Marquis Albert de Dion was a pioneer of the automobile industry.
Marquis (later Count) Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne (1856-1946) was a very wealthy member of the French nobility, and quite a character. He was a prominent member of the anti-Dreyfusard group who was jailed for bonking the French president over the head with a walking stick. He created the publication L'Auto which in 1903 established Le Tour de France. The yellow jersey was so named as this was the colour of the pages of L'Auto.
De Dion won the world's first motor race, in 1894, run over a distance of 122 kilometres from Paris to Rouen. He was the only entrant.
Although his reputation is deeply tarnished by the part he played in the Dreyfus Affair1, it must be said that like so many others he was mislead. One can only imagine his feelings when the truth eventually emerged - like a climate science denialist as the water rose to knee height or a Trump diehard on realising that Nixon was an amateur.
The company was founded by Comte Albert de Dion, George Bouton (1847-1938) and his brother-in-law Charles Trepardoux.
1883 Bouton and Trépardoux had been making small steam engines and toys when they met de Dion who offered to go into partnership with them forming De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux in Paris in 1883.
By the end of 1883 the new company had made an improved boiler for small boats and also fitted one to a steam-powered automobile. This had the boiler and engine mounted at the front driving the front wheels through belts and rear wheel steering.
1884 An improved vehicle was made with front wheel steering and rear wheel drive and seats for four people. This still exists in road worthy condition and has been a regular entry in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.
1885 Two more cars were made and followed by a series of lightweight two cylinder, three wheeled models which from 1892 had Michelin pneumatic tyres fitted.
In 1893 steam tractors were introduced which were designed to tow horse-type carriages and these used an innovative axle design which would become known as the de Dion tube where the location and drive function of the axle are separated.
In 1893, following some experiments, de Dion became convinced that the future lay in the internal combustion engine. Trépardoux was not to be convinced and left the company in 1894 which was then renamed De Dion, Bouton et Compagnie.
A new small single cylinder engine of 137 cc was built which ran at 3,000 rpm and used electric ignition. Both inlet and exhaust valves were overhead and a flywheel was fitted to each end of the crankshaft. The engine was fitted to a three wheel bicycle based frame bought in from Decauville and put on the market in 1896 with the engine enlarged to 185 cc. The petite voiture remained in production until 1902.
In 1898 it was joined by a four-wheeler
1900 They produced the vis-a-vis with the engine under the seat and drive to the rear wheels through a two speed gearbox.
The engine moved to the front in 1903 in the Populaire model with 700 or 942 cc engines, the latter being powerful enough to allow trucks to be added to the cars, and by the end of the year reverse gear had also appeared.
In 1900, de Dion-Bouton was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world producing 400 cars and 3,200 engines that year. The company soon began producing engines and licenses for other automobile companies with an estimate of 150 makes using them.
1900 A factory was opened in Brooklyn, New York making De Dion cars.
1901 A small number of electric cars were made.
c.1901 Motorcycles were built in small numbers, one of which was in the Guélon Collection
1903 Introduced the two-cylinder 1,728 cc Type S
1904 Introduced the four-cylinder 2,545 cc Type AD. The cars were becoming conventional with the radiator moving in front of the engine and the clutch changing from hand lever to pedal.
1906 They produced 6 hp., 8 hp., 9 hp., (these three were single cylinder) 12 hp. (two-cylinders), 15 hp. and 24 hp. (both four-cylinders) shaft-drive cars.
1907 The company was incorporated in the UK as De Dion-Bouton (1907) Ltd . Directors were Selwyn Edge (Chairman), John William Stocks (MD), Herbert Osbaldson Duncan (MD in France), S. Van Der Bergh, W. Scott-Leafe and Arthur I. Phillips.
1910 The company became the first to make a mass-produced V8 engine, a 35 hp 6,107 cc CJ unit in 1910 and 3,534 cc Type CN a year later.
1914 Listed as motor car manufacturers. Specialities: motor cars, omnibuses, delivery vans, lorries, motor launches and dynamo and other motor combinations.
During World War I the company made armanents, armoured vehicles and aero engines as well as cars and trucks.
