Unexcused Absences France 2017 - Paris, part 2 (he said)

France 2017 – Paris, part 2 (he said)

by Kent 5 Oct 2017

September 13 – 22, 2017. This post is going to overlap with my “Paris, part 3” post chronologically, but so much happened our final 10 days in Paris that I need to break it into two entries. Even though Paris is famous for its art museums, it also has several opportunities for techno-geeks like me – hence the main theme of this post.

The Musée des Arts et Metiers (roughly, “Arts and Trades”), is a world-class industrial design museum. It covers building materials (wood, stone, concrete, iron), technology (printing, cameras, film and video, computers), and the history of scientific instruments. I loved it so much I went twice, and could have gone a third day if we’d had more time. A few of its many claims to fame are that it contains an original Foucault’s Pendulum, the original model of the Statue of Liberty, and Pascal’s first mechanical calculator, among its 2500 objects on display.

Original model for the Statue of Liberty

A very old biplane

One of the first televisions

Vintage magnetic storage media at the Arts and Trades Museum

France is pretty serious about its heritage, and in mid September the entire country participates in Les Journées du Patrimoine (heritage days). Museums offer free admission, private chateaux open their doors, and special events are scheduled. We stumbled upon a museum open to the public only one weekend a year, the Memoire de l’Électricité, du Gaz, et de l’Éclairage Publique (a museum of electricity, gas, and public lighting, acronym “MEGE”), which is run by volunteers who are mostly retired public utilities employees. We called to reserve two places, and when we were arrived the folks were somewhat surprised to have a couple of tourists in their midst. They claimed that we were the very first Americans to visit their museum.

An enormous insulator at MEGE

Electric meters

Electric grid gauges and switches

The building is an old electric sub-station that’s been re-purposed into a three-story display case of historical electrical/gas/lighting artifacts. The lighting section has streetlights, traffic signals (including the network of relays and timers that make everything work), and spotlights for public buildings and monuments (including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower).

An early natural gas pipe

The oldest gas meter, 1856

Power grid connectors at MEGE

The electrical section has transformers, switches, volt- and ampere- meters, and an example of every single household electric meter ever used in France.

Street and traffic lights

A coin-op gas meter

The gas pipe display

Industrial light bulbs at MEGE

The gas section has original gas streetlights, burners, and its own complete collection of gas meters, including several from the 19th century that were coin-operated. An interesting display shows the four types of gas pipes used to move natural gas around the city; hollow logs (believe it or not), terra-cotta, cast iron, and modern polyethylene (plastic).

Our final tech-related visit during heritage days was to the Paris sewer system. This is not to be confused with the Paris Catacombs, where the bones of millions of former Parisians are stacked in vast underground chambers on the south side of the Seine River. This was a tour of the actual sewer system, and yes, it was as pungent as one would expect. It was fascinating in its own way, with ancient and modern infrastructure all connected together.

A sewer tunnel under Paris

Sewer remnants from the Napoleon III era

Modern Paris sewer infrastructure

The most interesting thing, to me, was the giant metal ball they use to clear the pipes of blockages. When it’s time to clean out the system, especially the lines that run under the Seine River (which first dip down under the river, then up to the other side, thus trapping sand and heavy debris at the lowest point of the line), workers drop a ~5 foot diameter ball into the line. It just about fills the pipe, with only a few inches or to spare. The water pushes the ball along; when it comes to an obstruction, the force of the water creates a jet that shoots forward between the ball and the pipe wall. This jet blasts away any debris, which then allows the ball to move forward until it comes up against the next blockage. A magnificent achievement in engineering simplicity.

The giant cleaning ball

Next post I’ll cover the same time period, and will talk about normal Paris tourist things. But if you get the chance, you should indeed visit the lesser-known “tech” museums of Paris.