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The ONRSII, the Office for Inventions

Innovative weapons systems for soldiers, wonderful vintage electrical appliances, inventors thrilled by their own incredible design ideas: come with us and delve into the fascinating archives of the ONRSII, the first ever "Office for Inventions" in the history of France!

Glass plate and paper print of a shot of the large electromagnet
Glass plate and paper print of a shot of the large electromagnet

© Cyril Frésillon / CNRS Images

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At the end of the First World War, the world of science was put to work to drive economic growth. Responding to research programmes launched in the public interest, the ONRSII became a vital link between the science laboratory and the factory. The French government wanted to take all the ingeniousness and inventiveness that had been drawn on to defend the nation and use it to drive the development of innovative domestic devices that would revolutionise the daily lives of the French.

Thus, in 1922, the ONRSII (the French National Office for Scientific and Industrial Research and Inventions) was set up. This was a national body encompassing every field of scientific research applied to further the development of France’s civil industries. Directed by Jules-Louis Breton, a member of the French Senate, the ONRSII was tasked with encouraging what we would now call Research & Development, assisting inventors and university institutes to undertake research and organise design studies needed for public services. Based in Meudon, at the pavillon Bellevue, it centralised a group of test laboratories (paints and varnishes, refrigerating machines, engines, etc.).

However, in the 1930s, the ONRSII suffered as a result of fallout from the financial crisis and the support of industrial unions waned until it disappeared altogether. The ONRSII was then closed down in 1938, to be replaced by the French National Centre for Applied Scientific Research (CNRSA), the forerunner of today’s CNRS.

Here you will find images from the archives of inventions dating back to the heady days of the inter-war industrial age. You’ll find photographs and films of some wonderfully unusual and old-fashioned devices, including the first ever life jackets, folding wheelbarrows and washing machines straight out of another era.

CNRS News Article

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Démonstration du fonctionnement du piloteur Lender, appareil destiné à former les élèves pilotes au sol, pour qu'ils acquièrent les bons réflexes dans le maniement d'un avion. Un machiniste impulse des mouvements provoquant de fortes inclinaisons de l'appareil, et le pilote doit rapidement agir sur les commandes pour garder l'avion dans la position voulue.

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Piloteur (Le)
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On the Meudon Bellevue CNRS campus, you will find the first large instrument dedicated to fundamental research in France and in the world, the Large Electromagnet of the Academy of Sciences. It was imagined and designed by the physicist Aimé Cotton in 1928 and operated until the 1970s. Denis Guthleben, science historian, shares with us the various stages in the history of the large electromagnet, from the birth of the project before the 1914 war to its…

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Aimant d'Aimé, le premier grand instrument pour la science (L')
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The humoristic Strange Inventions series revisits the film archives of the National office for scientific research and inventions (ONRSI, the CNRS's ancestor, by exploring fake advertisements staging real inventions. This first episode presents a rosewood boat, a small vessel whose underwater screw is actuated by an above-head propeller!

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Air engine
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The large electromagnet was built for the Academy of Sciences, according to the plans drawn up by Professor Cotton and Mr. Mabboux, and with supporting funds from the National Pastor's Day subscription. After the machining phases carried out in the Saint-Ouen workshops of the French company Thomson-Houston, the 120-ton electromagnet was installed at the Office National des Recherches Scientifiques et Industrielles et des Inventions in Bellevue.

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Large electromagnet of the Academy of Sciences (The)
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In a military camp, the High Commission of Inventions observes an anti-barbed wire prototype designed by Mr. Boirault. Designed in 1914 and built in 1915, the Boirault machine is considered "the interesting ancestor of the tank". This invention by arts and crafts engineer Louis Boirault is probably one of the most extravagant proposals documented by the Inventions Department. With its height of several meters, its weight of 30 tons and its shape resembling a rib cage or a giant salad spinner,…

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Boirault No.1 anti-barbed-wire machine
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A bord d'une petite embarcation tirée par un remorqueur en rade de Toulon, Jules-Louis Breton et des membres du Comité technique de génie de la Direction des inventions expérimentent les lunettes sous-marines destinées à trouver un sous-marin en plongée à une vingtaine de mètres de profondeur (Texte issu du catalogue des Archives Françaises du Film).

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Lunettes sous-marines
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Sous le regard attentif et amusé des membres de la Commission supérieure de la Direction des Inventions installés dans une barque, un homme teste l'efficacité d'un costume insubmersible dans un étang. Soumis à l'autorité militaire ce vêtement doit permettre aux soldats de traverser un cours d'eau et d'en sortir sec. (Texte issu du catalogue des Archives Françaises du Film)

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Costume insubmersible

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