Witness to an industrial adventure of more than 160 years, the Cuivrerie de Cerdon is reborn in 2022 to offer you an incredible immersion in the secrets of the workshops and make you discover demonstrations of unique know-how.
THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION EXPERIENCE !
Nestled in a village bathed in rivers suitable for industry, the copper factory of Cerdon was born in the era of machinery. Testifying to a rare know-how throughout the world, La Cuivrerie de Cerdon has transformed multiple metals for more than 150 years. Everyday utensils or prestigious objects, the latter has supplied both large French kitchens and luxury hotels such as the Negresco , or the famous liner Le Normandie.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
The history of the Cuivrerie de Cerdon is first of all that of the Main family, who decided in 1836 to found a first metalworking workshop, before settling in 1867 in the heart of the village of Cerdon. First a specialist in scale trays, its know-how rapidly developed to meet the needs of other industries of excellence at the time, and this is how the Cuivrerie de Cerdon will equip, for example, silk mills, and in particular those of the emblematic factory of Claude-Joseph Bonnet, a few kilometers further on, in Jujurieux.
A FACTORY THAT SHINES AROUND THE WORLD
Over the years, the reputation and talent of the Cuivrerie de Cerdon is such that it becomes the official supplier of the French Art de Vivre, and shines throughout the world. From Tomioka, where it supplies 300 basins for the first state silk mill in Japan (now listed as a World Heritage Site), it also supplies the entire oriental world and the Maghreb market with trays, burns. perfumes, teapots, lamps, Arab stirrups for equestrian parades ...
Over nearly a hundred years, the copper industry will not cease to mechanize the work of the copper workers. On the other hand, the beautiful epic suffered from the loss of the men of the family during the First World War.
REHABILITATION OF COPPERWARE
At the initiative of two passionate Cerdonnais, it rose from its ashes in the 1970s and will be open to the public, while continuing production until 2011.
In 2018, the Department of Ain decided to save the witness of a unique industrial adventure and to rehabilitate the entire building, now protected as Historical Monuments. The objective: to make it an immersive cultural site, in which visitors will be immersed in the secrets of the workshops, revealed by incredible digital technologies, but also demonstrations of know-how and spectacular or fun devices.
A VAST SET TO EXPLORE
A part of French heritage at the crossroads between industrial, ethnological and intangible heritage, the site of La Cuivrerie promotes techniques and know-how. Discover the old factory and the secrets of its workshops: a lively route takes you in the footsteps of the family of the founders, those of the workers, the first factories in Cerdon and their machines.
REHABILITATION OF THE COPPER WORKS
The workshops form a composite built whole, of variable constructive quality, the result of the evolution of an agglomerated work tool and gradually developed around an old paper mill.
They have been restored, made safe and adapted to welcome the public.
Some buildings, such as the mill, have been restored to their original appearance:
roof, volume and facade have been restored.
This project, led by "Croisée D'archi", mobilized 26 companies and craftsmen for almost 2 years. A unique project, it combines the restoration of an industrial heritage listed as a historic monument, scenic and tourist facilities, and the construction of a new reception building.
The bias was to reconcile the needs related to the reception of the public with the preservation of the historical interest of the place and the maintenance of the traces of its exploitation. A minimal intervention allows to propose a vision of the factory faithful to its aspect known between 1925 and 1965.
THE CERDON VALLEY
Cerdon is at the heart of a remote valley dug into a limestone plateau by the erosion of waterways, multiple fractures and collapses of the ground.
In this valley with three branches, flow streams joining
to form just one: the Veyron.
One of them, named Switzerland, turns the wheels of the Copperworks.
It takes its source in the Cugnat valley. Several rivers join Switzerland at Cerdon: the reach of Gorgeai, at the top of the hamlet under the Grange de Cepriat and the reach of Certines, near the Bolliet mill.
Switzerland itself joins the Veyron, a tributary of the Ain, into which also flows the reach of the Culaz (Balme stream) and the Morena river after Pont-de-Préau.
TOWARDS INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Halfway between Lyon and Geneva, the village of Cerdon was a pleasant stopover for 19th century travellers.
At the exit of the village, the “Tire de Cerdon”, a very steep road, requires stagecoaches to hire reinforcement horses. This generates an intense local economy. However, the industrial revolution, with the modernization of the axes of communication and the means of transport, causes great changes.
The arrival of the tramway in Cerdon in 1858 marked the end of horse transport.
