Of Dion-Button

History

The company was founded by the Count (then Marquis) Nantes Albert de Dion and Georges Bouton and Armand Trépardoux with Puteaux, it began with the manufacture of Automobile S with vapor in 1882, in a company which was established quickly with Puteaux, National quay, famous more recently, quay Of Dion-Button.

Georges Bouton dies in 1938, Albert de Dion in 1946.

Road vehicles

The first vehicles of the company were a tricycle with vapor, then, in 1894, a road tractor with vapor with four wheels. Harnessed with a barouche, it gained the Paris-Rouen race on July 22nd, 1894.

While continuing the construction of light boilers, the company was interested in the petrol engines, with, since 1895, a tricycle with gasoline, and, in 1899, the carrier with gasoline.

These vehicles employed a innovating semi-indépendante suspension with Tube De Dion, which was taken again by other manufacturers. The company produced a car with petrol engine of small-engined car in 1895, the small car .

The company started soon to produce engines and to provide to other car manufacturers, such as Latil, Peugeot or Renault. The engines of Dion were used by more than 150 other companies.

In 1900, Of Dion-Button was the largest manufacturer of cars in the world. The company produced 400 cars and 3.200 engines this year there. The company was the first to manufacture an engine V8 in series, in 1910. These figures of production will be exceeded by those of Panhard & Levassor before the First World War, then by other manufacturers like Peugeot or Renault, but especially Citroen and its production “in series”.

Like Michelin, Of Dion-Button published road maps, activity which it began in 1900 and which it will yield to the Vermot printer in 1908.

At that time, the mark manufactures motor tricycles and provides engines to many marks of motor bikes.

Touched hard by the consequences of the Crash of 1929, the company will not be able to renew its range of cars and will have to give up the production of private cars in 1933. It will however continue that of bus and sweeper-water carts until in 1953, and of bicycles still ten years, before being repurchased by a small company berrichonne.

Rail-cars

Of Dion-Button provides, before the First World War, of the engine steam for Autorails built by foreign companies, such as Hungarian Ganz, as well as petrol engine for pétroléo-electric railcars of the plain Railroads of Arad and Csanad (ACsEV) (Hungary).

After the War, the company became a railway manufacturer with whole share, since, of 1923 with 1948, of Dion-Button was the principal French manufacturer of rail-cars with 250 vehicles for district distributers, primarily French.

These rail-cars were intended to allow the evolution of these networks, whose trains vapors were hopelessly too slow (and too expensive) to support the competition of automobile transport which was under development full.

Certain rail-cars Of Dion-Button are preserved by tourist railroads.

List preserved rail-cars

List nonexhaustive

metric gauge Track on standby

JM4 (1932) CdN n°11 - AMTUIR - restored
OC1 (1937) CdN n°15 - CFBS - of restoration
OC1 (1937) CdN n°16 - ACFCdN - on standby of restoration
OC2 (1946) RB n°X202 - ACFCdN - on standby of restoration
OC2 (1946) RB n°X205 - SHEBA - restored
OC2 (1946) RB n°X206 - SHEBA - on standby of restoration
ND n°201 - VFV - wreck
ND n°202 - MTVS - in the course of restoration
ND n°204 - VFV - on standby of restoration
ND n°206 - VFV - wreck
ND n°207 - Vivarais - on standby of restoration

Anecdote

In 1908, it builds three sledges with engine for the forwarding in the Antarctic of Jean-Baptiste Charcot.

See too

Jules De Dion
Rail-car
Rail-car De standard Dion Button OC2

Reference

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