Cultural Heritages of Water: The cultural heritages of water in the Middle Eastand Maghreb / Les patrimoines culturels de l’eau : Les patrimoines culturels de l’eau au Moyen-Orient et au Maghreb
"Over recent years a series of urgent and in some cases disastrous situations have arisen in... more "Over recent years a series of urgent and in some cases disastrous situations have arisen in the field of water access. [...] Because of climate change, resources today are under threat from long-term trends which are quite difficult to predict with precision on a regional basis, but which are however certain to occur. T[...] In this context, a return to traditional cultural heritages linked to water – some dating back more than a thousand years - would seem to be a necessary, or at least useful, approach. The initial aim of the approach we are adopting here is to provide assistance for recognising, studying and preserving heritage of this type. From this viewpoint, the framework provided by the World Heritage Convention is an important tool, and can provide instructive insights, when it comes to identifying sites and cultural landscapes with Outstanding Universal Value which are linked to the exploitation and use of water by human societies both today and in the past. It can play perhaps an even more important role in providing a methodology for the identification and then the preservation of such heritages, in a wider context, not only for properties which could be nominated for the World Heritage List, but also for properties of regional or local importance. The aim will also be to establish benchmark examples, which are highlighted for the benefit of everyone, and whose transmission to future generations can be assured in an appropriate way." (quoted from the introduction)
Digital uses and tools for Historical Knowledge Management
La recente democratisation du virtuel a permis d’envisager de nouveaux moyens pour capitaliser, a... more La recente democratisation du virtuel a permis d’envisager de nouveaux moyens pour capitaliser, analyser et valoriser notre patrimoine, qu’il soit materiel ou immateriel, pour perenniser cette future perte de la connaissance de l'Humanite. Au-dela des simples outils numeriques permettant des visualisations graphiques en 3D, de nouvelles demarches et outils associes permettent egalement la mise en relation semantique des objets au travers des bases de donnees repondant a des standards. Il s’agit de developper des methodes et des technologies pour le domaine patrimonial et museologique dans le nouveau champ des Humanites Numeriques. Ce type de recherche novateur est considere comme interdisciplinaire, a la croisee de plusieurs domaines : tant des Sciences Humaines que des Sciences de l’ingenieur. Pour autant, de nouvelles problematiques techniques et epistemologiques se posent : quelle(s) nouvelle(s) methodologie(s) ? Quel perimetre pour les outils numeriques ? Quels formats de do...
L'amélioration de la navigation sur les rivières françaises au XIXe siècle : le cas de la Haute-Seine et de l'Yonne : Les constructions fluviales : théories, projets, chantiers
Quand on regarde cette figure grave, ce regard fixe, empreint à la fois de profondeur et de bonté... more Quand on regarde cette figure grave, ce regard fixe, empreint à la fois de profondeur et de bonté, cette haute et sereine philosophie dans laquelle il aimait à s'absorber, on a peine à croire que son attention soit jamais descendue des sommets culminants de la science, pour se porter vers les applications de la pratique. Il a excellé pourtant, dans ses jeunes années, et c'est comme ingénieur qu'il a jeté les fondements d'une renommée que le savant devait rendre si haute et si pure 1. 1 Lors du centenaire de l'École polytechnique, Albert de Lapparent définissait ainsi l'apparence du célèbre professeur et le quasi paradoxe qu'il y avait à savoir qu'il avait été, en premier lieu, un homme de la pratique des arts de l'ingénieur. Nous reprenons ici cette question de Lamé praticien, pour l'aborder dans une perspective critique, d'une part à partir des publications techniques de la jeunesse, d'autre part en suivant l'itinéraire de ses activités d'ingénieur, qui semblent toutefois bel et bien s'arrêter avec sa prise de fonction professorale, en 1832, à l'École polytechnique ; il est alors âgé de 37 ans. 2 En d'autres termes : quel type d'ingénieur a bien pu être Gabriel Lamé jeune et quel parcours de technicien at -il effectué ? Gabriel Lamé, itinéraire d'un jeune ingénieur en France et en Europe (1820-... Bulletin de la Sabix, 44 | 2009 Gabriel Lamé (1795-1870) connaît une scolarité brillante et compliquée, notamment à l'École polytechnique aux débuts de la Restauration. Il fait partie des élèves renvoyés par le nouveau régime sous prétexte d'agitation. Il est toutefois réintégré au sein d'une école d'application, celle des Mines, où il entre en 1818. C'est là qu'il rencontre Stéphane Flachat et surtout Émile Clapeyron, auquel une amitié profonde et scientifiquement féconde le liera toute sa vie.
