Eiffel’s company is renamed the Compagnie des…

Eiffel’s company is renamed the Compagnie des Establissments Eiffel in 1879 after the partnership with Seyrig is dissolved.

The same year, the company is given the contract for the Garabit viaduct, a railway bridge near Ruynes en Margeride in the Cantal département.

Like the Douro bridge, the project involves a lengthy viaduct crossing the river valley as well as the river crossing, and Eiffel is given the job without any process of competitive tendering due to his success with the bridge over the Douro.

To assist him in the work he takes on several people who are to play important roles in the design and construction of the Eiffel Tower, including Maurice Koechlin, a young graduate of the Zurich Polytechnikum, who is engaged to undertake calculations and make drawings, and Emile Nouguier, who had previously worked for Eiffel on the construction of the Douro bridge.

The same year, Eiffel starts work on a system of standardized prefabricated bridges, an idea that was the result of a conversation with the governor of Cochin-China.

These use a small number of standard components, all small enough to be readily transportable in areas with poor or nonexistent roads, and are joined together using bolts rather than rivets, reducing the need for skilled labor on site.

A number of different types are produced, ranging from footbridges to standard-gauge railway bridges.