The village must reinvent itself.
Cerdon then took advantage of its rivers: they offered their hydraulic power to the new factories. Old mills are transformed into paper mills and copper factories, directed by true local dynasties. They mark the activity of the village for decades, even giving it an unexpected radiance.
A VAST SET TO EXPLORE
A part of French heritage at the crossroads between industrial, ethnological and intangible heritage, the site of La Cuivrerie promotes techniques and know-how. Discover the old factory and the secrets of its workshops: a lively route takes you in the footsteps of the family of the founders, those of the workers, the first factories in Cerdon and their machines.
REOPENING IN 2022
Nestled in a village bathed in rivers suitable for industry, the copper factory of Cerdon was born in the era of machinery. Testifying to a rare know-how throughout the world, La Cuivrerie de Cerdon has transformed multiple metals for more than 150 years. Everyday utensils or prestigious objects, the latter has supplied both large French kitchens and luxury hotels such as the Negresco , or the famous liner Le Normandie .
A FAMILY AFFAIR
The history of the Cuivrerie de Cerdon is first of all that of the Main family, who decided in 1836 to found a first metalworking workshop, before settling in 1867 in the heart of the village of Cerdon. First a specialist in scale trays, its know-how rapidly developed to meet the needs of other industries of excellence at the time, and this is how the Cuivrerie de Cerdon will equip, for example, silk mills, and in particular those of the emblematic factory of Claude-Joseph Bonnet, a few kilometers further on, in Jujurieux.
A WORLD FACTORY
Over the years, the reputation and talent of the Cuivrerie de Cerdon is such that it becomes the official supplier of the French Art de Vivre, and shines throughout the world. From Tomioka, where it supplies 300 basins for the first state silk mill in Japan (now listed as a World Heritage Site), it also supplies the entire oriental world and the Maghreb market with trays, burns. perfumes, teapots, lamps, Arab stirrups for equestrian parades ...
Over nearly a hundred years, the copper industry will not cease to mechanize the work of the copper workers. On the other hand, the beautiful epic suffered from the loss of the men of the family during the First World War.
THE TOMIOKA ADVENTURE
In 1870, Japan's new Meiji government launched a national plan to develop sericulture (silk industry).
This project aims to build a spinning mill for massive production of raw silk called raw silk. In 1871, the French engineerPaul Brunat is mandated by the Japanese government to supervise the construction of the first modern state spinning mill in Tomioka. The merits of “Main & Son” catch his attention.
300 basins for unwinding and spinning cocoons are ordered from “Main & Son ". The contract, negotiated and signed on December 6, 1870, included the supply of spinning tables, and the secondment of a technician to install and operate these machines.
Jules Chatron, Main's first worker, left for Japan in 1872 for two years. He shares the adventure with 8 other people selected by Paul Brunat: engineers, silk workers and spinners.
Mission accomplished!
The Tomioka spinning mill quickly begins production. The following year, she won second prize at the Vienna World's Fair for her raw silk. Wire feeders rotating at full speed became the symbol of Japan's industrial development.
The know-how of “Main & Fils” was awarded the bronze medal at the Lyon International Exhibition in 1872 in the “Silk Production” category.
THE REPLICA OF THE TOMIOKA SPINNING TABLE
This spinning table, invented and produced by Main & Fils, improves the technique of extracting yarn from silkworm cocoons.
The height of the one designed for Japan has been adapted to suit the sitting position of workers. Consisting of copper basins on a brass plating, it allows the wire to be "pulled" effortlessly and to optimize its quality.
The cocoons are placed in copper basins filled with boiling water to soften the sandstone which binds the thread. This thread is so fine that several cocoons have to be unwound together to form a thread suitable for weaving. The dexterity of the worker and the parts of this machine guide two layers of threads towards the reels on which they are rolled up in skeins.
The original model, kept at the Okaya Silk Museum (Japan), was used to design this reproduction suitable for demonstrations.
THE FIREPLACE
Leaning against the old mill, a high brick chimney has long marked the location of the factory in the Cerdonnais landscape.
This symbolic and striking construction of the architecture of the Copperworks no longer exists. But, in a nod to this element, a new fireplace has been installed on the reception platform.
LES MAIN, A FAMILY OF ENTREPRENEURS
FIVE GENERATIONS AT THE LEAD
After having founded with their father Charles-Eugène,
the company "Main & Fils" in 1852, the three brothers Joseph Fleury, Eugène "Jules" and Victor Main bought the Brunod mill in Cerdon in 1867.
