Images Dated 22nd March 2007

The Marly Machine, 18th century

The Marly Machine, 18th century. Louis XIV of France had this machine constructed on the banks of the Seine to pump water from the river to his chateaux at Versailles and Marly. It was responsible for the gushing fountains and other water features at Versailles. The flow of the river was harnessed to turn 14 paddlewheels which then powered over 200 pumps which forced water up a network of pipes to an aqueduct at Louveciennes. This represented a vertical rise of 500 feet. The Marly machine was engineered by Arnold de Ville and built by Rennequin Sualem and is thought to have been the largest system of integrated machinery ever assembled at the time it was completed in 1684. Its construction had taken 30 years. The machine remained in use until 1817, after which it was rebuilt and modified

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The airship of Pierre and Paul Lebaudy, France, 1903

The airship of Pierre and Paul Lebaudy, France, 1903. The Lebaudy Brothers airship was an attempt by French designers to counter the achievements of Germany, where Count Zeppelin had made tentative flights with his first dirigible in 1900. It was 183 feet long, held 80, 000 cubic feet of gas, and was powered by a 40hp Daimler engine. On 12 November 1904 it succeeded in covering 38 miles from Moisson to the Champ de Mars in Paris in one hour and 41 minutes. Front cover from the magazine La Vie au Grand Air, 19 November 1903

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