As a twelve-year-old boy Jan van der Heyden witnessed the desperate struggle as citizens fought to contain the flames that were consuming the Amsterdam town hall in 1652. It was a sight that made a lasting impression on him and when he had grown up and become an accomplished painter, he set his mind to the problem of improving the process of bringing sufficient water to extinguish the seat of a fire.
Teaming up with his brother, Nicholas, who happened to be a hydraulics engineer, Jan came up with a tube made out of leather with its seams tightly stitched to try to hold it together and brass fittings to allow sections of the tube to be joined up. They had invented the first modern hosepipe.
Sadly, it did not prove to be a great success as the pipes leaked, the stitching burst asunder under pressure and the tubes were incredibly heavy and cumbersome to handle. However, Jan was not dispirited and made another attempt, this time using canvas sailcloth, which was waterproofed with a mixture of oils and other substances. Still prone to leak it was a great improvement and during the 18th century as the use of hosepipes became established other materials such as linen and hemp were used to fashion them.
Improvements on fabric hosepipes were still being patented in the 19th century but the game changer was the use of rubber or Gutta percha as it was known then, providing a much more watertight but perishable tube and then, in more recent times, synthetic fibres.
Jan published in 1690 an illustrated book on fire-fighting, entitled ‘Beschrijving der nieuwlijks uitgevonden en geoctrojeerde Slangbrandspuiten‘, translated as Description of the recently invented and patented hose fire engines. He also devised street lamps and the first street-lighting system for the city of Amsterdam. He died a wealthy man in 1712.
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