This former wheat mill has been the company's headquarters for more than 130 years.
The members of the Main family create 5 copperworks in Cerdon by joining forces, and sometimes competing with each other. Their companies employ many Cerdonnais and several generations of workers contribute to the reputation of the productions of the Main copperworks.
Sales representatives send them orders from all over the world. Production is adapting to meet growing demand. Factories are modernizing but also going through crises. When the First World War caused the death of the two Main successors, only the “Main & Fils” house survived, thanks to its takeover by the women of the family. The activity flourished again during the following decades, before, put in difficulty by the competition, the factory was sold in 1973.
SOME ESSENTIAL OBJECTS
The electric motor
Installed in 1910, this first electric motor took over from the wheel to move the mill pulleys in the event of a lack of water.
The shipping scale
This automatic scale, manufactured in Lyon by the Trayvou company, is the “101 N” model. The parts to be weighed are placed on the platform.
The grease trap
This valve gives access to the greasing system of the shaft of the bucket wheel located behind the wall. Oil is poured into it using a cruet or container to maintain the mechanism of the wheel.
THE MILL
1ST COPPER WORKSHOP
In the early days of La Cuivrerie, all of the machines needed for production - drilling machine, polishing bench grinders, welding machine with compressor and spinning lathe - were concentrated in this room.
These polishing machines, which have remained in their original location, date from this period.
When the pieces are finished, they are polished to reveal the beautiful color and shine of the copper.
The original model, kept at the Okaya Silk Museum (Japan), was used to design this reproduction suitable for demonstrations.
TRANSFORMING HYDRAULIC ENERGY
TO OPERATE MACHINES S
The transmission axle transmits the movement of the wheel to the pulleys.
When two pulleys are connected by a direct belt, their directions of rotation are the same. On the other hand, if they are connected by a crossed belt, the pulleys have inverted directions of rotation.
Goldsmith's productions
Main & fils offers silverware items for sale in the catalog or responds to specific orders. The company is regularly called upon by goldsmiths for serving pieces such as platters, lemonade trays, soup bowls, vegetable casseroles.
Among the many teapots and coffee makers, there are special products such as the lemonade coffee maker, which is larger.
The set presented here, mostly in brass, is in workshop condition, that is to say not yet reworked by the goldsmith.
The silver coins
Each object is passed through the hands of the goldsmith who ensures the finishes such as the silver aspect or the addition of chiselled patterns.
The diversity of details is readable on the handles, spouts, buttons of teapots, coffee pots, milk jugs, sugar bowls. Brown ebony, a precious wood, is used to shape certain handles. All these pieces date from the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th century.
The ewer
The productions for the Orient are numerous: lamps, trays, tea service. This ewer is a fairly emblematic example. She is presented here with her bowl, suggesting a ritual use of hand washing. The Main & Fils catalog for the Orient offers the Arabic ewer and the Turkish ewer.
The weighing pans
Mass production emblematic of the Copperworks, they come in a wide variety of sizes, in copper, nickel silver, nickel or aluminium. Most of the trays, made using the spinning technique, have a classic, round shape. But some can be square, pan-shaped or even hollow with a beak. The depths are also diverse and offered in the catalog: half-deep, deep, extra-deep.
Some special pieces
Before being put into production, the parts are designed. The many sketches carry all the necessary information for the worker. The objects presented correspond to the drawings below. The teapot and the coffeepot are a classic production of the Copperworks. The Arab stirrup is a piece that may surprise, but it is present in the catalog for the Orient and sold regularly.
The French Society of Scales Trays
In 1905, “Main & Fils” and “Francisque Main & Cie” joined forces under the name of “Société Française des Plateaux de Balances” (SFPB). They streamline production and respond to bulk orders. Metals purchased directly by customers are delivered to Cerdon. Factories “A” (Francisque Main & Cie) and “B” (Main & Fils) share the work. Production was massive: in 1913, the SFPB had 27 customers but shipped more than 21 tons of weighing pans! In 1918, the death of Pierre Main, then boss of “Francisque Main & Cie”, put an end to this collaboration.
THE ERA OF MECHANIZATION
PRODUCE MORE AND FASTER
The “Main & Fils” company, in constant production expansion, makes strategic choices and bets on technical innovation.
