Winding machine
by JackDesBwa 2026-05-03 10:44
Thirty years ago, a group of passionate people began the ambitious project to transform this old rope factory near Rouen, France, into a museum. After years of efforts, it is now open to public (https://corderievallois.fr/en).
This winding machine is one of the many machines preserved in the factory. Its purpose was to fill small bobbins of the right size, which would later be installed on the braiding machines. The entire factory is powered by an hydraulic engine driven by the small river running near it. When all the braiding machines are operated at the same time, the noise is very intense.
This photo was taken in cha-cha with a smartphone, thus the moving parts are out of sync, but since they are small it is not that much visible. I used a wide angle lens with relatively large base, to show the long length of this machine, making it pop out of the frame by a large amount. A custom crop of the window allows to minimize window violations.
-- 2026-04-07, Pixel6 cha-cha