At the beginning of 1820s, Saint-Etienne collieries were very promising, but enclosed by transpor... more At the beginning of 1820s, Saint-Etienne collieries were very promising, but enclosed by transportation difficulties. After the Napoleonic Wars, the new situation the first French Industrial Revolution) led to a reorganization of collieries concessions, more favorable to an industrial exploitation. Several possibilities of new transportation system were tried, such as canals, roads and railways, to the cities along the river Rhône, where there were many industrial consumers and important ports. There are few papers and publications on the history of the first French railways, especially Saint-Etienne railways. The aim of this paper is to overview the design and construction of the first French railways by Marc Seguin. His tubular boiler of 1827 and locomotive for the heavy and hilly transportation are also discussed.
During 1820s, Seguin brothers was a French firm well known for suspension bridges and steamboat n... more During 1820s, Seguin brothers was a French firm well known for suspension bridges and steamboat navigation. In 1825, they started negotiations with French government for the construction of a railway line from the Saint-Etienne coal field to the Rhone Valley and The city of Lyon. During a long trip of 1825-26 in England and Scotland , they visited the famous first public railway of Stockton & Darlington and gathered much information about steam railway traction and locomotives as linked with railway line design. Their personal engineering and managerial background gave us a very good understanding of the British technological system for railways, and its tremendous potential for heavy transportation. Such understanding was not only a 'copy' by the way of buying materials , wagons, and locomotives, but also a critical reflection on the technical choices made by the British engineers. For example, they refused the common point of view of that time for the general design of a line, i.e., the primacy of fixed engines for inclined planes. This paper presents the development of locomotives of the Saint-Etinenne & Lyon railway (Le Chemin de fer entre Saint-Etienne et Lyon) form the viewpoint of its design, construction and first uses. Major points discussed include: 1) the two Stephenson's locomotives bought for this railway, 2) the first Seguin's French patent for the famous tubular boiler , 3) locomotive construction in Perrache, Lyon. This study highlights the originality of Marc Seguin's locomotives.
On August 25, 1825, the Tain-Tournon bridge was open to the public use by Marc Seguin and his fou... more On August 25, 1825, the Tain-Tournon bridge was open to the public use by Marc Seguin and his four brothers. This is the first wire cable suspension bridge in the world. The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of the foundation works of the bridge on the basis of "notes" and "memoirs" written by Marc Seguin and to evaluate the historical meaning of this bridge works in the context of the innovation of modern suspension bridges.
Methods and Tools for Effective Knowledge Life-Cycle-Management
All along history, humans have always invented, created to improve their standard of living. Many... more All along history, humans have always invented, created to improve their standard of living. Many machines have been built, sometimes simple and others very complex. In order to achieve the best results for customers, machines, industrial plants and humans are moved, displaced and replaced. It is the global humanity technical knowledge that disappears. Indeed, there is a lack in the actually conservation methods: sciences and technologies have to be considered and not only architecture. Our heritage research focuses on the mechanical and technical point of view. For instance, in a factory, there is the building but also actuators, motors and machines that produce product: taking into account the technical point of view can reach to a better understanding of the past. That's why preserving the national technical patrimony has now become the priority of governments and world organizations. Our approach proposes a new kind of finality: as saving and maintaining physical object cost a lot for museums, and sometimes dismantling is impossible as the machine falls in ruin, we propose to preserve it as a numerical object. The aim of this research is to define the global process and technologies used for implementing a numerical model of old machines. The final aim is to constitute a new reference for museologic actors, using actual techniques and methods for putting old machines and technical means in "virtual use", taking into account the working situation including human being at work. This process is illustrated by an example we performed: a steam engine.
Since virtual engineering has been introduced inside industries, time processes have been reduced... more Since virtual engineering has been introduced inside industries, time processes have been reduced and products are more adapted to customer needs. Nowadays, the DMU is the centre point for all teams: design, manufacturing, communication etc. However, physical mock-ups and prototypes are sometimes requested. Consequently, a back-and-forth action between the real and the virtual worlds is necessary. Our research team has developed a reverse-engineering methodology for capturing technical characteristics of industrial objects but also for capitalizing knowledge and know-how which are required for contextualizing life cycles. More precisely, we work with ancient industrial machines. It is what we call Advanced Industrial Archaeology. Thanks to the coupling of different kinds of 3D digitalization technologies and CAD software, we are able to redesign old industrial objects and old processes. To illustrate our proposal, we will describe one of the experiments we have done with a salt-washing machine which is nearly 100 years old: from the global 3D digitalization of the plant to precise parts design, we have rediscovered the enterprise process and understand its integration in the economic context.
