Fabbrica Rotabili Avantreni Motori

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SA Ligure-Romana Vetture
Fabbrica Rotabili Avantreni Motori
legal form
founding 1905
resolution 1913
Seat Genoa , Italy
Branch Automobile manufacturers , commercial vehicle manufacturers , electric vehicle manufacturers , trolleybus manufacturers

Fabbrica Rotabili Avantreni Motori was an Italian manufacturer of motor vehicles . Between 1906 and 1913 the company mainly produced electrically powered vehicles under the brand names FRAM and possibly Cantono .

Company history

Captain Eugenio Cantono received a patent for a dynamo at the end of the 19th century .

Eugenio Cantono , a captain in the Italian army, received a patent for a dynamo towards the end of the 19th century . Based on this, he founded his first company in Rome in 1900 , Eugenio Cantono SA , later reorganized as Cantono Avantreni SA It produced passenger cars and commercial vehicles as Avant-Trains according to its own system. After bankruptcy around 1904, there were further reorganizations as SA Ligure-Romana Vetture and finally Fabbrica Rotabili Avantreni Motori SA The company started producing in Genoa in 1906 . Initially the brand name was possibly Cantono , later FRAM . There is no evidence of vehicle production after 1914.

vehicles

Electric passenger car

The company initially manufactured vehicles with electric motors. There were models A as an Avant-Train , which was harnessed to non-motorized vehicles, and Tourisme as complete vehicles. The accumulators were mounted above the axle and later covered with a hood that resembled the hood of gasoline cars.

Petrol passenger car

In 1906 the first vehicle with a two-cylinder petrol engine was presented. In 1911 the production of passenger cars ended.

Electric utility vehicles

Even the first Avant-Train was mainly used as a commercial vehicle. Vehicles designed as commercial vehicles were built between 1906 and 1913. Model B was an avant train.

Technology of the Avant-Trains

The Avant-Train is a vehicle component that is mounted on horse-drawn vehicles instead of the front axle and drawbar, turning them into motor vehicles. They were available with internal combustion , steam or electric motors . The Cantono system is based on the latter. It consists of the axle itself, the turntable steering with steering column and steering wheel , the battery set attached to the axle and the front wheels, each driven by a DC motor. The electric motors each drive one of the front wheels via gear wheels and also act as front wheel brakes. In the first version, the vehicle had a battery pack with 44 cells. A DC motor each drove one of the front wheels via gears . The steering column is vertical on the vehicle.

Trolleybuses

From 1905 onwards some light trolleybuses were made. The two-axle vehicles had electrics and rear-wheel drive manufactured by Cantono . These vehicles operated a trolleybus line between Pescara and Castellamare . This trolleybus also used trolley trucks with a payload of 3 tons to transport goods . They were used on the same route.

Connection to Germany

In 1908 Deutsche Elektromobil GmbH from Düsseldorf acquired a license, the actual production has not been proven. The Fram Auto AG from Berlin offered the gasoline cars in Germany from 1911.

Connection to France

In 1902 a branch was set up in France. She organized her own production in Paris , with De Dion-Bouton probably responsible for the actual production. The brand name was FRAM. From 1912 to 1914 there was a wide range of commercial vehicles. There is evidence of a five-ton truck with two twin wheels at the front and two 7 hp electric motors that acted on them. A smaller three-ton truck was used by the Paris municipal utilities for city cleaning.

Licensing in the USA

From 1904 to 1907, the Cantono Electric Tractor Company of Marion , New Jersey, manufactured Cantono automobiles under license . It appears that the US company has generally used these brakes on its complete vehicles.

The Cantono brands are among the earliest suppliers of four-wheel brakes, which only became generally accepted in the 1920s.

literature

  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 .
  • George Nick Georgano : The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile, Volume 1 A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. Motor Books International, Osceola WI 1979, ISBN 0-87341-024-6 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Grace's Guide: Engineering 1899; Jan-Jun: Index: Patent_Record; Electrical Apparatus.
  2. ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, pp. 252-253.
  3. ↑ a b Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, pp. 121-122