page_title: François Bourdon
section_title: Le Creusot
hierarchical_section_title: François Bourdon / Le Creusot
context_page_description: François Prudent Bourdon was a French engineer and inventor, mainly interested in development of steam-powered boats for inland navigation. He is known for designing one of the first steam hammers.
context_section_description: In 1826 the English partners Manby and Wilson acquired the iron forging mills at Le Creusot in 1826.
  They employed Bourdon from 1827 to 1833 to run the workshop for maintaining the forges and tools.
  Bourdon's first job was to modernize the works by installing the high-powered rolling mills needed to manufacture long lengths of rail for the railway lines in France.
  In 1833 Bourdon traveled to the United States for three years to study the high-pressure steam engines used on the river boats there, including the engines built by the American engineer Oliver Evans. He learned many techniques during this trip.
  In 1836 the brothers Adolphe and Eugène Schneider acquired the works at Le Creusot with investments by François Alexandre Seillière and Louis Boigues.
  They hired Bourdon in March 1837 to modernize the plant, which had been idle for three years, and to run the mechanical engineering workshops.
  He was able to devote his time to his passion for mechanical invention and steam navigation.
  Bourdon built many boats for use on the Rhone and built the first French transatlantic iron boats. 
  He was responsible for building le Crocodile, le Marsouin (1839), le Mistral (1840), le Siroco (1840), la Foudre and l'Ouragan (1841–42).
  The Citis was built at Pont sur l'Ognon on the Saône and completed at the Schneider factory at Chalon-sur-Saône. 
  During its trials on 17 January 1841 the boiler exploded in the presence of Eugène Schneider, François Bourdon and his father-in-law Antoine Henri Pognon, mayor of Creusot and chief accountant of the works. Nine people died including Pognon, and many were injured.
  The accident was used in a campaign against the Creusot works by rivals who were interested in importing machinery from England.
  In 1843-44 Bourdon made five large river cargo boats, Creusot, Mississippi, Missouri, Althen and Talabot. Each of these modern-looking steam-powered boats was 75 metres (246 ft) or more in length, but no more than 6.3 metres (21 ft) in width. In 1848 he conceived the giants Océan and Méditerranée.
  Bourdon developed designs for hauling boats up an inclined plane. 
  He designed a complete set of tools for construction of locomotives, and developed techniques for shaping iron components using a hydraulic press.
caption: Works at Le Creusot in 2005
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