Use of petroleum as steam fuel in place of coal (original) (raw)
Brick Vaults and Beyond The Transformation of a Historical Structural System from 1750 to 1970, edited by Paula Fuentes and Ine Wouters, Instituto Juan de Herrera Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Madre, 2021
The paper provides an overview of the use of hollow-clay-pot vaults in Paris in the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. Starting with a description of the pots’ artisanal production, the main construction methods of vaults and vaulted ceilings are then presented. Finally, some emblematic interventions using hollow clay pots – both in new buildings and in the restoration of existing ones – are described, grouped into three macro periods: a) the end of the 18th century, b) the 1810s to the 1830s, and c) the 1840s and beyond. The presentation concludes with a reflection on the transition between handmade pots (poteries creuses) and bricks (briques creuses), whose mass production was sanctioned by the Borie patent in the 1840s.
Iron, Steel and Buildings. Studies in the History of Construction (J. Campbell et al. Eds). Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Construction History Society (University of Cambridge, Online Conference, 4 April 2020), 2020
In the second half of the 18th century, in particular during the last decades of the Old Regime, Paris became a vital centre of innovative experimentations on materials and techniques able to improve the fire resistance of buildings. The capital of the Kingdom was affected by daily fires which jeopardized its cultural and architectural heritage. At the same time, due to the scarce availability of wood, a material widely used in French buildings, alternative construction techniques were required. As testified by the success of the treatise published by the Count d’Espie in 1754, Manière de rendre toutes sortes d'édifices incombustibles, the theme of fireproof constructions and the research of materials capable of replacing wood, appeared of great concern. In the following decades, experiences and experimentations aimed at reducing the risk of fire spread multiplied. Architects, inventors and artisans such as J.G Soufflot (1713-1780), J.P. Ango (1739-1815), L. Reale (1736-1791), contributed actively to the development of new materials and systems that would replace traditional timber floor framing as well as wooden vaults and domes. In this cultural context the figure of the artist-engineer Jean-Far Eustache de Saint Far (1746-1828) is to be considered. As outlined by Antoine Picon, Saint Far belonged to the first generations of artists-engineers who studied at the École des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, representing the last offshoot of a professional category with a solid humanistic formation and a strong practical experience. Saint Far was a versatile technician, engaged on many professional fronts: as well as being an engineer of the Corps des ponts et Chaussées and architect of hospitals, he was also interested in constructive strategies to improve fire resistance of buildings as testified by his rich journalistic production published in the Journal des bâtiments civils et des arts. In fact, in 1785 he developed a lightweight and fireproof construction system for vaults and domes using hollow clay pots, reinterpreting a Roman-Byzantine technique and transforming what was once an ancient “technical object” into an artistic one with aesthetic and cultural traits too. His invention was positively evaluated by the Academies of Architecture and Science in Paris as well as by the Bureau de consultation des Arts et Métiers, inaugurating a season of interesting experimentations often associated with wrought iron. In the light of these considerations, the paper deepens Saint Far’s contribution to the debate on fireproof constructions in France at the end of the 18th century. The study reconstructs the genesis of his inventions through the critical reading of documents preserved in the Parisian archives (Archives nationales, Archives du Musée des Arts et Métiers, BnF) providing a small advancement in the history of fire engineering in France. Moreover, the proposed subject fits within the current literature on the figures of architects-engineers-artisans and on the role of the technical invention in the Age of Enlightenment: both are themes of interest for Architecture but also for human and social sciences.
The Notre Dame Pompe in the late seventeenth century. Water for the people.
