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Concept
Société de Construction des Batignolles
Summary
The Société de Construction des Batignolles was a civil engineering company of France created in 1871 as a public limited company from the 1846 limited partnership of Ernest Gouin et Cie.. Initially founded to construct locomotives, the company produced the first iron bridge in France, and moved away from mechanical to civil engineering projects in France, North Africa, Europe, and in East Asia and South America.
In 1968 the company merged with the electrical engineering company SPIE to form Spie Batignolles. After being briefly owned by the AMEC group (2003) the civil engineering construction activities were split and sold. As of 2011, Spie Batignolles SA is the effective successor of the company.
On 18 February 1847, Ernest Goüin, having gained experience in England on the manufacture of locomotives and machine tools whilst acting on behalf of the Chemin de fer de Paris à Orléans, founded the company Ernest Gouin et Cie. With the financial backing of several bankers, including James de Rothschild, the company was launched with total capital of 750,000 Francs. One of the primary reasons for the company's creation was to manufacturer locomotives for the newly formed Chemin de Fer du Nord (1845); initially the company focused on locomotive manufacture.
The company introduced the first Crampton locomotive into France, and gained orders from the not only the Chemin de Fer du Nord, but also the Paris Orléans and the Paris Lyon railways. A financial crisis (as well as the 1848 revolution) caused recession, and a drop in locomotive orders, spurring the company to diversify. One new product was production of spinning machines. Another was iron bridge manufacture, and in 1852 the company constructed France's first iron bridge. The structure, built of the Seine at Asnières had a total length of . Despite erratic orders the company expanded rapidly; by 1856 a second share issue doubled the capital of the company, the same year the company's revenue was 7 million francs. In 1855 the company's factory was enlarged to accommodate the construction of iron bridges.
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