Omnibus manufacture began in 1884 and ceased after WWII
Tricycle de Dion et Bouton. — La fig. 62 donne la vue d’ensemble du plus récent modèle construit aux ateliers de Puteaux. Les constructeurs ayant constaté qu’il était néces- cessaire de protéger les engrenages de transmission laissés nus auparavant, et de les garantir contre la poussière et la boue, les ont enveloppés d’un carter formant partie intégrante du bâti du tricycle. Ce carter sert à la fois de préservateur contre les impuretés qui pourraient se loger dans les dentures d’engrenages et de boîte à graisse. A cet effet, il porte dans sa partie basse, au-dessus du renflement où est logé le pignon, un écrou formant bouchon et masquant une porte d’entrée par laquelle on peut introduire, à l’aide d’une spatule, une certaine quantité de graisse consistante suffisante pour un fonctionnement de six mois.
Dans les anciens modèles, lorsqu’il était nécessaire de démonter les deux parties de l’axe d’arrière, il était obligatoire de démonter également le mouvement différentiel dont cet axe était solidaire. Ce travail assez long et fastidieux est diminué dans les nouveaux tris. Chacune des deux parties de l’axe est enfermée dans un tube et supportée par des coussinets à billes dont les boîtes se vissent à chaque extrémité. Ce sont des roulements trois points évitant tout glissement.
Cet ensemble se présente un peu comme l’ensemble des pièces formant l’axe du pédalier d’une bicyclette et que tous nos lecteurs connaissent : un axe intérieur, à deux cônes opposés et deux boîtes à billes. Pour régler les roulements, il suffit d’agir sur une seule des boîtes, la boîte extérieure, puisque l’autre en est solidaire. La simplicité du réglage est donc réelle.
La simplicité du démontage l’est tout autant. En effet l’axe (c’est la portion gauche que nous continuons à examiner), porte à son extrémité droite une partie carrée qui vient s’engager dans un creux correspondant qui a été ménagé dans le centre de la roue dentée. La roue dentée (entraînée parle pignon), entraîne donc la portion gauche de l’axe moteur, par l’effet seulement de son emboîtement sur l’une et l’autre de ces portions d’axe. L’axe de la roue de droite porte à son extrémité gauche une partie carrée qui vient s’engager dans la boîte du différentiel. Même simplicité de démontage et de remontage.
En somme, par ce procédé, non seulement la manipulation de l’axe moteur se rapproche davantage du système vélocipédique, mais encore le roulement est manifestement amélioré parla meilleure connexion des boites à billes entre elles.
Le frein dit à cuiller qui agissait sur le pneumatique de la roue directrice, a été supprimé. Son efficacité était en effet contestable ; son rôle destructeur du caoutchouc l’était par contre beaucoup moins. Le frein d’avant a donc été remplacé par un frein à lame qui agit sur un tambour placé à gauche de l’axe de la roue directrice.
Fig. 62. — Tricycle de Dion-Bouton, modéle 1900.
Le frein d’arrière, également à lame et à tambour, a été maintenu. Mais le diamètre du tambour a été augmenté. L’efficacité de ce frein en est donc accrue d’autant. Notons encore que les quatre manettes (carburation, admission, allumage et compression) sont toujours groupées au-devant de la selle, d’après le dispositif qui avait été précédemment adopté lors du « cheval 3/4 » 1898. Kemarquons enfin que la construction d’ensemble de l’appareil a été beaucoup solidifiée et rendue plus pratique pour le client. Les écrous et les boulons sont plus accessibles, et le démontage de la distribution par exemple, qui représentait jadis presque un petit tour d’adresse, est aujourd’hui à la portée de tout le monde. Suivant les demandes qui lui en sont faites par les acheteurs, la maison de Dion- Bouton monte sur ses motocycles soit le moteur de 85 kilogrammètres (type dit 1 cheval 3/4), soit le moteur de 2 chevaux 1/4 (donnant 160 kilogrammètres au frein) et étudié en 1899. Enfin, dans certains cas, pour les courses sur côtes notamment, certains chauffeurs ont fait usage de moteurs développant jusqu’à 3 chevaux 1/2 et 4 chevaux, et rendant ainsi inutiles tous les mécanismes de changement de vitesse. Suivant l’usage auquel le tricycle est destiné, les constructeurs le munissent d’une multiplication particulière. Le rapport 11X106 (11 dents au pignon moteur, 106 à la couronne dentée de transmission) donne une vitesse moyenne de 25 kilomètres à l’heure, et convient surtout aux voyages en pays accidentés, ou aux motocycles tracteurs ; les rapports 13X104,13Xl02 et 18X96, donnent des vitesses de 30, 35 et 45 kilomètres ; leur emploi est seulement avantageux dans les pays de plaine, pour les courses et lorsqu’on n’a pas de voiturette-remorqne à atteler à la machine.