By the middle of the seventeenth century the water needs of the Paris huge population were far from being met. In the early 1600s, Jean Lintlaër, a Fleming, had erected at the Pont Neuf, upon one of the piers of the bridge, an engine consisting of lifting pumps to be driven by the current of the Seine. Nevertheless, the contribution of this device, known as La Samaritaine, to the public supply was almost nil, as most of the water was diverted to the royal gardens of the Louvre and Tuleries. On 29 November 1669, Daniel Jolly, at that time gouverneur of La Samaritaine, proposed to the Paris municipality to establish, close to the bridge Notre-Dame, a device similar to the one whose administration was entrusted to him, offering to raise daily approximately 600 cubic meters to a height of 25 meters above the level of the river. A similar project was submitted at the same time to the City Council by Jacques Demance, who intended to raise approximately 1,050 cubic meters daily of water by means of a new hydraulic machine. His offer was accepted as well. Both undertakings worked successfully and fed fifteen new fountains built for use by the city population, thus increasing substantially the free water supply to the public.
Looking for Construction Process in Early Modern Paris: demolish to build better
Proceedings for 8th international congress of construction history, 2024
In order to reconstruct the act of building as a whole and to put it into a long-term perspective, the Early Modern period is an appropriate time for the historian to draw on a relatively large number of sources. The archives show us several building sites that allow us to piece together the chain of events. The site of the demolition of the Bastille in 1789 provides insight into all the players involved and some of the tools used, complemented by the study of graphic documents showing demolitions in Paris. Townhouses are also the site of recurrent demolition turnovers, leading to the reuse or sale of the materials removed. The ways in which reusable parts were salvaged, or rubbish discarded, highlight a circular economy driven by the desire to reduce costs and the need to remove the clutter from a city saturated with building sites that sometimes did not comply with urban planning regulations. Some of the bigger sites, such as the church of Saint-Sulpice, confirm this everyday economy of the site and make it possible to identify certain traces of reuse, even if it is not always easy to find them. Of all the sources that can be used to reconstruct the act of building in its entirety, those from the archaeology of building for the Early Modern period are still underrepresented in academic work and should be the subject of more extensive collaborative work in the future, in order to follow the outline of construction history within the broader scope of long-term history.
Scientific Reports, 2020
The Barbegal watermill complex, a unique cluster of 16 waterwheels in southern France, was the first known attempt in Europe to set up an industrial-scale complex of machines during the culmination of Roman Civilization in the second century CE. Little is known about the state of technological advance in this period, especially in hydraulics and the contemporary diffusion of knowledge. Since the upper part of the Barbegal mill complex has been destroyed and no traces of the wooden machinery survived, the mode of operation of these mills has long remained elusive. Carbonate incrustations that formed on the woodwork of the mills were used to reconstruct its structure and function, revealing a sophisticated hydraulic setup unique in the history of water mills. The lower mills used an elbow shaped flume to bring water onto overshot millwheels. This flume was specially adapted to the small water basins and serial arrangement of the mills on the slope. Carbonate deposits from ancient wate...
Fire, Décor, and Heating Machines
Oxford Art Journal, 2017
This article addresses the artistic and technological conditions adjoining the design of the iconic French fireplace, called the ‘cheminée à la royale’, as developed at the royal atelier of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, circulated in commercial prints by Pierre Lepautre and Jean Bérain the Elder, among others, and theorised by scientists shortly thereafter. The aim is to consider how the forms, materials, and technologies employed in its making contributed to period understandings of fire, heat, and sensation at the turn of the eighteenth century. In his treatise La Méchanique du feu (1713), Nicolas Gauger explained how the fireplace’s curvilinear forms and reflective surfaces enhanced heat efficiency and smoke management. This, he proposed to the Académie royale des Sciences, helped qualify its status as a machine, and in 1720, the institution included his invention into its approved records. What began as a luxurious furnishing at Versailles thus set the template for understanding physical phenomena as well as the bodily effects that they engendered, and in the process brought architecture and decoration into critical dialogue with art, technology, and the human body.
Art in La Samaritaine pump in Paris in the 1600s. One family, two generations, one success
The historiography of La Samaritaine, a building adjacent to the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris, housing a pumping machine, which was the 'theater' in which the subject of this study took place, does not go beyond references in eighteenth-century general histories of Paris and of the Pont Neuf in particular. The Samaritaine project in its earlier, less spectacular configuration before its rebuilding in the second decade of the 1700s, has hardly been studied until now. Much less has been discussed about the incredible deeds of the pioneer entrepreneur's son in the unique building housing the device, and no effort has been made until now to virtually reconstruct the fruits of his endeavors. This paper attempts to do so.
