School  Contest  2009  

 New  York,  New  Jersey,  Connecticut  

   

                            Teaching  Kit  

Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923)    An engineer by training, Eiffel founded and developed a company specializing in metal structural work, whose crowning achievement was the Eiffel Tower. He devoted the last thirty years of his life to his experimental research. Born in Dijon in 1832, he graduated from the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855, the same year that Paris hosted the first world's Fair. He spent several years in the South West of France, where he supervized work on the great railway bridge in Bordeaux, and afterwards he set up in his own right in 1864 as a "constructor", that is, as a business specializing in metal structural work. His outstanding career as a constructor was marked by work on the Porto viaduct over the river Douro in 1876, the Garabit viaduct in 1884, Pest railway station in Hungary, the dome of the Nice observatory, and the ingenious structure of the Statue of Liberty. It culminated in 1889 with the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel built hundreds of metal structures of all kinds all around the world. Eiffel built hundreds of metal structures of all kinds, all around the world. Bridges, and in particular railway bridges, were his favourite field of work, but he also won renown for his metal structural work and industrial installations. His career was marked by a large number of fine buildings, among which two of the most outstanding are the twin edifices of the Porto viaduct and the Garabit viaduct in the Cantal region of France. Equally outstanding are certain other structures in which the pure inventiveness of Eiffel's company was allowed free rein, such as the "portable" bridges sold around the world in "kits", the ingenious structure of the Statue of Liberty in New York, and of course the Eiffel Tower itself.

The West Station in Budapest, Hungary Garabit Viaduc The Eiffel Tower conception and design The plan to build a tower 300 metres high was conceived as part of preparations for the World's Fair of 1889. Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, the two chief engineers in Eiffel's company, had the idea for a very tall tower in June 1884. It was to be designed like a large pylon with four columns of lattice work girders, separated at the base and coming together at the top, and joined to each other by more metal girders at regular intervals. The company had by this time mastered perfectly the principle of building bridge supports. The tower project was a bold extension of this principle up to a height of 300 metres - equivalent to the symbolic figure of 1000 feet. On September 18 1884 Eiffel registered a patent "for a new configuration allowing the construction of metal supports and pylons capable of exceeding a height of 300 metres". The Koechlin's plan

In order to make the project more acceptable to public opinion, Nouguier and Koechlin commissioned the architect Stephen Sauvestre to work on the project's appearance.

Sauvestre proposed stonework pedestals to dress the legs, monumental arches to link the columns and the first level, large glass-walled halls on each level, a bulb-shaped design for the top and various other ornamental features to decorate the whole of the structure. In the end the project was simplified, but certain elements such as the large arches at the base were retained, which in part give it its very characteristic appearance. The curvature of the uprights is mathematically determined to offer the most efficient wind resistance possible. As Eiffel himself explains: "All the cutting force of the wind passes into the interior of the leading edge uprights. Lines drawn tangential to each upright with the point of each tangent at the same height, will always intersect at

a second point, which is exactly the point through which passes the flow resultant from the action of the wind on that part of the tower support situated above the two points in question. Before coming together at the high pinnacle, the uprights appear to burst out of the ground, and in a way to be shaped by the action of the wind".

The Tower stirs debate & controversy Various pamphlets and articles were published throughout the year of 1886, then on February 14 1887, with the construction work barely begun, there appeared the Artists' Protest. The "Protest against the Tower of Monsieur Eiffel", published in the newspaper Le Temps, is addressed to the World's Fair's director of works, Monsieur Alphand. It is signed by several big names from the world of literature and the arts: Charles Gounod, Guy de Maupassant, Alexandre Dumas junior, François Coppée, Leconte de Lisle, Sully Prudhomme, William Bouguereau, Ernest Meissonier, Victorien Sardou, Charles Garnier and others to whom posterity has been less kind. Other satirists pushed the violent diatribe even further, hurling insults like "this truly tragic street lamp" (Léon Bloy), "this belfry skeleton" (Paul Verlaine), "this mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete, confused and deformed" (François Coppée), "this high and skinny pyramid of iron ladders, this giant ungainly skeleton upon a base that looks built to carry a colossal monument of Cyclops, but which just peters out into a ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney" (Maupassant), "a half-built factory pipe, a carcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository" (Joris-Karl Huysmans). Once the Tower was finished the criticism burnt itself out in the presence of the completed masterpiece, and in the light of the enormous popular success with which it was greeted. It received two million visitors during the World's Fair of 1889.