Cultural Heritages of Water: The cultural heritages of water in the Middle Eastand Maghreb / Les patrimoines culturels de l’eau : Les patrimoines culturels de l’eau au Moyen-Orient et au Maghreb
"Over recent years a series of urgent and in some cases disastrous situations have arisen in... more "Over recent years a series of urgent and in some cases disastrous situations have arisen in the field of water access. [...] Because of climate change, resources today are under threat from long-term trends which are quite difficult to predict with precision on a regional basis, but which are however certain to occur. T[...] In this context, a return to traditional cultural heritages linked to water – some dating back more than a thousand years - would seem to be a necessary, or at least useful, approach. The initial aim of the approach we are adopting here is to provide assistance for recognising, studying and preserving heritage of this type. From this viewpoint, the framework provided by the World Heritage Convention is an important tool, and can provide instructive insights, when it comes to identifying sites and cultural landscapes with Outstanding Universal Value which are linked to the exploitation and use of water by human societies both today and in the past. It can play perhaps an even more important role in providing a methodology for the identification and then the preservation of such heritages, in a wider context, not only for properties which could be nominated for the World Heritage List, but also for properties of regional or local importance. The aim will also be to establish benchmark examples, which are highlighted for the benefit of everyone, and whose transmission to future generations can be assured in an appropriate way." (quoted from the introduction)
Digital uses and tools for Historical Knowledge Management
La recente democratisation du virtuel a permis d’envisager de nouveaux moyens pour capitaliser, a... more La recente democratisation du virtuel a permis d’envisager de nouveaux moyens pour capitaliser, analyser et valoriser notre patrimoine, qu’il soit materiel ou immateriel, pour perenniser cette future perte de la connaissance de l'Humanite. Au-dela des simples outils numeriques permettant des visualisations graphiques en 3D, de nouvelles demarches et outils associes permettent egalement la mise en relation semantique des objets au travers des bases de donnees repondant a des standards. Il s’agit de developper des methodes et des technologies pour le domaine patrimonial et museologique dans le nouveau champ des Humanites Numeriques. Ce type de recherche novateur est considere comme interdisciplinaire, a la croisee de plusieurs domaines : tant des Sciences Humaines que des Sciences de l’ingenieur. Pour autant, de nouvelles problematiques techniques et epistemologiques se posent : quelle(s) nouvelle(s) methodologie(s) ? Quel perimetre pour les outils numeriques ? Quels formats de do...
L'amélioration de la navigation sur les rivières françaises au XIXe siècle : le cas de la Haute-Seine et de l'Yonne : Les constructions fluviales : théories, projets, chantiers
Quand on regarde cette figure grave, ce regard fixe, empreint à la fois de profondeur et de bonté... more Quand on regarde cette figure grave, ce regard fixe, empreint à la fois de profondeur et de bonté, cette haute et sereine philosophie dans laquelle il aimait à s'absorber, on a peine à croire que son attention soit jamais descendue des sommets culminants de la science, pour se porter vers les applications de la pratique. Il a excellé pourtant, dans ses jeunes années, et c'est comme ingénieur qu'il a jeté les fondements d'une renommée que le savant devait rendre si haute et si pure 1. 1 Lors du centenaire de l'École polytechnique, Albert de Lapparent définissait ainsi l'apparence du célèbre professeur et le quasi paradoxe qu'il y avait à savoir qu'il avait été, en premier lieu, un homme de la pratique des arts de l'ingénieur. Nous reprenons ici cette question de Lamé praticien, pour l'aborder dans une perspective critique, d'une part à partir des publications techniques de la jeunesse, d'autre part en suivant l'itinéraire de ses activités d'ingénieur, qui semblent toutefois bel et bien s'arrêter avec sa prise de fonction professorale, en 1832, à l'École polytechnique ; il est alors âgé de 37 ans. 2 En d'autres termes : quel type d'ingénieur a bien pu être Gabriel Lamé jeune et quel parcours de technicien at -il effectué ? Gabriel Lamé, itinéraire d'un jeune ingénieur en France et en Europe (1820-... Bulletin de la Sabix, 44 | 2009 Gabriel Lamé (1795-1870) connaît une scolarité brillante et compliquée, notamment à l'École polytechnique aux débuts de la Restauration. Il fait partie des élèves renvoyés par le nouveau régime sous prétexte d'agitation. Il est toutefois réintégré au sein d'une école d'application, celle des Mines, où il entre en 1818. C'est là qu'il rencontre Stéphane Flachat et surtout Émile Clapeyron, auquel une amitié profonde et scientifiquement féconde le liera toute sa vie.
