POWER

As early as 1980, a project to install the steam engine donated by the Deshoulières family to the Archaeological Research Society of the Chauvinois Country (SRAC) in the dungeon of Gouzon was born. Raymond Lachat, then Regional Director of Cultural Affairs, asked us to expand our project; the idea of rehabilitating the monument became the focus of its restoration. The SRAC then initiated four years of excavation campaigns.

Built in 1907, this steam engine manufactured by the Dujardin company was used to power an alternator to produce electricity at the Deshoulières porcelain factory. To ensure its operation, the engine had to be connected to the power generator by a belt. The belt consists of multiple interlocking leather panels up to a length of 36m. The engine was in operation until 1984, but the factory only used it as a backup power source.
In the steam engine ditch, there is a disposal site used from the first period of the construction of the dungeon (11^th century). A part of the foundations of that first dungeon still remain. In this disposal site, an oule (cooking pot without handle or spout) was found and restored. It is here displayed in its context. Another disposal pit, now filled in, contained Carolingian material.
The alternator converts kinetic energy into electrical energy. It consists of a moving part called the rotor, made up of windings in which a direct electric current flows, thus creating a magnetic field. Around the rotor is a fixed part called the stator, which also consists of windings. So when the rotor rotates inside the stator, the magnetic field shifts and induces an alternating electric current in the stator, creating electricity.