An extract from the "Protest against the Tower of Monsieur Eiffel". "We come, we writers, painters, sculptors, architects, lovers of the beauty of Paris which was until now intact, to protest with all our strength and all our indignation, in the name of the underestimated taste of the French, in the name of French art and history under threat, against the erection in the very heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower, which popular ill-feeling, so often an arbiter of good sense and justice, has already christened the Tower of Babel. (...) Is the City of Paris any longer to associate itself with the baroque and mercantile fancies of a builder of machines, thereby making itself irreparably ugly and bringing dishonour ? (...) To comprehend what we are arguing one only needs to imagine for a moment a tower of ridiculous vertiginous height dominating Paris,just like a gigantic black factory chimney, its barbarous mass overwhelming and humiliating all our monuments and belittling our works of architecture, which will just disappear before this stupefying folly. And for twenty years we shall see spreading across the whole city, a city shimmering with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see spreading like an ink stain, the odious shadow of this odious column of bolted metal. "

Charles Garniers Leconte de Lisle Alexandre Dumas Fils

In an interview in the newspaper Le Temps of February 14 1887, Eiffel gave a reply to the artists' protest, neatly summing up his artistic doctrine. "For my part I believe that the Tower will possess its own beauty. Are we to believe that because one is an engineer, one is not preoccupied by beauty in one's constructions, or that one does not seek to create elegance as well as solidity and durability ? Is it not true that the very conditions which give strength also conform to the hidden rules of harmony ? (...) Now to what phenomenon did I have to give primary concern in designing the Tower ? It was wind resistance. Well then ! I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be (...) will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole. Likewise the many empty spaces built into the very elements of construction will clearly display the constant concern not to submit any unnecessary surfaces to the violent action of hurricanes, which could threaten the stability of the edifice. Moreover there is an attraction in the colossal, and a singular delight to which ordinary theories of art are scarcely applicable".

Construction of the Eiffel Tower The assembly of the supports began on July 1, 1887 and was completed twenty-two months later. All the elements were prepared in Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. Each of the 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower were specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre and then put together forming new pieces around five metres each. A team of constructors, who had worked on the great metal viaduct projects, were responsible for the 150 to 300 workers on site assembling this gigantic erector set. All the metal pieces of the tower are held together by rivets, a well-refined method of construction at the time the Tower was constructed.

First the pieces were assembled in the factory using bolts, later to be replaced one by one with thermally assembled rivets, which contracted during cooling thus ensuring a very tight fit. A team of four men was needed for each rivet assembled: one to heat it up, another to hold it in place, a third to shape the head and a fourth to beat it with a sledgehammer. Only a third of the 2,500,000 rivets used in the construction of the Tower were inserted directly on site.

It only took five months to build the foundations and twenty-one to finish assembling the metal pieces of the Tower.

                 15  mars  1888                      15septembre  1888              26  décembre  1888                            12  mars  1889   Considering the rudimentary means available at that period, this could be considered record speed. The assembly of the Tower was a marvel of precision, as all chroniclers of the period agree. The construction work began in January 1887 and was finished on March 31, 1889. On the narrow platform at the top, Eiffel received his decoration from the Legion of Honour. Why the Eiffel Tower is made of iron ? What are the advantages of iron? Gustave Eiffel himself gives the answer: “First of all, its resistance. From the viewpoint of loads one or the other of these materials can support, we know that for any given surface area, iron is ten times more resistant than wood and 20 times more resistant than stone.” He points out: “It’s above all in the large constructions that the metal’s resistance makes it superior to other materials. The relative lightness of metal constructions also allows for smaller supports and foundations.” And he concludes: “To give just one example, that of the Exhibition Tower, I astonished more than one person who was worried about the load on the floor of the foundations, by saying that the load wouldn’t be any greater than that of a house in Paris.”

