Public domain
Sounding machine
From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
‘The numbers tell the tale’ is a saying that also applied on board ships. The depth of water could be determined using a sounding line. The design for this sounding machine was patented by Edward Massey in 1802. The machine was attached to a sounding line. As it sank to the seabed, a rotating vane drove a counter with a wormscrew; its revolutions were converted to the depth in fathoms.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineSounding machine. 1810. Edward Massey. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.
