Between 1884 and 1892, no fewer than seven coudé equatorials were installed in France, Algeria and Austria. Invented by Maurice Loewy, these equatorials allowed the observer to sit comfortably in a closed room, with all the controls and readings at hand. However they were expensive, they required two flat mirrors, which were a source of concern because of their thermal distortion, and their mechanics was complex and delicate, so that they did not succeed in replacing the conventional equatorials in spite of their advantages. Only two are preserved, in Lyons and in Algiers. We describe in detail these instruments, their history and their use.