Note of 28 January 1959 on the delay of the height corrector sealing cup

In this document

The note to Mr. Magès (p. 277)

A handwritten note from Wednesday 28 January 1959, addressed "For Mr. Magès", reports a delay: it concerns "question 25" relating to a belt/sealing cup of the height corrector p. 277.

The author — signed Bocquet — asks to "Ask Mr. Peltier at Asnières for the start date", in reference to a part designated "NE 32/19 of 26.6.58" p. 277.

The note explicitly states: "seen - Not started as of 28/1/59" p. 277, which confirms that the expected manufacturing or testing launch had still not taken place by that date.

The B.E.A. Archive withdrawal slip (p. 278)

The second sheet is a printed form from the B.E.A. (Automotive Design Office), no. 2249-3-58, titled Archive Withdrawal Slip for a tracing or print p. 278.

It indicates a withdrawal on 9 July 1958, in the name of Mr. [uncertain: "Roumieu"], for "modification" p. 278. The designation of the part concerned is "Half Segment", for the car type "D.M" p. 278, with a number "472-394" and a mention "stopped at modification [uncertain: "12083"]" p. 278.

Context

The acronym B.E.A. refers to Citroën's Automotive Design Office, where Paul Magès developed the hydropneumatic suspension, notably its height corrector, a key part allowing the car to maintain a constant ground clearance.

The "D.M" type mentioned on the withdrawal slip likely corresponds, in the internal Citroën nomenclature of that period, to a design designation linked to the future DS, launched commercially in 1955 but whose suspension components continued to be perfected at the end of the 1950s.

These contextual elements remain external to the document itself, which mentions neither the DS nor the full name of the Design Office.

Archivist's perspective

This small set of two pages illustrates the administrative daily life of the development of the hydropneumatic suspension: a simple sealing part (corrector cup/belt) becomes the subject of precise monitoring, with a dated follow-up and cross-reference to an archive withdrawal slip from several months earlier (9 July 1958).

It seems that this document bears witness to the planning tensions inherent in the industrialisation of a sensitive component: more than seven months separate the withdrawal of the tracing (9-7-58) and the observation that the "start" had still not taken place (28-1-59) p. 277-278.

This file finds its natural place in the folder "41.59", whose summary specifically mentions the developments of the hydropneumatic suspension and rubber for the DS — probably the original classification of this note.