Mechanization began with the acquisition of this mechanical press around 1875. It produced large quantities of objects in a short time. The new equipment requires more energy: the hydraulic system is improved with the installation of a second bucket wheel. A steam engine, installed in 1880, completes the energy drawn from the river.
Finally, in 1910, a first electric motor operated the pulleys of the mill.
New alloys allow the manufacture of quality items at lower cost. With these processes of mechanization and innovation, the Cuivrerie became a pioneer in industrial goldsmithing.
This is the beginning of mass production and catalog sales.
The prosperity of the company also favors the extension of the premises.
In 1887, the Main bought the Loisel paper mill and the Carrier copperworks, located nearby on the Swiss River.
DRAWING
Forming process by impact or pressure, it can be carried out with a hammer or a press. Made in the press, the stamping is done cold and allows a very economical mass production.
The copper sheet, called a blank, is placed between a punch and a die that fit together. The weight exerted by the press on the sheet forms the part to be obtained.
Other operations are then necessary to finish the desired object.
Stamping is particularly suitable for mass production of objects. But it requires investing in the manufacture of molds, which are often expensive.
A mold consists of two parts: the punch and the die.
Depending on the shapes of the articles to be produced, different types of molds are used (cylindrical, tapered, rectangular, spherical, etc.).
HYDRAULIC ENERGY
Supplying its energy to the Copperworks, the hydraulic network is the subject of all attention. In 1891, the company established a diversion dam on the river.
This makes it possible to regulate the water level in anticipation of periods of lower flow and to maintain a constant pressure in the canals.
The waters are diverted by a network of canals (or reaches) and metallic aqueducts (or bachasses). Knife gate valves direct the flow of water to the wheels to be operated.
THE DAILY WHEELS
Often installed on a reach with a high flow rate, the paddle wheel
is supplied with water from below. Equipped with blades, it is partially submerged, and the force of the current makes it turn.
Easy to use, this type of wheel was widely used in the 19th century. But it offers a fairly low efficiency: a large part of the water splashes outside the wheel on impact, thus reducing the amount of energy produced. This system inspired the current turbine principle.
BUCKET WHEELS
Evolution of the paddle wheel, it is fitted below a reach in order to fill from above. It is equipped with a succession of compartments - the troughs - which, once full, turn the wheel.
The bucket wheel was quickly favored for its superior performance: keeping the water inside the buckets gives it all its power.
THE FRICTION BALANCE
The presses are machines capable of generating a continuous and progressive pressure, in order to cut or deform the material placed in the mould, generally a sheet of metal called a blank.
This mechanical press makes it possible to carry out one of the most widespread techniques for the manufacture of copper objects: stamping.
The friction technique activates a horizontal flywheel, set in motion by an axle fitted with two vertical discs. The worker is installed in a hatch on the ground, in order to be at the right height to regularly place a new copper blank to be shaped. By actuating the lever, it controls the axis and the direction of rotation of the auger up or down.
.jpg)
FORGE
FROM APPRENTICE TO SKILLED WORKER
Coppersmith workers are called magnins, "traveling boilermakers" in patois. The company mainly recruits from the local population. Workers begin as apprentices or laborers and learn “on the job”.
Hired around the age of 14, for a minimum period of 3 years, they can perform up to 11 hours of daily work depending on the period, 6 days a week.
With mechanization, new professions arrive:
mechanic, fitter, tinsmith (who manufactures steel tools).
Custom production is reserved for more qualified personnel, with specialized tasks such as brassware or spinning.
In 1900, at the peak of activity, the Copperworks had 61 workers.
In the statutes of "Main & Fils" in 1896, an article registered the company in one of the paternalistic movements of the time:
"Conforming in this to the wishes of their predecessors and with a view to perpetuating the memory of the founders of the house [...], the partners undertake to bring the greatest moderation in their relations with the personnel of the factory who must always be treated more familiarly than rigorously.”
THE FORGE WITH 6 HEARTHS
The building of the forge, placed above the river, was created in 1885 then enlarged in 1926. The height of its metal frame allows smoke and hot air to be evacuated.
This 6 hearth forge is part of the essential equipment for production. It consists of a sheet metal formwork (the caisson), filled with refractory bricks which accumulate heat. The fire is activated by an electric ventilation system - replacing the traditional bellows - and the air guided by the nozzle emerges in the center of the box. The worker modulates the force and the direction of the breath which escapes from this pipe, to obtain a broad or narrow fire.
The work on the forge is used for the manufacture or repair of iron tools, and to design small parts such as handles.