At the beginning of 1820s, Saint-Etienne collieries were very promising, but enclosed by transpor... more At the beginning of 1820s, Saint-Etienne collieries were very promising, but enclosed by transportation difficulties. After the Napoleonic Wars, the new situation the first French Industrial Revolution) led to a reorganization of collieries concessions, more favorable to an industrial exploitation. Several possibilities of new transportation system were tried, such as canals, roads and railways, to the cities along the river Rhône, where there were many industrial consumers and important ports. There are few papers and publications on the history of the first French railways, especially Saint-Etienne railways. The aim of this paper is to overview the design and construction of the first French railways by Marc Seguin. His tubular boiler of 1827 and locomotive for the heavy and hilly transportation are also discussed.
During 1820s, Seguin brothers was a French firm well known for suspension bridges and steamboat n... more During 1820s, Seguin brothers was a French firm well known for suspension bridges and steamboat navigation. In 1825, they started negotiations with French government for the construction of a railway line from the Saint-Etienne coal field to the Rhone Valley and The city of Lyon. During a long trip of 1825-26 in England and Scotland , they visited the famous first public railway of Stockton & Darlington and gathered much information about steam railway traction and locomotives as linked with railway line design. Their personal engineering and managerial background gave us a very good understanding of the British technological system for railways, and its tremendous potential for heavy transportation. Such understanding was not only a 'copy' by the way of buying materials , wagons, and locomotives, but also a critical reflection on the technical choices made by the British engineers. For example, they refused the common point of view of that time for the general design of a line, i.e., the primacy of fixed engines for inclined planes. This paper presents the development of locomotives of the Saint-Etinenne & Lyon railway (Le Chemin de fer entre Saint-Etienne et Lyon) form the viewpoint of its design, construction and first uses. Major points discussed include: 1) the two Stephenson's locomotives bought for this railway, 2) the first Seguin's French patent for the famous tubular boiler , 3) locomotive construction in Perrache, Lyon. This study highlights the originality of Marc Seguin's locomotives.
On August 25, 1825, the Tain-Tournon bridge was open to the public use by Marc Seguin and his fou... more On August 25, 1825, the Tain-Tournon bridge was open to the public use by Marc Seguin and his four brothers. This is the first wire cable suspension bridge in the world. The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of the foundation works of the bridge on the basis of "notes" and "memoirs" written by Marc Seguin and to evaluate the historical meaning of this bridge works in the context of the innovation of modern suspension bridges.
Methods and Tools for Effective Knowledge Life-Cycle-Management
All along history, humans have always invented, created to improve their standard of living. Many... more All along history, humans have always invented, created to improve their standard of living. Many machines have been built, sometimes simple and others very complex. In order to achieve the best results for customers, machines, industrial plants and humans are moved, displaced and replaced. It is the global humanity technical knowledge that disappears. Indeed, there is a lack in the actually conservation methods: sciences and technologies have to be considered and not only architecture. Our heritage research focuses on the mechanical and technical point of view. For instance, in a factory, there is the building but also actuators, motors and machines that produce product: taking into account the technical point of view can reach to a better understanding of the past. That's why preserving the national technical patrimony has now become the priority of governments and world organizations. Our approach proposes a new kind of finality: as saving and maintaining physical object cost a lot for museums, and sometimes dismantling is impossible as the machine falls in ruin, we propose to preserve it as a numerical object. The aim of this research is to define the global process and technologies used for implementing a numerical model of old machines. The final aim is to constitute a new reference for museologic actors, using actual techniques and methods for putting old machines and technical means in "virtual use", taking into account the working situation including human being at work. This process is illustrated by an example we performed: a steam engine.
Since virtual engineering has been introduced inside industries, time processes have been reduced... more Since virtual engineering has been introduced inside industries, time processes have been reduced and products are more adapted to customer needs. Nowadays, the DMU is the centre point for all teams: design, manufacturing, communication etc. However, physical mock-ups and prototypes are sometimes requested. Consequently, a back-and-forth action between the real and the virtual worlds is necessary. Our research team has developed a reverse-engineering methodology for capturing technical characteristics of industrial objects but also for capitalizing knowledge and know-how which are required for contextualizing life cycles. More precisely, we work with ancient industrial machines. It is what we call Advanced Industrial Archaeology. Thanks to the coupling of different kinds of 3D digitalization technologies and CAD software, we are able to redesign old industrial objects and old processes. To illustrate our proposal, we will describe one of the experiments we have done with a salt-washing machine which is nearly 100 years old: from the global 3D digitalization of the plant to precise parts design, we have rediscovered the enterprise process and understand its integration in the economic context.
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Papers by Michel Cotte