Movement of the Tower top The Tower sways slightly in the wind. During the storm of 1999, it moved approximately 13 centimeters from its initial position. But the Tower is also affected by heat.When the temperature is high, that portion of the structure exposed to the sun expands more than the portion in the shade.To “get out of the sun”, the Tower can lean as much as 18 centimeters. Painting the Eiffel Tower Being made of iron, the Tower has been protected from oxidation by many layers of paint, which ensure that it will last for ever. In 1900 in his book " The 300-Meter Tower ", Gustave Eiffel wrote, "We will most likely never realize the full importance of painting the Tower, that it is the essential element in the conservation of metal works and the more meticulous the paint job, the longer the Tower shall endure." The Tower has been re-painted 18 times since its initial construction, an average of once every seven years. It has changed colour several times, passing from red-brown to yellow-ochre, then to chestnut brown and finally to the bronze of today, slightly shaded off towards the top to ensure that the colour is perceived to be the same all the way up as it stands against the Paris sky. Sixty tons of paint are necessary to cover the Tower's surface, as well as 50 kilometers of security cords, 5 acres of protection netting, 1500 brushes, 5000 sanding disks, 1500 sets of work clothes…and more than a year for a team of 25 painters to paint the Tower from top to bottom. The 19th repainting of the Eiffel Tower got underway in March 2009.

The Eiffel Tower as a radio broadcaster Eiffel strongly encouraged research into radio transmission by proposing the use of his tower as a monumental radio mast. After the success of the first radio signals broadcast to the Pantheon by Eugène Ducretet in 1898, Eiffel approached the military authorities in 1901 with a view to making the Tower into a long-distance radio antenna. In 1903 a radio connection was made with the military bases around Paris, and then a year later with the East of France. A permanent radio station was installed in the Tower in 1906, thus ensuring its continuing survival. Eiffel lived long enough to hear the first European public radio broadcast from an aerial on the Tower in 1921. The top of the tower has been modified over the course of the years in order to accommodate ever more antennae.

The top of the Tower originally consisted of two lattice work arches, supporting the lamp of a beacon visible from beyond the horizon. The narrow open-air platform which crowned this top level was at a height of exactly three hundred metres above ground level. This was itself topped by a lightning conductor with three branches, connected to two large metal tubes buried in the ground. The top of the Tower has since been completely transformed, and today it accommodates several

tens of antennae of all kinds, including a television mast whose peak is at a height of 324 metres. The first television trials to use the Tower date back to 1921, and the first regular broadcasts started in 1935.

Illuminating the Eiffel Tower From gas to electricity The Tower's artificial illuminations have been constantly revised and improved throughout the years, taking advantage of the latest innovations in lighting. From gas to electricity, incandescent lamps to neon and not forgetting the sodium lamp. At the dawn of the 20th century, the Eiffel Tower adopted quite quickly the new electric technology. Universal Exposition of 1889 The development of electric lighting has allowed the Tower to be bathed in light in a variety of ways over the years.

The first lighting system was installed for the Universal Exposition of 1900, but by 1925, André Citroën set the Tower alive with his colored lighting ad campaign. In 1937, André Granet added colored lighting to the latticework handrails for the International Exposition of Arts and Techniques. New golden lighting system for the Tower arrives in 1985 A new golden lighting decorates the Tower, inaugurated on 31 December 1985. Created by Pierre Bideau, lighting designer, this installation

is composed of 336 projectors, equipped with sodium-vapour lamps providing the yellow-orange colour. The light rays are oriented upwards lighting up the Tower structure from the inside. This system replaced the installation that had been in service up to the year 1958. It received a unanimous round of applause all over

the world, to such an extent that other major cities adopted special lighting so as to highlight their monuments at night. The Beacon and Sparkes for the "Countdown to the Year 2000" On 31 December 1999 at the approach of midnight, the entire world will discover the beacon and the Tower's sparking lights. The becaon, sending out two light beams with a reach of 80 kilometres, is composed of 4 "marine" motorised projectors. They are operated by automatically piloted computer programs. Since their rotation sweep is 90°, they are synchronized to form a double beam in a cross that pivots around 360°. The xenon 6000 watt lamps were chosen for their longevity, around 1,200 hours. The lamps are cooled to prevent overheating and a heating system is activated when the temperatures drop below zero Centigrade whilst the lights are off. This beacon resonates the image of Gustave Eiffel's Tower itself as a universal and symbolic landmark. The glittering lights are layered over the golden lighting system that has highlighted the Tower’s structure at night since 1986, marvellous as always. To finalize the show, the gold lights were shut down and only the sparkling lights performed, five minutes of magic never seen before, breathtaking. The glittering light installation of the year 2000 was not made to last and was replaced in June 2003 by another lighting installation meant to

weather a period of 10 years. Installing the lights is about as impressive as the lighting itself : * A lighting system built to last ten years * 25 mountain climbers for the 5-month installation * 20,000 special light bulbs (5,000 per side) attached one at a time * 40 kilometers of strings of light and electrical cords

* 40,000 joints and 80,000 various metallic parts weighing 60 tons * 230 enclosed lighting fixtures and electrical boxes * 10,000 m² of safety nets * 120 kilowatts of power. * Budget total: 4.55 million euros

2004 - January 24: The Eiffel Tower Celebrated the Chinese New Year in Red!