González Soutelo, S. (ed.), Thermal spas in the Roman Provinces. The role of medicinal mineral waters across the Empire, 2024
When considering the constructive characteristics of bath buildings with thermo-mineral waters in Roman times, one of the essential factors to consider was the need to adapt the bath building(s) to the site of the source of the thermal springs so as to protect and take advantage of the physical-chemical and salutary qualities of these waters. Because of the problems posed by the collection of these waters, Roman engineers sought different technical solutions for the use of these valuable natural resources. Different examples have been documented that we can analyse and interpret, individually and as a complete typology, based on the brief descriptions presented of these findings. From studies carried out in the western regions of the Roman Empire (González Soutelo 2015; González Soutelo and Ramón Sánchez 2016; Ghedini et al. 2018; Marcato 2017; Ramón Sánchez and González Soutelo 2019), we present an analysis of some of the best examples from the provinces of Roman Gaul, including comparative proposals based on selected cases from Iberian and Italian territories. Thanks to this study, it has been possible to identify a type of construction solution based on slabs of opus caementicium used for the capture and isolation of thermal springs. The first step for the engineers was to prepare the ground out of which the thermomineral waters gushed, to the level of the bedrock; the flow was then channelled with formwork and conductions according to the design of the establishment and topography; lastly, concrete layers were laid over the sites to ensure, inter alia, firm ground for subsequent constructions, the isolation of thermal and mineral springs from other surface water, and the elevation of constructions to levels that would protect them from local rivers and possible flooding in those areas closest to streams. With this new study we have been able to recognise some specific characteristics of these water collection methods and their uses, clearly demonstrating their technical complexities and the economic and political implications linked to the construction of this type of thermal establishment.
The forgotten pump on the Pont Rouge in Paris in the 1600s.
In 1601, an engine consisting of lifting pumps to be driven by the current of the river Seine was erected at the Pont Neuf, close to one of the piers of the bridge. The enterprise, which became known as La Samaritaine, was very successful. The excellent results achieved by this venture led several entrepreneurs to plan the construction of similar devices in different parts of the Seine. This is the story of one of these attempts:The Pont Rouge pump.
After an overview on the diffusion of the gas-light system through Italy, the paper focuses on Mantua, a typical middle town with a great urban and construction history as it was the Renaissance Capital of the Gonzaga dukedom. The story of the gas system in Mantua has been reconstructed with the instruments of the archive research while particular attention is for the gas-light plant realized since 1864 to 1886 for the Alberti's S. Andrew Basilica, where many rests (e.g. lamps, pipes) are still visible. This gad-light plant is a great example to analyze the way an eighteen industrial device had been installed (often with many difficulties) over the fragile monumental structure of such a building, determining a sudden modification in the perception of the great architectonic interior of the Basilica and the decay of its marble floor and frescoes painted walls. Nowadays, the restoration purposes of the Basilica interior, meets the historical value of this gas-light plant which has to be considered as a more recent step in the five-century construction history of the Basilica and, thus, has be preserved itself. The main steps in the history of the lighting systems are quite known since the end of the 18 th century: Ami Argand (1750-1803) presented his innovative oil lamp in Paris in 1786. This lamp improved the efficiency of the traditional combustible (oil) by a flat, tubular-shape section wick instead of the traditional candlewick. This system was a slight novelty, however it represented a great innovation and forecasted the idea of obtaining light burning a mixture of oxygen (air) and combustible (oil) that, after a few years, would have been so important for the effectiveness of the gas lamps. Argand equipped his lamp with a further device to drive the wick up and down, regulating the mixture of air and oil and, therefore, the intensity of the flame and the consumption of oil. The same importance had the glass cylinder which protected the flame from drafts, improving the vent due to the " flue effect " and, consequently, its efficiency (Elton, 1964). Philippe Lebon (1767-1804) was probably the first to employ gas to obtain light. His Thermolamp was a kind of big stove producing warmth and light simultaneously, by burning a coal-gas mixture obtained from the distillation of wood. Lebon's Thermolamp matched the two main uses of energy in the house, warmth and light, by a self-produced form of energy. Furthermore, the domestic pipe network which distributed gas through the house, anticipated the following wider applications of the same system. At the very beginning of the 19th century, the industrial development awakened the interest toward sources of light more suitable than candles and oil, to guarantee the continuity of the work inside the factories.
