Sheet 1: first mechanical sketch dated 8 January 1933

In this document

The page bears the number "1" in the header, circled, and the handwritten date "8-1-33" p. 50, making it the inaugural sheet of a series of numbered sketches.

The main drawing shows a horizontal shaft passing through several stacked circular parts — washers, discs, springs or bearings — with, on the right, a fork-shaped or articulated arm piece p. 50. On the left, an axis carries discs and a visible coil spring. At the top centre is a mechanical block featuring what appears to be a spring represented in a zigzag, accompanied by rectangular cut-outs p. 50.

A second group of sketches occupies the lower right part of the page: vertical elements of cylindrical or column shape, connected by horizontal axis lines, with a solid circle that could represent a ball or a sphere p. 50.

A small letter or number located near one of the discs on the left axis remains illegible; no information can be drawn from it.

No legend, part dimension or explanatory note accompanying the sketches is present on this page.

Context

In 1933, Paul Magès worked at Citroën, a brand then in full technical ferment (the Quai de Javel factory had just launched the Traction Avant). His personal research into mechanical and hydraulic systems, which would later be evidenced by the invention of the hydropneumatic suspension (deployed on the DS in 1955), is part of this period of experimentation.

The connection with the handwritten folder "1933" listing studies (speeds, injection, carburettor, synchroniser) suggests, as context external to the document itself, a vast research project carried out at that time — without this specific sheet being explicitly attached to it.

Archivist's perspective

This sheet dated 8 January 1933 and numbered "1" constitutes, it seems, the starting point of a series of technical sketches kept in the same collection p. 50. The combination of discs, springs and a ball could evoke preliminary research into transmission or damping mechanisms, but the drawing remains, at this stage, too schematic to state this with certainty.

Its precise dating and numbering make it an important chronological reference point for situating the other sheets in the series. It can be put into perspective with the Handwritten folder "1933": list of studies, which could reference all the work of which this sketch would be the first material trace.