The Distribution of Water Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe
The Distribution of Water Fountain Industrial Knowledge in Europe Spreading practical hydraulic knowledge and water fountain design ideas all through Europe was accomplished with the published documents and illustrated publications of the time. An internationally celebrated leader in hydraulics in the late 1500's was a French water fountain engineer, whose name has been lost to history. With Royal mandates in Brussels, London and Germany, he started his career in Italy, building experience in garden design and grottoes with built-in and clever water hydraulics. The publication, “The Principles of Moving Forces,” penned towards the end of his life in France, became the fundamental writing on hydraulic mechanics and engineering. Classical antiquity hydraulic discoveries were detailed as well as changes to crucial classical antiquity hydraulic advancements in the publication.
Prominent among these works were those of Archimedes, the developer of the water screw, a mechanical means of transferring water. A pair of concealed containers warmed by sunlight in an space adjacent to the decorative water feature were shown in an illustration. The end result: the water fountain is stimulated by the heated liquid expanding and rising up the pipelines. The publication also includes garden ponds, water wheels, water feature creations.
Contemporary Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings
Contemporary Garden Decor: Large Outdoor Water Fountains and their Beginnings The dramatic or decorative effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, as well as delivering drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.
From the onset, outdoor fountains were simply meant to serve as functional elements. Water fountains were linked to a spring or aqueduct to supply drinkable water as well as bathing water for cities, townships and villages. Up until the nineteenth, fountains had to be more elevated and closer to a water supply, including aqueducts and reservoirs, in order to benefit from gravity which fed the fountains. Acting as an element of adornment and celebration, fountains also generated clean, fresh drinking water. The main components used by the Romans to create their fountains were bronze or stone masks, mostly depicting animals or heroes. Muslims and Moorish landscaping designers of the Middle Ages included fountains to re-create smaller versions of the gardens of paradise. To show his prominence over nature, French King Louis XIV included fountains in the Garden of Versailles. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were glorified with baroque style fountains built to mark the arrival points of Roman aqueducts.
Since indoor plumbing became the standard of the day for clean, drinking water, by the end of the 19th century urban fountains were no longer needed for this purpose and they became purely decorative. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity helped fountains to bring recycled water into living spaces as well as create unique water effects.
Nowadays, fountains adorn public spaces and are used to recognize individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.