Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont

Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (1553 – 23 March 1613) was a Spanish military man. A multifaceted personality, he excelled as a painter, military man, cosmographer and musician, but, above all, as an inventor. He was the forerunner in the use and design of the steam engine, as well as in ventilation systems in mining, improved scientific instrumentation, developed windmills and new types of furnaces for metallurgical, industrial, military and even domestic operations. He invented a diving bell, patented a diving suit tested before the court of Philip III at Pisuerga on August 2, 1602, and even designed a submarine. Perhaps his most outstanding work was the steam engine, as he registered the first patent for a modern steam engine in 1606.

Biography

Early life

Son of Carlos de Ayanz, captain of the garrison of Pamplona, and Doña Catalina de Beaumont y Navarra, he was the second of the male siblings, the eldest child being Don Francés de Ayanz, born a year earlier. Jerónimo and his brothers were raised by their mother, who instilled in her children the principles of an education befitting their rank. He spent his childhood in the manor of Guenduláin until 1567, when he went to serve King Philip II as a page. At the Court he was instructed in military skills, in letters and the arts, and also in the use of mathematics, which would later be useful for his studies in cosmography.

Military career

His father took part in the French campaigns, participating in the battle of Saint Quentin in 1557 and in the punitive expedition to the then corsair port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Following his example, Jerónimo pursued a career in arms after his training at El Escorial. In 1571, he began his military career. In 1573, he participated in the campaigns in Tunisia, under the orders of John of Austria. When the defense of La Goleta failed in 1574, he was assigned to Lombardy, where he served under the command of Alejandro Farnesio for a few years, during which he observed the progress of a city like Milan.

He made the Spanish Road, from Milan to Namur, together with his companions of the tercio commanded by Lope de Figueroa, in the record time of 32 days, in the middle of winter, to go to Flanders at the call of the Duke of Alba. He participated in the battle of Gembloux, in 1578, and in the assault on the city of Zierikzee he performed one of his legendary feats when, seriously wounded, he continued fighting until he got rid of his attackers. It was these events that Lope de Vega later reflected in his comedy entitled Lo que pasa en una tarde (1617), referring to him as "the new Hercules" and "the knight of the bronze fingers", due to his ability to break plates with only two fingers:

"Flandes te diga, en campo, en muro, en villas

cual español tan alta fama alcanza. Luchar con él es vana confianza,

que hará de tu guadaña lechuguillas."

In 1579 he was in Madrid, convalescing, and received a few annuities from Philip II in recognition of his actions in Flanders. The following year, 1580, he commanded a detachment to participate, under the orders of Sancho Dávila, in the campaign of Portugal. It was the high point of his military career when in 1581 he prevented the attempt that a Frenchman was planning against Philip II. In 1582, under the orders of the Marquis of Santa Cruz, he embarked on the ships that sailed to the Azores to participate in the Battle of Vila Franca do Campo.

Thanks to his courage and bravery, the king awarded him the Military Order of Calatrava. On May 7, 1582 he received the command of Ballesteros de Calatrava and years later, on January 30, 1595, he received the command of Abanilla.

In 1587, he was appointed general administrator of Mines of the Kingdom, that is, manager of the 550 mines that existed at that time in Spain and of those that were exploited in America. He was able to solve some of the serious problems of mining at that time. It should be noted that he managed to make this set of inventions from 1598 to the beginning of 1602.

In 1589, together with his brother Francés, he gathered troops from Navarre and Murcia under his command to go to La Coruña in support of Juan Padilla, captain of the garrison, where a María Pita was the most famous and to successfully stop Francis Drake and his Armada.

Inventions

The mines of the time had two serious problems: the contamination of the air inside and the accumulation of water in the galleries. Initially, Ayanz invented a drainage system by means of a siphon with an exchanger, so that the contaminated water from the upper part coming from the washing of the mineral would provide enough energy to raise the water accumulated in the galleries. This invention represents the first practical application of the principle of atmospheric pressure, a principle that was not to be scientifically determined until half a century later. And if this discovery is truly prodigious, what elevates Ayanz to the rank of universal talent is the use of steam power.

The power of water vapor had been known for a very long time. The first to use it was Hero of Alexandria, in the 1st century. Much later, in the 13th century, it is recorded that in the Reims Cathedral there was an organ that worked with steam. Work on the subject continued in Spain as well as in France and England. What Ayanz came up with was to use the power of steam to propel a fluid — the water accumulated in the mines — through a pipe, taking it outside in a continuous flow. In scientific terms: applying the first principle of thermodynamics — defined two centuries later — to an open system.

He also applied the same effect to cool the air by exchanging it with snow and directing it to the interior of the mines, thus cooling the environment. Ayanz had invented "air conditioning". And it was not just theory: he put these inventions into practice in the Guadalcanal silver mine, in Seville, which had been evicted precisely because of flooding when he took over its exploitation.

Ayanz invented many things: a pump for draining ships; a precedent for the submarine; a compass that established magnetic declination; a furnace for distilling seawater on board of ships; scales "that weighed the leg of a fly"; cone-shaped stones for grinding; metal roller mills — they would become widespread in the nineteenth century; pumps for irrigation; the arched structure for reservoir dams; a mechanism for transforming motion to measure so-called "torque", i.e. technical efficiency; pumps for irrigation; the arched structure for reservoir dams; a mechanism for transforming motion to measure the so-called "torque", that is, technical efficiency, something that only a century and a bit later would be addressed again. Up to 48 inventions were recognized in 1606 by the "privilege of invention" — as patents were then called — signed by Philip III. One of the most striking inventions was that of a diving suit. The first documented dive by a diver occurred in the Pisuerga River in front of the palace of La Ribera, in Valladolid, and Philip III himself attended the event from his galley, along with members of the court.

Since 1608, he had dedicated himself to the private exploitation of a gold deposit near El Escorial and to the recovery of the Guadalcanal mines, the same mines where he had applied a steam engine for the first time in the world. But he became seriously ill. On March 23, 1613, he died in Madrid. His remains were transferred to Murcia, the city he had governed, first to the convent of San Antonio de Padua, and then to the Cathedral.

Recently, the National Library of Spain acquired a print dated 1612 where a new facet, scientific experimentation, is discovered, while at the same time he leaves a record of his activity until the last years of his life. In a letter to Prince Emanuel Filiberto of Savoy, he presents a chapter of a previously unknown scientific book in which he deals with subjects such as the compulsion of elements, the existence of the vacuum, perpetual motion, the sphere of fire and the fall of bodies.

See also

• History of the steam engine
• Steam engine
• Thomas Newcomen
• Thomas Savery

External links

• Works by Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont at Gallica