Journées du patrimoine de pays et des moulins / Petit moulin d'Orbec

Guided tour of the site and presentation of the exhibition "The golden age of the Orbiquet mills": 14 panels that retrace the history of the Orbiquet and the determining role of the mills in the development of the economic and social life of the southern Pays d'Auge in the 19th century. Demonstration of the operation of the water raising machine which was installed in 1883 to supply 30 public fountains in the town of Orbec with spring water.

The Orbiquet river drives a Sagebien type paddle wheel with a power of 12 hp which allowed, with the help of two bodies of three pumps, to draw water from a reservoir fed by springs. 30 public fountains "incongelables" patented by Bollée allowed the inhabitants of Orbec to have at will a water of good quality for the time. The restoration of the wheel and the Bollée mechanism will allow to valorize this industrial heritage of the XIXth century.
The machine and the kilometers of cast iron pipes were delivered to the Orbec train station which was inaugurated a few years earlier. The Lisieux Orbec line allowed the local industry to maintain itself along the Orbiquet valley. Historical elements will allow the youngest to discover and the oldest to remember this picturesque line which was definitively closed in the sixties.

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