Editing Gustave Eiffel (section)

=== The Panama Scandal ===
[[File:Eiffel-lock.png|thumb|Illustration of Eiffel's lock design from a contemporary magazine]]
In 1887, Eiffel became involved with the French effort to construct a [[Panama Canal|canal]] across the Panama Isthmus. The French Panama Canal Company, headed by [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]], had been attempting to build a sea-level canal, but came to the realization that this was impractical. The plan was changed to one using [[lock (water transport)|locks]], which Eiffel was contracted to design and build. The locks were on a large scale, most having a change of level of {{convert|11|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>Loyrette 1985, p. 193</ref> Eiffel had been working on the project for little more than a year when the company suspended payments of interest on 14 December 1888,<ref>{{cite news | date =15 December 1888|title=The Panama Canal Company |newspaper=The Times|issue= 32570|page=7 }}</ref> and shortly afterwards was put into [[liquidation]]. Eiffel's reputation was badly damaged when he was implicated in the financial and political scandal which followed. Although he was simply a contractor, he was charged along with the directors of the project with raising money under false pretenses and misappropriation of funds. On 9 February 1893, Eiffel was found guilty on the charge of misuse of funds and was fined 20,000 francs and sentenced to two years in prison,<ref>{{cite news | date =10 February 1893 |title=Heavy Sentences On The Panama Defendants|newspaper=The Times|issue= 33871|page=5 }}</ref> although he was acquitted on appeal.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060102020147/http: //www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/documentation/dossiers/page/gustave_eiffel.html Gustave Eiffel]. The official site of the Eiffel Tower.tour-eiffel. fr</ref> The later American-built canal used new lock designs (see [[History of the Panama Canal]]).

Shortly before the trial, Eiffel had announced his intention to resign from the Board of Directors of the Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel and did so at a General Meeting held on 14 February, saying, "I have absolutely decided to abstain from any participation in any manufacturing business from now on, and so that no one can be misled and to make it most evident I intend to remain uninvolved with the establishments that bears my name, and insist that it be removed from the company's name."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gustaveeiffel.com/L_association/les_m_moires_.html |title=Historique des Etablissements Eiffel |publisher=Association des Descendants de Gustave Eiffel – gustaveeiffel. |language=fr |access-date=24 March 2012 |quote="Je suis absolument décidé de m'abstenir désormais d'une participation quelconque dans une affaire industrielle, et afin que personne ne puisse s'y tromper et pour marquer de la façon la plus manifeste que j'entends rester désormais absolument étranger à la gestion des établissements qui portent mon nom, je tiens expressément à ce que mon nom disparaisse de la désignation de la société." |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411060027/http://www.gustaveeiffel.com/L_association/les_m_moires_.html |archive-date=11 April 2008 }}</ref>  The company changed its name to '''La Société Constructions Levallois-Perret''', with Maurice Koechlin as managing director. The name was changed to the '''Anciens Etablissements Eiffel''' in 1937.<ref>Harvie 2006, p. 40</ref>