Contents 6 Abbreviations, Date Conventions and Notes 10 List of Figures 12 Introduction 16 The Subject of Our Research 16 Mechanical Engineers and Know-How Migration 21 Chapter 1 Human Water Consumption in England, France and Spain in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 26 Chapter 2 Water-Lifting Technology in the Graeco-Roman World and Its Development through the Renaissance 44 The Invention of Water-Lifting Devices 44 The Use of Water-Lifting Devices in the Roman Era 46 Islamic Technological Influence 51 The Diffusion of the Waterwheel in Europe 55 The Improvement of Water Lifting Technology in Europe, Evolution or Quantum Leaps? 59 Basic Water Raising Technologies 61 Direct Water-Lifting with Compartmented Waterwheels 61 Archimedean Screws 66 Ctesibius’ Double-Acting Force Pumps 70 Theatres of Machines 81 Complex Water Lifting Configurations Relevant to the Present Study 85 Water-Raising Machines at Atmospheric Pressure 90 Transmission of Power through Distances 96 Waterwheels Sensitivity to Variations in the Level of the River Flow 97 Piping Networks 100 The Diffusion of False Know-How 102 The Italian Strategy—Gravity Based Solutions 109 Chapter 3 Toledo 114 Spain and Toledo in the 1560s 114 Early Attempts to Supply Water to Toledo 119 Water Supply to Toledo in the Sixteenth Century 125 Juanelo Turriano 130 The Artificio 134 Iconographic Representations and Exact Location of the Artificio Building 144 The Artificio’s Technology—The Operational Principle 152 Escosura y Beck—The Inclined Plane Theory 152 The Vertical Solution, Proposed by Ladislao Reti 154 Juan Luis Peces Ventas’ Improvement of the Inclined Plane Theory 158 Nicolás García Tapia’s Proposition 160 Francesc Xavier Jufre García’s Concept: Operating Valturio Scales 163 Unanswered Technical Questions 165 Technical Conclusions 166 The Artificio, as Seen by Contemporary Writers 168 The Ingenio of Juan Fernández del Castillo 170 Land Reclamation and Sewerage in Spain 175 The Spanish Attitude Towards Science and Technology during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 177 Chapter 4 London 182 Tudor London in the 1580s 182 Early Attempts to Provide the City with a Water Supply System 185 The Elizabethan Patent System 195 Peter Morris 196 The London Bridge Waterworks in Contemporary Sources 202 Technical Operation 207 Supporting Evidence for Bate’s Interpretation of Morris’ Operational Principle 211 The External Appearance of the London Waterworks 214 The Consequences of the Installation of Waterwheels in the London Bridge 218 The Later Development of the London Bridge Waterworks 220 Other Initiatives 225 The New River 233 Competition between the Different Water Suppliers 237 Land Reclamation and Sewerage in England 240 Chapter 5 Paris 248 Government and Municipal Authorities—Paris Administration and Development in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries 251 History of Former Water Supply Undertakings 256 La Samaritaine 258 The Operational Principle of La Samaritaine 270 Description of the Original Samaritaine Building in Contemporary Travelogues 273 Depictions of the Original Building of La Samaritaine in Maps and Views of Paris 275 The Samaritaine Building after its Renovation in 1714 279 Additional Initiatives to Solve the Water Problem in the Seventeenth Century 283 Pumps at Pont Notre Dame 288 The Machine at Marly 292 Land Reclamation and Sewerage in France 296 Chapter 6 Conclusions 300 Sources and Bibliography 322 Archives, Libraries and Museums 322 Published Sources 323 Iconographical and Cartographical Sources 337 Studies 343 Websites 387 Online Sources for Retrieved Images 389 Index for Personal Names, Towns and Cities 399 Index of Subjects 406