Building Beyond The Mediterranean, 2012
Settlements 83 Félix Paponot's canal-construction camp in the Isthmus of Suez 92 European construction companies in the towns along the Suez Canal Kosseir, a phosphate-shipping town Excavating the company town: Small Moroccan mining cities in European archives Part two 1860-1914: From Egypt and Algeria to the entire Arab-Muslim world Essentially, the major works of French contracting companies and contractors in the Maghreb and the Middle East began in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Two geographical areas attracted them first: Egypt and Algeria. In the former, the arrival of contractors was prepared by that of engineers. The major event was the construction of the Suez Canal. Works began in 1859, but the contractors arrived in 1862: Paul Borel and Alexandre Lavalley and their bucket dredgers; Alphonse Couvreux and his digger; and the brothers Élie and Elzéard Dussaud with their cranes, used to build the facilities at Port Said. Thanks to them, the canal was finished in 1869. They introduced a new generation of engineers. Alexandre Prompt and Jules Barois directed the hydraulic development of the Nile Valley during the 1880s and 1890s. Then came Laurent-Louis Godard, technical advisor to the Minister for Public Works, from 1908 to 1911. He opened the way to the Établissements Schneider, whose head of Public Works, Charles Laroche, gave the port of Alexandria a new berthing pier in 1913. Nevertheless, the most active French company was undoubtedly the Société des Grands Travaux de Marseille (gtM). Benefitting from its alliance with the Almagià brothers' firm, from Rome, it carried out major dredging at Suez (1903 and 1905), Port Said (1905), and Alexandria (1909). Spurred by Charles Rebuffel, their chief manager, the gtM then made an alliance with Schneider et C ie. In Algeria, Antoine Castor, Hildevert Hersent, and Joseph Lesueur very soon began to compete with the Dussaud brothers. The three partners built the bridges of Duvivier and Bougie in 1860, then tackled the construction of the ports of Philippeville in 1863 and of Bône in 1867. Their most important works nevertheless remain the breakwater and quay walls at Philippeville, from 1883 to 1892. At that time, Ernest Goüin was already involved with the construction of the railway from Bône to Guelma from 1876. At the turn of the century, between 1899 and 1905, the Giros & Loucheur company built the Hussein Dey thermal power plant. They changed the company's name to Société Générale d'Entreprises (sge) in 1908 and took over the Ciments de Rivet-Alger in 1913. The first rolling companies set up in Algeria as early as 1895: hence the compactor specialists Émile (1895) and Henri Saucède (1904). However, it was Tunisia which attracted the most contractors. Already participating in the Bône-Guelma railway, the Société de Construction des Batignolles (scb), managed by Jules Goüin, was granted a concession to develop the port of Tunis (1885-1890). There it faced competition from Hildevert Hersent, and afterwards from his sons Jean and Georges, who had had a base at Bizerte since 1883. They developed the town, building three successive tranches of the port (1883-1892, 1899-1902, 1913-1914), the large ship refitting basins at Sidi-Abdallah (where the Fougerolle brothers were also working, as was gtM) (1901-1905), and cleaned up the bay of Sabra (1913-1914). Between 1899 and 1903, Alexandre Giros built the aqueduct from Bargou to the city of Tunis. In 1901, the Société des Mines d'Asphalte du Centre created an agency in Tunis to pave the city streets. Later, Morocco was at the origin of the creation in 1912, of the Consortium Marocain (sge + gtM + Fougerolle frères + Établissements Daydé), which a year later became the Société Générale d'Entreprises Marocaines (sgeM). The ambitions of French companies were not limited to the Maghreb. They progressed as far as Ethiopia, where from 1897 to 1910, Duparchy and Vigouroux built a large portion of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway line. But the most important projects were built in the Ottoman Empire, such as the port of Smyrna, developed from the 1860s by the Dussaud brothers. The most active company there by far was the Régie Générale des Chemins de Fer owned by Count Philippe Vitali. It obtained the concession for major railway lines: Thessalonica-Constantinople (1894-1920), Smyrna-Cassaba, today Izmir-Turgutlu (1894-1934), Nakoura-Beirut-Tripoli (1901-1955). Likewise, it acquired the concessions for the ports of Beirut (1901-1947) and Tripoli (1901-1955). In the Middle East, it met with lively competition from other French firms, Entrepreneurs, contractors, public works in the Maghreb and the Middle East from the 1860s to the 1940s Dominique Barjot I • CITIES AND NETWORKS 13 Marcello Piacentini); the airfield. On behalf of anMi he built hospitals in
