Léon Bollée
Léon Bollée (April 1, 1870 – December 16, 1913)[1] was a French inventor and automobile manufacturer.[2] At a young age, he developed one of the first mechanical calculators capable of direct multiplication, and as an automobile manufacturer, he founded the company Léon Bollée Automobiles and popularized his Voiturette, which began production in 1896.
Biography
The Bollée family was a well-known dynasty of bell founders, and his father, Amédée Bollée (1844–1917), was one of the most important pioneers of the French automobile industry, producing several steam-powered cars. His older brother, Amédée-Ernest-Marie (1867–1926), was also a car manufacturer.[3] The third brother was named Camille.[4]
Early inventions
In 1885, at the age of 14, he became a precocious inventor, building a pedal-powered boat.[5]
Calculating machines
His father's bell foundry business required numerous calculations, and in 1887 Bollée began work on three calculating machines to assist with them: the Direct Multiplier, the Calculating Panel, and the Arithmograph. His multiplier was the second successful calculator of this type capable of direct multiplication (the first was built by Ramón Verea), and it won a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle (Paris). Three versions of the multiplier with a large number of digits and several smaller machines were developed by Bollée, which were patented in France, Belgium, Germany, the United States, and Hungary.[6]
Steam locomotive
In 1892, his father Amédée Bollée produced a steam locomotive[7] for the "Chemin de Fer du Finistère".
Early automobiles
Bollée and his father entered a steam-powered car, "La Nouvelle", in the Paris–Bordeaux race of 1895. Bollée developed a gasoline-powered car that same year, which competed in the Paris–Marseille–Paris race of 1896.[8]
Automobile manufacturing
He founded the company Léon Bollée Automobiles in 1895 in the city of Le Mans, and in 1896 patented and began producing a three-wheeled vehicle he had designed in 1895, which he called the Voiturette.[9]
The passenger’s position in front of the driver earned it the popular nickname "mother-in-law killer" ("Tue Belle-mère" in French).[10] It had a horizontally mounted engine and was equipped with rubber tires. A new model with many modifications was entered in the 1897 Paris–Dieppe race, driven by Paul Jamin, and also in the Paris–Trouville race. It won both, with average speeds of 39 and 45 km/h respectively.[11]
In April 1898, Bollée won the "Critérium des Motocycle" held in France.
He produced his first large car in 1903. The company built two 4-cylinder models, one with 28 HP and 4.6 liters displacement, and another with 45 HP and an 8-liter engine. Both won at the Blackport Southport Speed Trials in September 1904, ahead of the Gladiator driven by Dorothy Levitt.[12]
When the Wright brothers visited France to demonstrate their aircraft in 1908, Bollée allowed them to use his factory in Le Mans. A monument erected next to the city’s cathedral in 1920 commemorates this event.[13]
In 1911, he was injured in a flight accident, from which he never fully recovered. This, combined with a preexisting heart condition, led to his death in 1913. His widow continued to run the company, but in 1924 it was purchased by Morris Motors and renamed Morris-Léon Bollée. Morris intended to use the new company to sell its models in France, circumventing then-existing French import restrictions. Morris later sold the company in 1931 to a group of investors, who renamed it Societé Nouvelle Léon Bollée.[14] Car production continued until 1933.
Family
His daughter Élisabeth, a poet, married Count Jean Maurice Gilbert de Vautibault in 1927, later divorcing him to marry artist Julien Binford.[15] She died on July 11, 1984.[16]
References
- ↑ «Bollée Léon»
- ↑ «Léon Bollée (1870-1913)»
- ↑ Northern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places
- ↑ Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, Volumen 1
- ↑ Georgi Dalakov. «Biography of León Bollée»
- ↑ «Léon Bollée's Arithmographe»
- ↑ Espen Moe (2007). Governance, Growth and Global Leadership: The Rise of the State in Technological Progress, 1750-2000
- ↑ «1898 Leon Bollee Tri-Car»
- ↑ Scientific American: Supplement, Volumen 49
- ↑ Revue historique et archéologique du Maine
- ↑ Official Program, 24 Heures du Mans, 13–14 June 2009, Page 97.
- ↑ Car Illustrated: A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea, & Air, Volumen 10
- ↑ Léon Bollée, Stanley W. Kandebo, Dawne Dewey (2003). Wilbur Wright's Flights in France: Léon Bollée's Photographic Record, 1908-1909
- ↑ Nick Baldwin (1987). The World Guide to Automobile Manufacturers
- ↑ William Ferris (2013). The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists
- ↑ Elisabeth de Vautibault (2008). Les évènements visibles et autres poèmes