Softened by the fire, the iron is transformed hot on the anvil.
Hearths can also be used to heat copper during annealing or brazing operations. It cannot be forged, it is cold worked.
THE BELLOWS
This bellows was installed after the end of the Copperworks activity. It was not part of the equipment when the forge was operational.
THE ESSENTIAL CHARCOAL
La Cuivrerie is a major consumer of coal. Monthly orders of 10 to 20 tonnes enable stocks to be built up. This coal is used to supply the steam engine, the heating of the factory and the forge.
SHAPING COPPER: ANNEALING AND SOLDERING
Copper is a relatively soft and malleable metal.
When cold, it works very easily. But all the hammering, bending, twisting actions that serve to form a piece, make it hard and brittle. We then say that the metal is hardened. The only solution to be able to continue to work it is to anneal it to restore its malleability. The workers regularly come to the forge to heat their pieces up to 600 degrees, before plunging them into a bath of cold water. The copper can be modeled again without risk of breaking. It only regains its hardness when hammered.
The forge is also used to braze (weld).
A metal of a different nature, such as silver or tin, once melted, makes it possible to assemble the copper pieces together.
TINNING
Copper cookware is highly valued for its ability to distribute heat. But they oxidize during their use and tarnish, until they reach a characteristic verdigris color.
This oxidation protects the copper from corrosion, but is toxic if ingested. It is therefore essential to tin food containers. The only exception is jam pans because the sugar blocks oxidation. To tin, the inside of the object is covered with a layer of tin, heated and spread with a cotton pad. This operation must be repeated regularly, depending on the degree of wear of the utensils.
THE CARPENTRY WORKSHOP
La Cuivrerie has a wood workshop to manufacture its own tools, but above all to create all models of mandrels.
Specially designed for embossing, the pieces have long been manufactured by the coppersmith's carpenters.
A mandrel must be made of a compact wood such as boxwood or oak, to withstand the pressure during spinning. Sometimes the chuck is locked inside the part when it is finished. To extract it, it must therefore be designed in separate parts, which are removed one by one.
Called "broken chuck", it can be dismantled using one of its parts:
the key ". A complex object to make, and therefore expensive, it is mainly used for more profitable mass production.
THE FAVOURITE
On March 5, 1900, the Mains obtained a 15-year patent for a heavy oil burner "used as a torch or for heating stoves and steam generators and more generally for all heating and lighting appliances by petroleum.
This burner is called “The Favourite”.
Léon Guilbert, a merchant in Paris specializing in the sale of welding equipment and heating tools, again presented the Favori model in 1921 at the Lyon fair. His clients include Vermorel, Peugeot, Michelin
STILLS AND SULFATE MACHINES
La Cuivrerie has produced many objects intended for viticulture, including manual sulfate machines carried on a man's back.
The stills are also one of the specialties, especially certain pieces such as the cucurbits, vats containing the substances intended to be distilled. The models presented here are not finished.
THE BATHS
SURFACE TREATMENT
The finished copper object must be pickled to remove dirt such as surface oxides due to heating during work. It must be soaked in a solution based on sulfuric acid, then thoroughly rinsed under running water. Baths (based on nitric acid) can also be used to give the part a pleasant, shiny or colored appearance.
Finally, to be protected against possible subsequent oxidation, the object can be dipped in a transparent varnish.
BETWEEN WAR AND PROGRESS
THE COMPANY DAMAGED BY THE FIRST WORLD WAR
At the beginning of the 20th century, copperware fully entered into industrialization. Electric motors now complement the steam engine and hydraulic power.
The company recruits massively and builds new buildings.
In 1920, the number of lathes to be spun increased: they were installed in the workshop and operated by a third bucket wheel.
On the eve of the Great War, the company employed about thirty workers, but 80% of them were called up from 1914. Business slowed down and suffered from the sharp rise in the price of raw materials. Family dramas added to economic difficulties: Eugène Main, who had taken over "Main & Fils" alone since 1913, lost his son Joseph in a plane crash in 1917.
Pierre, who ran "Francisque Main & Cie", was also killed in action in 1918. When Eugène also died a year later, his daughters Amélie and Louise inherited the company. In a few years, La Cuivrerie has been hard hit, but it will be able to recover.
