Heinrich Zeising

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Heinrich Zeising , also Zeisingk, Zeisenck, († 1610 or before) was a German mechanic, architect and author of the first German-language early modern machine book.

life and work

Almost nothing is known about him except what is in the preface to his book. He then died before the work was completed. Previously, according to the dating of a preface, his death was scheduled for 1613, but in the second volume, which appeared in 1610, the editor, the publisher Henning Grosse the Younger, speaks of the death of his friend Zeising. In the preface to the first volume he describes himself as a student of architecture in a dedication to the Leipzig council. Grosse is certainly the sole editor of the third volume (1612). The historian and philologist Hieronymus Megiser was responsible for the publication of the fourth volume, including translations from French and Italian . The book was published in the cheaper octave format, so that it was generally affordable for craftsmen as well. Zeising traveled a lot himself to compile the material for his book and, according to his own statements, also introduced the then little-known method of copperplate engraving in Leipzig by using this technique for his illustrations and making the copperplate engravings himself. The six volumes each have around 115 pages and an average of 24 illustrations. Zeising wrote his work specifically for craftsmen.

Some of the illustrations he took from older authors, such as Walter Rivius (the Vitruvian translator), Giuseppe Zonca , Jacques Besson , Agostino Ramelli (for example his book wheel), Gerolamo Cardano (a section on weights and measures borrowed from the first volume) and Vitruvian editions. However, many of the illustrations are original (Zeising signed almost all copperplate engravings except for five in the first volume) and the text in the first volume is not a direct translation of a foreign work. The later editors resorted more and more to translations up to Megiser, who almost only translated. In addition to simple machines such as levers and inventions known from antiquity (Archimedes, Heron of Alexandria, Vitruv), pocket watches (with planetary display), Simon Stevin's sailing cart , bucket and water wheels, fire engines and pumps, including mobile ones, are described Pumps are shown, sawmills, grinding mills, letterpress presses, lathes, load cranes, and a mill-powered wedge press for oil production. Both work machines and those for entertainment (Volume 5) such as those for fountains and machines for sound generation are dealt with. The book was the German-language standard work on machine technology in the 17th century.

Fonts

literature

  • Klaus Mauersberger: Heinrich Zeisings “Theatrum machinarum” - the best-known work of the older mechanical engineering literature in Germany , in: Scientific journal of the Technical University of Dresden, Volume 42, 1993, Issue 4, pp. 75-78
  • Theodor Beck : Contributions to the history of mechanical engineering, Springer, 2nd edition 1900

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ He sees these as innovations, which Theodor Beck cannot understand, since it was already known at the time that they were described in antiquity (Heron of Alexandria). The fire engines described by Zeising were still without air tanks and syringe hoses, which only happened later, in Amsterdam by the city fire chief Jan van der Heide and Jan van der Heide the Younger in the 1670s. Without these additional inventions, the syringe trolleys were of little use.
  2. ^ In volume 6 with a supplement by Abraham Bartolus, Musica Mathematica .
  3. ↑ Beck did not have the first edition
personal data
SURNAME Zeising, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zeisingk; Zeisenck
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer
DATE OF BIRTH 16th Century
DATE OF DEATH around 1610