Career
His portrait to the right, shows him pointing to an early pyrometer from Pieter van Musschenbroeck with pumps in the background. In 1769, Steven Hoogendijk co-founded the Batavian Society for Experimental Philosophy, with a main aim of introducing the steam engine in the Netherlands, and with the motto: "Certos Feret experientia fructus" (experience will give reliable products). With the support of the Society at their own expense they brought a Newcomen steam engine from England to an old Powder Tower at the edge of Rotterdam.
On 9 March 1776, the machine was first put into operation.
The steam engine components worked well, but the self-designed wooden Hoogendijk pumps were not compatible and quickly collapsed. This made it such an impression that in 1787 a new steam engine was built in the Polder Zoo.
The expected theoretical capacity of 1750 cubic feet per minute displacement was only 5% higher than the observed effective capacity. Nevertheless general acceptance in the Netherlands of the steam engine was slow due to allegiance to the existing mill methods.