(2020) Water in Ancient Construction
The Role of Water in Production Processes in Antiquity, 2020
The importance of water in the Roman world needs no underlining: from aqueducts and sewers, to powering flour mills, mining and, above all, bathing. The importance of water in Roman industries and secondary productions (pottery, textiles, fish sauces, etc.) has also usually been acknowledged in recent research, but without enough detail regarding the sourcing, use, storage, and distribution of water in these facilities. In this context, construction as an industry is no different.
Hydraulic Structures: Useful Water Harvesting Systems or Relics?
2011
Throughout the ages, the construction of hydraulic structures has supported the development of human civilisation. Around 3000 BC, masonry dams on the Nile provided irrigation water in Egypt, while in Mesopotamia canals were built for irrigation, draining swamps and transportation [2, 3, 5]. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rapid development of water supply systems in response to the industrial development and the needs for reliable water supply [4, 7, 8] (Fig. 1 & 2).
3 Capturing the Invisible: Heat, Steam and Gases in France and Great Britain, 1750-1800
Compound Histories, 2018
Over the course of the eighteenth century the common perception of air, that invisible but omnipresent element of nature, experienced a profound change. This essay argues that a common field of knowledge emerged through the materialization of aerial fluids, including gases, steam and heat. This topic inspired the creativity of a hybrid milieu of practitioners, who extended the investigation of air while embedding it in public concerns. A growing culture of consumption, especially in urban contexts in France and Britain, helped nurture a number of new devices and apparatus aimed at mastering these fluids for various purposes and in everyday life. They offered the capacity to reshape the interplay between scientific results, social needs and political incentives, presenting new horizons for the public good and public health. This essay reformulates assumptions (and raises questions) regarding the 'sites' where new approaches to air were forged. From the seventeenth century, air was closely linked to the rise of the experimental sciences. Calculating the weight and pressure of the air and understanding the vacuum, were crucial to a change of perception embodied in devices such as the air-pump. Imbuing immaterial air with a new kind of materiality fostered the emergence of "a set of practices which centered on the climate, meteorology, the atmosphere and electricity." According to Simon Schaffer, "aerial philosophy" played a major role in this change and "acted as a wider and grander theater of power and also as a space in which a new economy of understanding and control might operate."1 Discoveries in the 1770s of various elastic fluids challenged and diffracted the category of "air" as a unified, natural body and, together with the identification of various gases, reframed the growing field of pneumatic chemistry.2 However, while the role of prominent European chemical practitioners in this story is familiar, this essay explores how investigations of air engaged the creativity of a less familiar and more heterogeneous set of practitioners,
Water Science & Technology: Water Supply, 2013
The aim of this paper is to study a Roman hydraulic structure in a little village in Southern Italy in order to learn some lessons from the past and identify potential ideas for implementation. Despite increasing global urbanization a significant percentage of people inhabiting inland areas need critical infrastructure service including water supply systems. The fountain system under consideration in this paper is a good example of a sustainable use of the local territory, which is desirable for modern development of infrastructure. In terms of capital investment and management costs, it is better to try and solve supply issues locally in inland areas rather than to construct mega hydraulic works.
