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Drebbel, C

Name: Cornelius Drebbel

Achievements: Scarlet dye (it made the “Redcoats”)

Born: 1572; Alkmaar, Netherlands

Died: November 7, 1633; London, England (Aged 61)

Field & Discipline: Engineering; Science; Invention; Optics; Chemistry

Language: Dutch; English

Father: Jacob Drebbel

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: Sophia Jans

Children: Jacob; John; Anna; Katherina

Education: Unknown

Major Work:

"A Treatise on the Nature of the Elements" (1608)

Life & Times:

Drebbel was apprenticed in his youth to an engraver in Harlem, and although he produced his own etchings he was more interested in mechanical and scientific matters. In 1598 he was granted a patent for a pump and a clock with a perpetual motion, in 1601 he built a fountain for the city of Middelburg in Zeeland, and the following year he received a patent for a chimney.

He gained a reputation as an inventor and when he went to England in 1604 he secured the patronage of King James.  Drebbel joined the household of Henry, Prince of Wales, who was a keen intellectual, and was given quarters at Eltham, one of the royal palaces. He set up a dye-works near London around 1607, wrote a book on alchemy which was published in 1608, and developed his machine for producing perpetual motion. The device was driven by changes in atmospheric temperature and pressure and he adapted it for making clocks.

This was the invention which made Drebbel's name. His finished machine, which he presented to the king,  was mentioned by the playwright [mentioned by] Jonson* in one of his productions, and was a big draw for visitors. In 1610 the Duke of Wurtemberg called in at Eltham to see the perpetual motion machine and in the same year Drebbel took up an invitation from Emperor Rudolf II to visit Prague. When Rudolf was deposed by his brother in 161l, Drebbel was imprisoned,  but was released in 1613 on the intervention of James I.

Drebbel was an expert lens grinder and began to manufacture microscopes around this period. By 1619 he was making compound microscopes  and records indicate that some of his instruments were bought by leading scientists of the day. He built a [built first] submarine*, made of wood,  sealed with a surface of greased leather and propelled by oars poking through sealed joins. The air supply was maintained by two tubes with floats which kept one end of the vessel above water. In a trial on the River Thames it travelled at a depth of 12-15 ft.  King James I is said to have gone aboard for a short ride.

His most important contribution to chemistry was his discovery of the use of tin with cochineal in the production of scarlet dye. He is said to have made this discovery by chance when some tin compound fell into a solution of cochineal he was using for a thermometer.

He told his son-in-law, Abraham Kuffler, about his discovery and Kuffler eventually developed the process to make a scarlet dye so stunning that it was used among others by the Gobelin tapestry factory. Cochineal (made of crushed Mexican beetles) became a highly sought-after commodity (the dye would eventually be used to dye British soldiers’ uniforms, giving rise to the name “Redcoats”) and provided a lucrative trade for many of the Caribbean buccaneers, later in the century, such as [idea enriched] Dampier* and [idea enriched] Wafer*. 

Assessment: His discovery of a new dyeing process gave the English army a new image.

Oneliner: Cornelius Drebbel,  who discovered cochineal scarlet

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