Pieter Bayens (*1774; †1846) Delft

Pieter Bayens was the son of Cornelis Bayens (*1751;†1823)[11], tinsmith and instrument maker, known to have been living in Delft since 1766, and Agnes van Houten. Pieter worked with his younger brother Adrianus (*1790;†1860) in the 1st half of the 19th century [3]. They had an instrument makers workshop located at Voorstraat 27, considered to have been large at the time, with a workforce of 14. Pieter married Hendrika Moozer in 1813, who gave him a daughter and three sons; Catharina, Petrus, Hendrikus and Johannes Franciscus. Petrus and Johannes Franciscus also became instrument makers. Johannes Franciscus was employed at the Rijks-Patroonfabrik (munitions factory) in Delft.

After Pieter's death in 1846, Hendrika announced that she would continue the business with the help of her sons. Adrianus married twice, first with Maria Mozer (*1795;†1823) in 1815. In 1842 he married Theodora van Noort (*1807;†1873). From his first marriage he had three daughters; Angenitha, Catharina and Petronella. Maria and Adrianus are from his second marriage.

Instruments made by Bayens have been preserved; Museum Boerhaave have an alidade, 2 Holland Circles, a Delabarre type microscope and a Lenoir type levelling instrument [10].

Drawing set by Pieter Bayens

Drawing set with ball-head dividers and compasses. Behind the flap is a brass protractor signed P. Bayens Delft. The protractor has a mapmaker's scale in metric and measures 106mm at the base and 75mm from the base to the apex. Around 1830.

Ball-head dividers

Around 1820, after discussions with the director of the military school in Delft, Bayens was the first to fabricate the 'Delftsche passer', or Delft compass [12].

Soon other Dutch instrument makers were to follow suit, notably Caminada, Harting, Van Pelt, Becker & Buddingh, as well as others. In the second half of the 19th century, German and French instrument makers mass-produced the ball-head dividers, geared mainly for the Dutch market, and 'ball heads' continued to be produced until the late 1930s.

Fig. 1. In 1825 Pieter Bayens received a bronze medal for his Lenoir type levelling instrument [10] and sets of drawing instruments at the Tentoonstelling Nationale Nijverheid (National Industrial exhibition) in Haarlem [7].

Fig. 2. This brass protractor features a map-maker's scale of 3 Rhynland inches, one Rhynland inch being equal to 2.616 centimetres. The first inch is divided into 12 parts. The engraving of the old Rhynland unit of length on the base of this protractor indicates that it was made before the introduction of the metric system in the Netherlands in 1820.

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[1] ROOSEBOOM, M. 1950. Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Instrumentmakerskunst in de Noorderlijke Nederlanden tot omstreeks 1840. Rooseboom makes mention of a type of calculator by Bayens in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Contact with the Museum in Vienna has subsequently revealed that this is based on a misunderstanding and the only calculating instrument in the Kunsthistorisches Museum's collection is one made by Anton Braun.

[2] Historisch GIS Delft

[3] Digitale Stamboom Delft; collectie-delft.nl

[4] Museum Boerhaave Leiden

[5] Koninklijke Bibliotheek Delpher Collectie

[6] Rapport der Hoofdcommissie ter beoordeeling der voorwerpen van Nationale Nijverheid, ten toon gesteld te Haarlem in de maanden Julij en Augustus 1825. Algemeene Landsdrukkerij, 's-Gravenhage 1825. p.189. Google Books.

[7] Catalogus der voortbrengselen van Nederlandsche volks- en kunstvlijt toegelaten ter tweede Algemeene Tentoonstelling geopend binnen Haarlem in julij 1825. p. 119, 127, 128, 129, 130, 137, 144. Google Books. Here Pieter's surname is spelled Baaijens. His entries at this exhibition include a Delabarre type microscope, 3 sets of mathematical (drawing) instruments, a Lenoir type levelling instrument, a 12 inch theodolite, a plane table alidade, a compass with sights, a large protractor with vernier, a large beam compass, an improved fire hose nozzle, 2 artillery quadrants, a spinning wheel, and a number of surgical instruments.

[8] MOOIJ, J.; Instrumenten, wetenschap en samenleving: geschiedenis van de instrumentenfabricage en -handel in Nederland 1840-1940. Soest: Cooperatieve Vereniging "het instrument". 1988. p. 15.

[9] Brückman, - H.W.L. ; Instrumentenmakersindustrie te Delft; Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, 1918, p. 97-112. resources.huygens.knaw.nl

[10] KERKWIJK, VAN, G.A.; Verhandeling over het waterpassen en het gebruik van den barometer, tot het meten van hoogten, Gebroeders van Cleef, 's-Gravenhage and Amsterdam, 1828. Google Books. The author gives a description of the Lenoir Niveau Cercle type levelling instrument (p.109-115), with an illustration fig. 28 on plate III. The Niveau Cercle was invented by Lenoir in 1818. In 1825 Bayens displayed his version of the Lenoir Niveau Cercle at the Tentoonstelling Nationale Nijverheid in Haarlem, for which his selling price at the time was 110 guilders. Lenoir: "Eu 1818 il a inventé un nouvel instrument qu'il a nommé niveau-cercle", Bazar parisien, ou Annuaire raisonné de l'industrie des premiers...1826, p.456, Gallica.

[11] Cornelis Bayens was an early installer of lightning conductors in the Netherlands. The first lightning conductor was placed in 1782 by C.R.T. Krayenhoff on the steeple of the Martini church in Doesburg. Louis-Sébastien Jacquet de Mallet; Proef eener elektrische natuurkunde : na't Fransch, Utrecht : B. Wild ; Harderwyk : By J. van Kasteel, [pref. 1783], p.269. Early Dutch Books Online.

[12] 1856-1906 Vijftig Jarig Bestaan van de Fabrik Firma Gebr. Caminada Rotterdam. Internet Archive.