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Erick COMBEDOUZOU Agent Général Exclusif MMA Staff members: Ms Nasim Kanamia & Ms Cécile Doumergue 54 rue des Frères Quéméré 82150 MONTAIGU DE QUERCY Tel : 05 63 94 48 64 1 bis av Maréchal Bessières 46220 PRAYSSAC Tel : 05 65 22 42 36 Fax : 05 63 94 30 27 – Email : e.combedouzou@mma.fr – N° ORIAS : 07 011 028 – www.orias.fr
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Eiffel opted not to use a completely rigid structure, which would force stresses to accumulate in the skin and lead eventually to cracking. To enable the statue to move slightly in the winds of New York Harbour and as the metal expanded on hot summer days, he created a new support system for the statue that would rely on a skeletal structure instead of weight to support the copper skin what was dubbed an armature – a metal framework that ends in a mesh of metal straps, known as “saddles”, that are riveted to the skin, providing firm support. In a labor-intensive process, each saddle had to be crafted individually. Thanks to this ingenious construction consisting of the copper plates attached to the metal framework, the statue was flexible enough to withstand heavy storms. Large iron bars attached the framework to a central pylon. As the pylon tower arose, Eiffel and Bartholdi coordinated their work carefully so that completed segments of skin would fit exactly on the support structure. The components of the pylon tower were built in the Eiffel factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois-Perret. Eiffel and his team built the statue from the ground up and then dismantled it for its journey to New York Harbour. Eiffel also supervised the raising of Liberty. He calculated how much pressure would be put on each joint and how to distribute the weight and instructed how to assemble the various pieces of the statue to maximize the safety and life of the standing statue He also included two interior spiral staircases, to make it easier for visitors to reach the observation point in the crown. Access to an observation platform surrounding the torch was also provided, but the narrowness of the arm allowed for only a single ladder, 40 feet (12 m) long. Some work was performed by contractors – one of the fingers was made to Bartholdi’s exacting The Quercy Local • March-June 2013
specifications by a coppersmith in the southern French town of Montauban. By 1882, the statue was complete up to the waist, an event Barthodi celebrated by inviting reporters to lunch on a platform built within the statue. Laboulaye died in 1883. He was succeeded as chairman of the French committee by Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. The completed statue was formally presented to Ambassador Morton at a ceremony in Paris on July 4, 1884, and de Lesseps announced that the French government had agreed to pay for its transport to New York. The statue remained intact in Paris pending sufficient progress on the pedestal; by January 1885, this had occurred and the statue was disassembled and crated for its ocean voyage.
EIFFEL TOWER The Eiffel Tower takes its name from its architect, Gustave Eiffel. But he was not the only one to work on realising his dream: two engineers from his company, Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, were also credited for their input into the project. Between 120 and 200 men worked on the site and more than 300 in the workshops at Levallois-Perret (North-West suburb of Paris). During its completion, only one worker – an Italian – tragically died by falling from the first floor. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris World Fair, marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Its position as an entrance arch to the exhibition pavilions located across the River Seine (Trocadéro and Champs de Mars) was celebrated as a grand monument to the glory of France. It took only two years, two months and five days to build the tower, which is a remarkably short period of time. The work started in 1887 and the tower was inaugurated in 1889.
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