Handwritten divider "54 to 57 — Piston, clutch release cylinder"

In this document

The sheet bears a pencil inscription at the top right indicating a range of years: "54 to 57" p. 7.

At the bottom of the page are two superimposed handwritten mentions: "Piston" then "Cyl. de Debrayage" [Clutch release cyl.], the latter word being underlined p. 7.

A metal paperclip, marked by a trace of oxidation, is attached to the right edge of the page p. 7. No other element — text, diagram or part reference — appears on this sheet.

Context

This type of handwritten sheet corresponds to a common filing practice in the collections of engineers and design offices: it serves as a divider to separate, within an archive box, bundles of technical plans grouped by subject and period.

The clutch release cylinder and its piston are components of the hydraulic clutch control, a technology associated in particular with Citroën vehicles of the period concerned (front-wheel drive, then DS). The range "54 to 57" mentioned on this sheet coincides, as a general context, with the years of development and launch of the DS 19, presented in 1955.

Archivist's perspective

This document does not in itself carry technical information: it is a simple filing marker, whose value lies in its organizational function rather than its content p. 7.

However, it allows us to confirm that the plans filed after it in the same folder do indeed concern the piston and the clutch release cylinder for the 1954-1957 period, which is corroborated by several documents dated from these same years, such as Plan D314-02: clutch release control cylinder and piston (Citroën, 1954) or the Plan of the DS 314-02 clutch release cylinder and leak tester seal test (1957).

It seems that this sheet has been preserved as is, with its rusty paperclip, as a material witness to the original organization of Paul Magès' file — a modest detail but revealing of the care taken in the filing of his technical archives.