The Art of Riveting

Riveting was the heartbeat of construction. Each rivet began in a portable forge, heated to exactly 950 degrees Celsius—hot enough to be malleable, not so hot as to weaken. A four-person team performed a choreographed dance repeated 2.5 million times:

The heater judged the rivet's temperature by color, a skill passed down through generations. The catcher received the glowing rivet in a metal cone, sometimes thrown across gaps of 10 meters. The holder positioned it in the pre-drilled holes while the riveter hammered it home, the rhythm of strikes creating the tower's construction symphony.

Marie Leblanc, whose husband worked as a riveter, brought lunch daily and observed: "You could tell which team was working by the sound. The Italians had a fast, light rhythm—tat-tat-tat-tat. The Bretons struck heavier but slower—TANG... TANG... TANG. All day the tower rang like a bell."

The best riveting team, led by Italian foreman Giuseppe Bertolini, could install 500 rivets in a ten-hour shift. Eiffel publicly recognized their achievement, presenting them with a bonus and a French flag to fly from their section—a gesture that moved Bertolini to tears.