THE SPINNING TECHNIQUE
This is a method of shaping by deformation of a circular sheet of metal (blank). It is clamped between a mandrel (corresponding to the shape of the part to be produced) and a buffer. The worker operates the spinning lathe and presses the metal sheet with a tool called a spoon, to make it conform to the shape of the chuck. The worker is connected to the machine by a strap which gives him more strength. Once the shape has been obtained, the repeller smooths the surface, then with a cutting tool, it shapes the edge of the part.
This method can only be used for the production of circular or oval parts. Spinning requires large amounts of grease to prevent the tool from seizing up, and chucks must be changed frequently because the pressure of the metal quickly renders them unusable. This efficient technique for mass production was used for a long time in the manufacture of the weighing pans that the Copperworks produced in large numbers.
CHUCKS
These pieces of wood or metal give their shape
to copper sheets during spinning.
Several mandrels can be used to manufacture a single object.
To make large deep parts, successive spinning operations are carried out with increasingly wide mandrels.
To produce complex objects, parts made with different mandrels are assembled. The chucks vary to infinity, the company must have a very large number of them to be able to respond to all the types of order that may arise. In very special cases, it happens that the customer provides them himself.
"BROKEN" CHUCKS
The perfection of the chuck often depends on that of the works shaped on the spinning lathe. The copper is indeed pushed back until it matches the shape of the chuck screwed onto the lathe. For parts such as coffee makers where the neck is narrower than the body, the operator uses “broken mandrels”, made up of several parts, whose central key allows them to be removed without deforming the finished object.
BREAKAGES AND REBOUNDS IN THE XX CENTURY
FROM BETWEEN-WAR PROSPERITY TO THE DECLINE OF THE 1960s
Directed by the Main heiresses and by Paul Bertrand - Louise's husband -, the Copperworks was at the height of its activity in the 1920s.
This was the era of massive exports of goldsmithery to the colonial empires, favored by a booming maritime trade. But this flourishing period was interrupted by the Second World War and the dark years of the German Occupation. Production is slowing down due to the shortage of raw materials and the lack of personnel.
The post-war period brought a second wind: turnover multiplied by 100 between 1934 and 1959. However, from 1960, the company only employed 9 employees. Louis, son of Paul Bertrand and Louise Main, takes over the factory. “Main & Fils” changes its name to become “Cuivrerie, orfèvrerie du Bugey”.
Competing with plastic, deprived of the French clientele of the colonies that had become independent, production turned to souvenir items and gifts. But failing to renew its outlets, the company was sold in 1973 and its liquidation pronounced in 1979.
THE COPPER WORKS OF THE 1920S
In 1919, Eugène Main died, leaving his daughters Amélie and Louise at the head of the factory. Louise marries Paul Bertrand. He provided financial support to sustain the business and became the manager in 1929.
The two sisters remained shareholders and, following in their father's footsteps, continued to modernize the factory. The forge is extended to 6 hearths.
In 1924, the acquisition of a stamping press from the American company Bliss enabled them to increase production and recruit 70 workers over the decade.
The French economy is then in full growth. Consumption of manufactured goods increases in the colonies, boosting exports.
But the crisis of 1929 and the terrible economic recession that followed impacted the industry. Production declines.
A FAVORABLE DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT
The deployment of transport by rail was facilitated by the grouping of railway companies into a departmental management and by integration into the Compagnie des Tramways de l'Ain in 1919.
With 485 km of lines, Ain is one of the departments with the most developed railway network. This progress is a growth lever for the Copperworks.
Maritime expeditions are also widely used. In 1926, 4 to 9 times a month, “Main & Fils” products traveled from Marseille, Sète or Port-Vendres to reach Algiers, Oran, Tunis, Bône or Philippeville. The services of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT) are mostly used. Generally, deliveries reach the shores of the Maghreb within a week.
CERDON AND THE COPPER WORKS DURING WORLD WAR II
From 1939, with the mobilization of men, requisitions and shortages of raw materials, production fell, shipments were rare. Unable to source metals without a military production objective, the company is trying to obtain orders from the Army. In vain...
Located near the maquis where the Resistance was active, Cerdon was marked by the abuses committed by German troops in 1944. In July, 52 houses were burned down and 3 men shot. The Brasserie was searched, the garage door broken, the company car damaged.
The memory of the events of this period is symbolized by the monument of the Maquis de l'Ain inaugurated in 1951 by General De Gaulle.
FROM THE POST-WAR RISE TO THE END OF ACTIVITY
After the Second World War, “Main & Fils” experienced remarkable growth. In 1946, the factory accumulates the equivalent of 6 years of turnover. Economic growth is sustained, production intensifies and the company proceeds to numerous recruitments.