Relying on spotlights on the outer Tower, the most celebrated monument in Paris beamed scarlet red colors for the occasion of the Chinese New Year on Saturday, January 24, 2004. Following the Chinese New Year parade on the Champs-Elyséees, the Chinese and French Culture ministers as well as the mayors of Peking and Paris were present at the "lights on" ceremony at the Tower. Sponsored by the company Electricite de France, the red lighting lasted for five days until the morning of January 29th, visible each day from 5pm to 7:30am.

The Tower Turns Blue for the 20th Anniversary of Europe Day For the 20th edition of Europe Day, the Eiffel Tower turned blue on 9 May 2006.

Autumn 2007, Rugby is Honoured From 7 September to 20 October 2007 for the occasion of the World Rugby Cup hosted by France, the Eiffel Tower adopted the colours of rugby: green lighting for the floor of the second floor symbolic of the turf, two light beams vertically oriented, a cross beam bringing to mind the goal posts, a giant ball with a 13-metre span suspended from the 2nd floor approximately 80 metres from the ground with a big spotlight on the official logo, and finally, a giant screen 120m² under the first floor facing the Seine River and giving all the results of the matches. Visitors from all over the world and Parisians alike were also able to enjoy the sparkling lights and the beacon that maintained the hourly show during the entire opération.

The Eiffel Tower in the Colors of Europe As the French President took the helm of the European Union from July 1 to December 31, 2008, the Eiffel Tower in cooperation with the Mayor of Paris payed homage to Europe. Every evening, the Tower donned its blue night-lighting at sunset, dotted with the 12 yellow stars representing the European flag. The sparkling lights remained in place, glittering every hour on the hour for 5 minutes as usual.

Questionnaire  :    

1. En  quelle  année  a  eu  lieu  la  première  émission  de  télévision  grâce  à  l’émetteur  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  

 1935  1937  1940  

 2. Quelle  était  la  couleur  de  la  Tour  en  1899  ?  

 Rouge  Jaune  Brun  

   

3. Combien  de  marches  jusqu’au  sommet  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?    1665  1800  3000  

 4. Comment  s’appelle  le  restaurant  situé  au  deuxième  étage  ?  

 Le  Gustave  Eiffel  Le  Champs  de  Mars  Le  Jules  Verne  

 5. 72  noms  sont  inscrits  sous  le  premier  étage.  A  qui  appartiennent-­ils  ?  

 A  des  artistes  parisiens  A  des  scientifiques  Aux  rois  de  France  

 6. Quel  autre  monument  a  fait  la  célébrité  de  Gustave  Eiffel  ?  

 La  statue  de  la  Liberté  à  New  York  Big  Ben  à  Londres  La  gare  de  l’est  à  Paris  

       

7. Quelle  est  la  hauteur  exacte  de  la  Tour,  antenne  comprise  ?    204  m  

324  m  544  m  

 8. A  l’origine,  qu’y  avait-­il  au  dernier  étage  de  la  Tour  ?  

 Une  réserve  d’eau  Un  poste  de  police  L’appartement  de  Gustave  Eiffel  

 9. A  quelle  fréquence  repeint-­on  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  

 Tous  les  3  ans  Tous  les  7  ans  Tous  les  10  ans  

 10. Quel  est  le  surnom  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  

 La  Fée  Electricité  La  Dame  de  Fer  La  Tour  Infernale  

 11. Quelle  quantité  de  peinture  faut-­il  pour  repeindre  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  

 10  tonnes  60  tonnes  100  tonnes  

 12. Jusqu’à  quelle  date  la  Tour  Eiffel  fut-­elle  l’édifice  le  plus  haut  du  monde  ?  

 1929  1980  2005  

 13. Au  bout  de  combien  de  temps  la  Tour  Eiffel  devait-­elle  pétré  détruite  ?  

 10  ans  18  ans  20  ans  

 14. Quelle  est  la  hauteur  de  la  «  Tour  Eiffel  »  de  Las  Vegas  ?  

 100  m  164  m  312  m  

   

