De Dion-Bouton

of 1894 The company was formed in 1883 after de Dion saw a toy locomotive in a store window in 1881 and asked the toymakers to build another. Engineers Bouton and Trépardoux had been eking out a living with scientific toys at a shop in the Passage de Léon, near the rue de la Chapelle in Paris. Trépardoux had long dreamed of building a steam car, but neither he nor Bouton could afford it. De Dion, already inspired by steam in the form of railway locomotives, and with ample money, agreed to back them, and Trépardoux et Cie was formed in Paris in 1883. That became the De Dion-Bouton automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, well known for the quality, reliability, and durability of their vehicles. Before 1883 was over, the company had set up shop in larger premises in the Passage de Léon, Paris, tried and dropped steam engines for boats, and produced a steam car. With the boiler and engine mounted at the front, driving the front wheels by belts and steering with the rear, it burned to the ground on trials. A second, La Marquise, was built the next year, with a more conventional steering and rear-wheel drive, capable of seating four. it averaged over the 126 km (78 mi) route, but was disqualified because it needed both a driver and a stoker. Two more cars were made in 1885, followed by a series of lightweight two-cylinder tricars which, from 1892, had Michelin pneumatic tyres. In 1893, steam tractors were introduced which were designed to tow horse-drawn carriages for passengers or freight (sometimes called "steam drags") which used an innovative axle design that became known as the De Dion tube, where the location and drive function of the axle are separated. The company manufactured steam buses and trucks until 1904. Trépardoux, a staunch supporter of steam, resigned in 1894 as the company turned to internal combustion vehicles. However, the steam car remained in production more or less unchanged for ten years more. ==Internal combustion engines==

Tricycles towing a passenger in a carriage By 1889, de Dion was becoming convinced the future lay in the internal combustion engine, and the company had built a ten-cylinder two-row rotary engine. Proving troublesome at its designed speed of 900 rpm (throwing bearings and running rough), Four wheelers , Turin The same year, the tricar was joined by a four-wheeler and in 1900 by a vis a vis voiturette, the Model D, with its 3¾ CV (2.8 kW) single-cylinder engine under the seat and drive to the rear wheels through a two-speed gearbox. This curious design had the passenger facing the driver, who sat in the rear seat. The voiturette had one inestimable advantage: the expanding clutches of the gearbox were operated by a lever on the steering column. The Model D was developed through Models E, G, I, and J, with 6 CV (4.5 kW) by 1902, when the 8 CV (6 kW) Model K rear-entry phaeton appeared, with front-end styling resembling the contemporary Renault. Until World War I, De Dion-Boutons had an unusual decelerator pedal which reduced engine speed and ultimately applied a transmission brake. A small number of electric cars were also made in 1901. Engine supplier to automobile manufacturers De Dion-Bouton supplied engines to vehicle manufacturers such as Hanzer and Société Parisienne who mounted a unit directly on the front axle of their front-wheel-drive voiturette the 'Viktoria Combination'. == Engine supplier to motor bicycle builders ==

The De Dion-Bouton engine is considered the first high-speed lightweight internal combustion engine. It was licensed to more than 150 manufacturers and was a popular choice among assemblers of motor bicycles. The small, lightweight four-cycle engine used a battery and coil ignition that was less trouble than hot tube ignition. The bore of and stroke of gave the engine an output of . It was used on many pioneering motor bicycles, and was widely copied by makers including US Brands Indian and Harley-Davidson. == American De Dion ==

In 1900, the De Dion-Bouton Motorette Company began manufacturing De Dion-Bouton automobiles under license in Brooklyn, New York. A small quantity of American De Dion Motorettes were made. They had either two-seater vis-a-vis or closed coachwork, and were powered by a American-made engines. The venture was in operation for only one year, and the cars gained a reputation for unreliability during that time. Representatives of De Dion in the United States claimed that the licensee had violated the contract and advertised for a new licensee. == Expansion ==

(1914) In 1900, De Dion-Bouton was the second largest automobile manufacturer in the world after Locomobile, producing 400 cars and 3,200 engines. The company soon began producing engines and licenses for other automobile companies, with an estimate of 150 makes using them. Production was so great, that it proved impossible to test every engine. If one failed on the bench, it was simply disassembled. Every engine was being made by hand because the assembly line had not yet been introduced. By 1904, some 40,000 engines had been supplied across Europe. That year, De Dion-Bouton's factory at Quai National (now Quai de Dion-Bouton), Puteaux, employed 1,300 people and produced more than 2,000 cars, The company became the first to make a successful mass-produced V8 engine, a 35 CV (26 kW) CJ in 1910, followed by a 7.8 liter and a 14.7 liter for the U.S., as well as by a Type CN in 1912. (They trailed Ader in racing the 1906 Adams, which used an Antoinette aircraft engine.) During World War I, the company made gun parts, armoured vehicles, and aircraft engines, as well as cars and trucks. Between 1913 and 1918, it produced an anti-aircraft weapons system for the French Army, consisting of a Canon de 75 modèle 1897 field gun mounted on a V8-powered De Dion-Bouton truck. == Postwar stagnation ==

The company stagnated after World War I. The V8 continued to appear until 1923 and, in spite of new models with front-wheel brakes, the factory closed for much of 1927. On reopening, two models were listed, the Type LA, with a four-cylinder overhead valve, aluminium-piston engine, and the Type LB, with a straight-8. The latter was very expensive and sales were few, despite an increase in engine size growth to in 1930. A rumored takeover by Peugeot or Mercedes did not materialize, leading to the end of passenger car production in 1932. == After World War II ==

Small numbers of commercial vehicles were made until 1950, and the last vehicles to carry the De Dion badge were license-made Land Rovers in the early 1950s. The company name was bought by a motorcycle maker in 1955. == Railcars ==

De Dion-Bouton built railcars and railcar trailers used on many of the metre gauge railways in France and abroad. The first railcars were produced in the early 1920s, with the Chemin de Fer des Côtes-du-Nord receiving its first vehicles in 1923. ==Notes==