The rise of mass tourism triggers the development of a catalog of souvenir items, gifts, lamps, jam bowls and sports trophies.
The Bertrand-Main spouses employed their son Louis from 1955, he became manager in 1963. But from 1960, economic difficulties piled up. The progressive decolonization of the Maghreb countries put an end to the production of oriental articles. The massive arrival of plastic and stainless steel competes irremediably with metalworking.
In commercial deficit, the company was sold to Mohamed Sebai in 1973, but production did not resume. In 1979, the liquidation of the Copperworks was announced.
THE TIME OF SOUVENIR SHOPS
Louis Bertrand, the last owner linked to the Main line, has a solid background as a mechanical fitter. In his time, production was undermined by competition from plastic. In 1967, Louis still filed several model patents for tea or coffee service pieces.
He also took advantage of a new outlet: the production of souvenir items. It even becomes the majority in the company. The law on the 4th week of paid holidays, voted in 1969, launches the French on the road of the holidays: they like to bring back from their escapades a souvenir gift.
From Chamonix to Reims, La Cuivrerie ships fondue boilers, decorative barometers, personalized ashtrays, lamps... in pendulums.
The objects presented illustrate the trade to the East. The ashtrays or pots are finely chiseled, the decoration being implemented at the point of sale. Others, more practical, are used in daily life such as kettles or canteens with one or more compartments, allowing meals to be transported.
Louis Bertrand orients the productions of the copperware mainly towards souvenir items and a few pieces of table goldsmithery. The saucepan turned into a pendulum and the basin turned into a thermometer are two examples. However, creativity is still present with the filing of manufacturing patents at the INPI for table service pieces, but also with the production of the Christiana ewer, imagined and designed by Louis Bertrand.
WORKING ON THE HEAP
In the copperware workshops, different processes can be used and combined to produce objects:
stamping (with a hammer or a press), spinning, turning, or even hammering and shrinking performed on the piles.
The heap is a support on which the metal is struck using a hammer. Of various shapes, the worker chooses it according to the radius and curvature of the part to be made.
The use of the heap is multiple:
- finalize a part by reducing the marks and irregularities left by the hammer or the hammer
- flatten and equalize the thickness of the metal (planing)
- form parts in volume (for example by practicing shrinking)
Shrinking is the privileged process of the dinandier, the goldsmith or the boilermaker on copper. It offers great freedom of form. A flat metal blank is hammered on the pile to create volume. The copper must be softened throughout the operation, by heating it then soaking it in water: this is annealing. It is also necessary to practice under-leveling phases that smooth out the irregularities produced by the blows of the hammer.
It often takes several annealings and several under-levellings to manufacture an object, before finalizing the part with a final leveling.
MAKE A SUGAR BOWL USING HEAPS
The transformation of a sheet of copper (called flan) into a spherical sugar bowl requires several stages of work on the heap.
The hollow shaping is first carried out in a salt shaker in which the flan is hammered with a wooden stamping mallet.
The copper sheet begins to bend as it hugs the hollow of the salt shaker.
To accentuate the volume and obtain a spherical object, a second shaping step is launched on the pile.
Using a shrinking hammer, the blank is gradually rounded more and more frankly, always by hammering.
The volume is now much more pronounced.
Once the desired shape has been obtained, the finishing of the sugar bowl is also carried out on a heap, using a postilion hammer which has a flat head. Leveling allows, by applying light hammer blows over the entire surface, to make it more regular and to erase the traces of the previous steps.
RECLINING
The recingle is a flexible S-shaped rod, which can be of different lengths. It allows the goldsmith to work inside objects too narrow to use a hammer: he can dent or bring out reliefs on the outer surface of a piece.
The forged steel rod is inserted into the workpiece and struck at the other end. It vibrates and hits the metal from the bottom up, acting like a hammer from the inside out, to push the metal back.
MAKE A WATERING CAN BY STAMPING
Transforming a sheet of copper (called a blank) into a watering can requires several work steps. A disc is first traced with a compass on the copper sheet and then cut with shears.
The disc is annealed at the forge. Then it is greased before being placed on the press die. The punch stamps it to a depth of about 10 cm.
The shape obtained is that of a cylindrical pot with straight edges.
The pot is annealed at the forge. It is installed on a spinning lathe in order to refine its shape in its upper part and create a rim.