15. Combien  de  visiteurs  du  monde  entier  la  Tour  Eiffel  accueille-­elle  chaque  année  ?  

 

Près  de  7  millions  Près  de  10  millions  Près  de  100  millions  

 Les  bonnes  réponses  

 En  quelle  année  a  eu  lieu  la  première  émission  de  télévision  grâce  à  l’émetteur  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  1935  Le   10   novembre   1935,   Georges   Mandel,   ministre   des   PTT,   inaugure   la   première  émission   (en  180   lignes)  depuis   l’émetteur  de   la   tour  Eiffel.   Le  18,   la   speakerien  Susy  Wincker  effectue  une  démonstration  pour  la  presse.    Quelle  était  la  couleur  de  la  Tour  en  1899  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  jaune  La  Tour  a  été  repeinte  18  fois  depuis  sa  construction,  soit  une  fois  en  moyenne  tous  les  sept   ans.   Elle   a   changé   plusieurs   fois   de   couleur,   passant   du   brun-­‐rouge,   sa   couleur  d’origine,  à  l'ocre  jaune  en  1899  puis  au  bronze  aujourd'hui.    Combien  de  marches  jusqu’au  sommet  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  1665  La  Tour  compte  1665  marches  du  sol  au  sommet.      Comment  s’appelle  le  restaurant  situé  au  deuxième  étage  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  Le  Jules  Verne  Restaurant  gastronomique,  Le  Jules  Verne  est  situé  au  deuxième  étage  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  et  bénéficie  d'un  accès  direct  par  ascenseur  privé.  Il  domine  Paris  à  125  m  au-­‐dessus  du  sol.    72  noms  sont  inscrits  sous  le  premier  étage.  A  qui  appartiennent-­ils  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  à  des  scientifiques  Sur  la  tour  Eiffel,  soixante-­‐douze  noms  de  scientifiques  ont  été  gravés  par  Gustave  Eiffel  en  reconnaissance  de  leurs  contributions  à  la  science.    Quel  autre  monument  a  fait  la  célébrité  de  Gustave  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  la  statue  de  la  Liberté  à  New  York  Gustave   Eiffel   est   également   le   créateur   de   la   structure   de   la   statue   de   la   Liberté,  inaugurée  à  New  York  en  1886.    Quelle  est  la  hauteur  exacte  de  la  Tour,  antenne  comprise  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  324  m  La   tour  mesure   324  mètres,   antenne   comprise.   C’est   le  monument   le   plus   haut   de   la  capitale.    A  l’origine,  qu’y  avait-­il  au  dernier  étage  de  la  Tour  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  l’appartement  de  Gustave  Eiffel  On  peut   encore   visiter   l'appartement  de  Gustave  Eiffel   située   au  3e   étage.   L'ingénieur  s'était  fait  aménager  une  petite  garçonnière  au  sommet  de  son  chef  d’œuvre.    

       A  quelle  fréquence  repeint-­on  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  Tous  les  7  ans  Les  travaux  durent  environ  entre  15  et  18  mois    Quel  est  le  surnom  de  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  La  Dame  de  Fer    Quelle  quantité  de  peinture  faut-­il  pour  repeindre  la  Tour  Eiffel  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  60  tonnes    Jusqu’à  quelle  date  la  Tour  Eiffel  fut-­elle  l’édifice  le  plus  haut  du  monde  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  1929  La  Tour  Eiffel  resta  l’édifice  le  plus  haut  du  monde  avant  d’être  dépasser  par  le  Chrysler  Building  à  New  York  qui  culmine  à  près  de  320  mètre    Au  bout  de  combien  de  temps  la  Tour  Eiffel  devait-­elle  pétré  détruite  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  20  ans  La  Tour  Eiffel  devait  être  détruite  au  bout  de  20  ans.  Heureusement,  cette  Dame  de  Fer  à  réussit  à  résister  aux  attaques.  Elle  s’avéra  utile  du  point  de  vue  scientifique  mais  aussi  stratégique  et  technique  en  servant  d’émetteur  et  récepteur  radio.    Quelle  est  la  hauteur  de  la  «  Tour  Eiffel  »  de  Las  Vegas  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  164  m    Combien  de  visiteurs  du  monde  entier  la  Tour  Eiffel  accueille-­elle  chaque  année  ?  La  bonne  réponse  :  Près  de  7  millions  Il  s’agit  tout  simplement  du  monument  le  plus  visité  dans  le  monde  !