"Building with water: new standards of sustainable architecture", in AGATHÓN vol. 2_2017
Agathón | International Journal of Architecture Art and Design, 2017
Within an increasingly consolidated architectural practice aiming at environmental sustainability and energy self-sufficiency, the article reports international research and experiments carried out on water-architecture. Furthermore, it highlights how, starting from the excellent capacity of the fluid to heat and cool its surrounding space, we can think to water as a material component of architecture.
The main steps in the history of the lighting systems are quite known since the end of the 18 th century: Ami Argand (1750-1803) presented his innovative oil lamp in Paris in 1786. This lamp improved the efficiency of the traditional combustible (oil) by a flat, tubular-shape section wick instead of the traditional candlewick. This system was a slight novelty, however it represented a great innovation and forecasted the idea of obtaining light burning a mixture of oxygen (air) and combustible (oil) that, after a few years, would have been so important for the effectiveness of the gas lamps. Argand equipped his lamp with a further device to drive the wick up and down, regulating the mixture of air and oil and, therefore, the intensity of the flame and the consumption of oil. The same importance had the glass cylinder which protected the flame from drafts, improving the vent due to the "flue effect" and, consequently, its efficiency . Philippe Lebon (1767-1804) was probably the first to employ gas to obtain light. His Thermolamp was a kind of big stove producing warmth and light simultaneously, by burning a coal-gas mixture obtained from the distillation of wood. Lebon's Thermolamp matched the two main uses of energy in the house, warmth and light, by a self-produced form of energy. Furthermore, the domestic pipe network which distributed gas through the house, anticipated the following wider applications of the same system. At the very beginning of the 19th century, the industrial development awakened the interest toward sources of light more suitable than candles and oil, to guarantee the continuity of the work inside the factories. Historians agree on the name of William Murdoch (1754 -1839), a mechanical engineer at the Boulton&Watt Foundry in Soho-Birmingham. He carried out experiences about the production of gas from different kinds of coals and gave a powerful demonstration of the new lighting system, illuminating the Foundry with two strong gas flames, during the celebrations for the Peace of Amiens in 1802. Thanks to men like Frederick Winsor (1763-1830), the system quickly spread to the urban scale. In 1806, he founded the National Light and Heat Company in London which started to illuminate a small district of the city the following year. In 1812 he obtained his first public assignment with his society The Gas Light and Coke Company and, in 1819, he left London to export his model in Paris, demonstrating that Murdoch's first prototype, was ready for an urban-scale application. The coal-gas mixture was to be used to illuminate entire cities, both for private and public employment. On this point, the diffusion of the gas-lighting systems was generally connected to the development of an industrial tissue both for the necessity of combustible both for the opportunities to sale the by-products of distillation (coke, ammoniac waters, tar). England was the European leader in this field, followed by France, Belgium and Germany. The proximity with the industrial activities, the necessity of a gas work and a pipe network characterized gas light as a typically urban phenomenon. While it spread in the urban regions (in England, almost ABSTRACT: After an overview on the diffusion of the gas-light system through Italy, the paper focuses on Mantua, a typical middle town with a great urban and construction history as it was the Renaissance Capital of the Gonzaga dukedom.The story of the gas system in Mantua has been reconstructed with the instruments of the archive research while particular attention is for the gas-light plant realized since 1864 to 1886 for the Alberti's S. Andrew Basilica, where many rests (e.g. lamps, pipes) are still visible. This gad-light plant is a great example to analyze the way an eighteenth century industrial device had been installed (often with many difficulties) over the fragile monumental structure of such a building, determining a sudden modification in the perception of the great architectonic interior of the Basilica and the decay of its marble floor and frescoes painted walls. Nowadays, the restoration purposes of the Basilica interior, meets the historical value of this gas-light plant which has to be considered as a more recent step in the five-century construction history of the Basilica and, thus, has be preserved itself.