The pot is annealed before being hammered and polished. Finally, lid, spout and handle are added to complete the watering can.
STAMPING PRESS N°1.006-C
CALLED "THE AMERICAN PRESS"
It was ordered in 1924 from the Bliss company in New York, for an amount of 75,710 francs. The Bliss Company is a machine tool manufacturer, leader in metal forming and mass production.
This press arrived in spare parts not exceeding 2500 kilos each to be able to pass through the station of Pont d'Ain.
THE DECOLLETE MACHINE
Also called turning lathe, it makes it possible to manufacture small parts from a metal bar. It is installed as soon as the Bliss press arrives.
THE LATHE TO BE MACHINED
It allows the manufacture of metal parts by removing material and shavings. This lathe is used for the design of chucks.
Initially installed at the Loisel paper mill, it was moved here at the time of the second expansion of the building, around 1968 or 1969.
THE BENDER
It makes it possible to bend a piece of metal, by successive passages between rollers activated by a crank. The more the rollers are tightened, the more the metal is stressed and bends.
THE SWINGERS
Swifts offer a mechanical alternative to manual hammering. These huge mallets are driven by a camshaft connected to the waterwheel.
The cams strike the handle of the mallet which crushes the copper on the piles. The regular cadence of these machines, simple but effective, greatly facilitates the work of the hammering coppersmith.
THE POLISHING TURN
Finished objects are generally polished, to make them shiny and to allow easy maintenance. A polishing brush is made up of cotton discs, assembled on the axis of a rotating motor (at around 1500 revolutions per minute, or sometimes more depending on the model).
The polishing worker puts abrasive paste on the cotton brush and rubs the part on it. This very delicate operation requires great experience: at the slightest error, the brush, by its speed, tears the piece from the hands of the polisher. The operation also releases an unpleasant dust.
THE BELT SANDER
It is used for finishing. It smoothes surfaces.
THE STAPLER
It is used for assembly and allows parts to be assembled: it crimps the metal edges by folding them back on themselves.
THE HYDRAULIC PRESS
It is used to stamp and punch parts by exerting pressure on a sheet of metal, placed between a punch and a die. Its strength is produced by an integrated water circuit.
BALANCING PRESSES
These presses are activated using pendulums (the horizontal axes visible in the upper part): the rotation of the axis is initiated by the operator then the movement of the pendulum continues to activate the descent of the endless screw.
The balance system amplifies the initial effort produced to start the rotation. The 3 presses have different functions: cutting, pre-stamping and perforation.
INDUSTRIAL TOURISM
THE REBIRTH OF COPPER WORKS
Placed in liquidation in 1979, the factory was bought by Maurice Goy, from Cerdon, whose father and grandfather worked at the Copperworks and André Lathilière, to give it a new lease of life.
The machines are repaired, young people are hired and trained, the factory is open to visitors. Many visitors flocked there between 1982 and 2010.
Industrial tourism is developing with circuits integrating local sites (including the emblematic Soieries Bonnet in Jujurieux), with the opening of a shop and even a “Musexpo”. The EDF Rhône-Alpes technical tourism trophy crowned this success in 1999.
Its fame was then significant: the filmmaker Jean Becker shot a sequence of the film "Les enfants du Marais" with Michel Serrault in the spinning workshop. In 2007, it obtained the national label of living heritage" and in 2013, three years after its closure, the Copperworks and its machines are protected as historical monuments.
In 2018, the site was purchased by the Department of Ain to create an interpretation center highlighting its exceptional history.
DONATE !
This ambitious project caught the attention of the Bern mission .
La Cuivrerie is one of the 121 monuments selected for the heritage lottery.
Rue de la Cuivrerie 01450 Cerdon
PARKING INFO
The Copperworks site is accessible on foot or by bike (except PMR on presentation of proof).
Saint-Vincent car park: around 10 minutes on foot
Open from August 2 to November 13, Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Prices: Adult €8, Child (7-12 years old) €6.
Guided tour by reservation: Adult €10, Child (7-12 years old) €7.
Family pack: €25 (2 adults and 2 children)
+ 5€ per additional child
Coupled ticket Silk + Copper Adult: €12/pers (1 entry + the second at -50%)
Combined ticket Silk + Copper Child: €6/pers (1 entry + the second at -50%)
CONTACT
Property of the Department of Ain since March 2018, an architectural and scenographic project is underway to transmit this emblematic heritage to the public.