De Dion et Bouton Tricycle. — Fig. 62 gives a visual overview of the most recent model built in the Puteaux workshops. Manufacturers having observed that it was necessary to protect the transmission gears left bare before, and to protect them against dust and mud, encased them to form an integral part of the frame of the tricycle. This casing serves both as a preservative against impurities which could become lodged in the gear teeth and grease box. For this purpose, it carries in its lower part, above the bulge which houses the pinion, a nut forming a plug and concealing an entrance through which one can deliver, using a spatula, a measured amount of grease sufficient for six months of operation.
In older models, when it was necessary to dismantle the two parts of the rear axle, it was mandatory to also dismantle the differential movement whose this axis was united. This rather long and tedious work is decreased in the new sorts. Each of the two parts of the axis is enclosed in a tube and supported by ball bearings with boxes screwing into each end. These are three-point bearings preventing any slippage.
This set looks a bit like the set of parts forming the axle of the bottom bracket of a bicycle and that all our readers know: an internal axis, with two cones opposites and two ball boxes. To adjust the bearings, it is enough to act on only one of the boxes, the outer box, since the other is in solidarity with it. The ease of adjustment is therefore real.
The simplicity of dismantling is just as important. Indeed the axis (it is the left portion that we continue to examine), bears at its right end a square part which comes engage in a corresponding hollow which has been made in the center of the cogwheel. The toothed wheel (driven by pinion), therefore drives the left portion of the axle motor, solely by the effect of its interlocking on one and the other of these axis portions. The axle of the right wheel carries at its left end a square part which comes engage the differential box. Same simplicity of disassembly and reassembly.
In short, by this process, not only the manipulation of the motor axis is closer to the velocipedic system, but the bearing is still clearly improved by the better connection of the ball boxes between them.
The brake says to spoon which acted on the tire of the steering wheel, has been removed. Its effectiveness was questionable effect; its destructive role in rubber was however much less. The front brake was therefore replaced by a blade brake which acts on a drum placed to the left of the steering wheel axis.
The rear brake, also blade and drum, has been maintained. But the diameter of the drum has been increased. The effectiveness of this brake is therefore increased accordingly. Note although the four levers (fuel, intake, ignition and compression) are always grouped in front of the saddle, according to the device which had been previously adopted during the "horse 3/4" 1898. Finally, note that the overall construction of the device has been much solidified and made more convenient for the customer. Nuts and the bolts are more accessible, and the dismantling of the distribution, for example, which once represented almost a little tour de skill, is now within the reach of everybody.
According to the requests made to it by buyers, the house of Dion-Bouton rides on its motorcycles either the 85-kilogram engine (type called 1 3/4 horsepower), or the 2 1/4 horsepower engine (giving 160 kilogrammeters to the brake) and studied in 1899. Finally, in certain cases, for hill races in particular, some drivers have uses motors developing up to 3 1/2 horsepower and 4 horsepower, thus making all the mechanisms useless of gear change.
Depending on the use for which the tricycle is intended, manufacturers equip it with a particular multiplication.
The 11X106 ratio (11 teeth at the engine pinion, 106 at
the transmission ring gear) gives a speed
average of 25 kilometers per hour, and is especially suitable for
travel in rugged conditions, or for towing trailers;
the 13X104, 13Xl02 and 18X96 ratios, give speeds speeds of 30, 35 and 45 kilometres; their job is only
advantageous in lowland countries, for races and when there is no cart-trailer to hitch to the machine.
Source: Graffigny Chapter VII Tricycles
Peter Lynn (NZ) writes that the company was apparently reformed in 1926 and failed in 1930.
See Dilecta
Notes
The affaire Dreyfus is mentioned in the article on Ader
Sources: Graces Guide, archives-moto.jlbweb.fr, wikipedia.en
29-Oct-2018
majordingdong at gmail.com
1920's De Dion Bouton bicycle, with a Motobecane MB3 engine fitted - and propeller !!!
Hi there, could you please try and give me some information about my interesting bike, I was told it's early 1920's, I hope the picture my help ?
Nick Major
Penzance, UK
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