Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1886-08-13

The Poor Mechanic Who Invented the
Marty Wster-Woriss Mt Versailles.


Marty Wster-Woriss Mt Versailles.
There is . curious history about
these Marty water-works. When Louis
XIV. was laying out the gardens ai
Versailles he discovered that the springs
and ponds included in the grounds
were insufficient for supplying the
fountains of the park with wafer His
engineers studied over the matter, and
finally it was determined on the con-
struction of a machine to bring it from
the Seine by means of an aqueduct.
The plan accepted out of the several
presented was one by the Chevalier de
Vile, an engineer connected with the
works in progress at Versailles, but the
real author of the Marty machine, con-
sidered at the time one of the wonders
of the world, and the scientific chef
d'euvre of Louis XIV, was poor
carpenter named Renequin Sualem.
Shut up in little cottage at Bongival
he patiently elaborated the diagrams
of the complicated ensemble of beams,
wheels, and dams, for which Chevalier
de Vile got all the credit, and ne sub
mitted to this injustice rather than lose
his only means of support, the small
salary paid him as a subordinate to the
Chevalier de Vile. The machine was
intended to force the water of the Seine
to the top of the aqueduct. This was
accomplished by IA wheels, each SO
feet in diameter, working "a pumps,
which carried the water to first
reservoir dug in the side of the hill,
whence 79 other pumps carried it to
second reservoir, and from there it was
forced by 70 pumps to the reservoir
from which it flowed into the
a9ueduct. In all there were 221
pumps to raise the water to height OF
504 feet from the surface of the stream
and to carry it distance somewhat
less than two miles. The Inauguration
took place in 1852, in the presence Of
Louis XIV. and his court, who were
stationed on the top Of the great tower
of the aqueduct. At a signal given by
the King the fourteen wheels com
menced turning and in a few minutes
the water was flowing into the granite
basin at his feet. The Chevalier was
| overwhelmed with praise, and rewards
in the shape OF titles, honors and
money were freely bestowed on him,
but poor Sualem got nothing and soon
afterward died in poverty, Since then
his name has been given to the quai on
the river nearest to the machine he
erected, tardy and sterile reparation.
The machine cost 5000, 900 livres, a
sum which would nowadays be equiva-
lent to SIS. 900, 900. Its capacity was
six thousand cubic yards of water per
| h,nf 10 70 ha ,rp
ficient quantity to realize the project OF
Louis XIV, which was to have the
fountains playing all tho time. Then
another scheme was devised, that of
turning the little river Eure into a
reservoir, and of utilizing its water for
the purpose. Work was commenced
and pushed forward actively. The
erection of sn aqueduct, the remains Of
which still exist, near the village OF
Maritenon, was undertaken, canal.
were dug and more than thirty thou
sand soldiers labored on the enterprise
The sickness caused by the turning
over of such masses of earth was so fla
tai among the troops that wagon load
of dead bodies were carried away from
the hospitals by night. and as Sc
cretly as possible, in order no
to cause panic among thos'
who were we'll enough to work. Thu
project was persisted in for severa
years, and only abandoned in 1888
when the war required the presence o
the soldiers elsewhere. According t.
Dangeau, Louis XIV. was not sorry t.
have a good excuse to abandon an un
dertaking the cost of which far ex
ceeded the estimates. ]. i well
known fact that the King was Sc
ashamed of the sums spent at Yer
sailles that with his own hands h,
burnt the records relating to the mat
ter. Since its completion the cost o
maintaining the Marty machine ha
constantly increased, and at the SAM
time the quantity of water it could sup
ply constantly diminished. At tn,
commencement of the present centur,
the supply dropped to 800 cubic yard
of water per day. The machinery wa
repaired and improved several times
but the results were still unsatisfac
tory. In 1857 it was entirely rebuilt
and two years later the Mansart aque
duct was constructed, which supple,
the grounds at Versailles with iron
TO- 600 to $4,000 cubic yards of waite
per day. This instead of being
masked fortress of rafters and wheel
which occupied surface of 900 squar
yards and deafened the neighborhoo
| with its noise, and which it took Sua
: lem seven years to build, was q ms
/ chine, simple in its parts, working wit
| accuracy and noiselessly. From tn
/ small brick house that sheltered tn
, machine, the water is pumped directl
into an aqueduct that carries \ to
reservoir with a capacity of $50, 90
, cubic yards and from the reservoir
' is distributed through three mains t
: Marty, Versailles and st. Cloud
| Paris Cor. N. o. Picdyune.