The Machines That Built the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889)
Construction Legends
117,411 views
To build the tallest structure on Earth, Gustave Eiffel needed machines that could climb the tower faster than it could rise. Four steam cranes rode up the inside of the iron legs, lifting 3 tonnes at a time and inching upward just 12 millimetres with every pull of a lever. This is the story of the forgotten machines that actually built the Eiffel Tower, from the compressed-air caissons sunk beneath the Seine to the 2.5 million rivets driven by hand.
Enjoyed this documentary? Subscribe for more deep dives into the world's most powerful machines:
👉 Construction Legends: @constructionlegends
☕ Support our work: https://buymeacoffee.com/Construction...
Most films about the Eiffel Tower focus on the artists who protested it or the bet Gustave Eiffel placed on its future. This documentary is about something else entirely: the iron, the machines, and the men who ran them. We follow the 18,038 pieces cut to a tenth of a millimetre in the Levallois-Perret workshop, the compressed-air caissons sunk beneath the river Seine, the four climbing steam cranes that walked up the legs on the elevator rails, the 800-tonne hydraulic presses and sand boxes that leveled the first platform to within a millimetre, and the 2.5 million rivets that hold it all together. And we answer the question almost every account gets wrong: in more than two years of building the most dangerous structure of its age, how many men actually died?
📌 CHAPTERS
00:00 The Tower Nobody Believed In
03:32 Built in a Workshop, Not in Paris
07:41 Beneath the Seine: The Compressed-Air Caissons
12:29 The Cranes That Climbed the Tower
21:54 Two Million Rivets and the One Death
SOURCES
The Eiffel Tower and its steam engines - Official Eiffel Tower: https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/...
The Rivets of the Eiffel Tower - Wonders of the World: https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/...
Eiffel Tower - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_...
#construction #heavymachinery #engineering #crane #excavator #megaproject #documentary #eiffeltower #gustaveeiffel #paris #ironwork #steamcrane #victorianengineering #1889
20 Comments
Thanks for your hard work making this story.
Iconic gift forever to Paris and for whole world.
Paul Hogan, comedian and actor, used to work as a painter on the bridge before he became famous.
The Machines That Built the Eiffel Tower (1887-1889)
Construction Legends
117,411 views
To build the tallest structure on Earth, Gustave Eiffel needed machines that could climb the tower faster than it could rise. Four steam cranes rode up the inside of the iron legs, lifting 3 tonnes at a time and inching upward just 12 millimetres with every pull of a lever. This is the story of the forgotten machines that actually built the Eiffel Tower, from the compressed-air caissons sunk beneath the Seine to the 2.5 million rivets driven by hand.
Enjoyed this documentary? Subscribe for more deep dives into the world's most powerful machines:
👉 Construction Legends: @constructionlegends
☕ Support our work: https://buymeacoffee.com/Construction...
Most films about the Eiffel Tower focus on the artists who protested it or the bet Gustave Eiffel placed on its future. This documentary is about something else entirely: the iron, the machines, and the men who ran them. We follow the 18,038 pieces cut to a tenth of a millimetre in the Levallois-Perret workshop, the compressed-air caissons sunk beneath the river Seine, the four climbing steam cranes that walked up the legs on the elevator rails, the 800-tonne hydraulic presses and sand boxes that leveled the first platform to within a millimetre, and the 2.5 million rivets that hold it all together. And we answer the question almost every account gets wrong: in more than two years of building the most dangerous structure of its age, how many men actually died?
📌 CHAPTERS
00:00 The Tower Nobody Believed In
03:32 Built in a Workshop, Not in Paris
07:41 Beneath the Seine: The Compressed-Air Caissons
12:29 The Cranes That Climbed the Tower
21:54 Two Million Rivets and the One Death
SOURCES
The Eiffel Tower and its steam engines - Official Eiffel Tower: https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/...
The Rivets of the Eiffel Tower - Wonders of the World: https://www.wonders-of-the-world.net/...
Eiffel Tower - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_...
#construction #heavymachinery #engineering #crane #excavator #megaproject #documentary #eiffeltower #gustaveeiffel #paris #ironwork #steamcrane #victorianengineering #1889
🌉 The Deadliest Machine on the Eads Bridge Was the Air Itself - 1874: https://youtu.be/45CBC9_psO0
⚙ The Deadliest Machine at Hoover Dam Was a Steel Cable - 1931: https://youtu.be/Qyjo9Qt68pA
🏙 The Machines That Built the Empire State Building in 410 Days: https://youtu.be/26_LnYuSJlQ
If you enjoy verified heavy-machinery history, consider supporting us: https://buymeacoffee.com/ConstructionLegends