Squares

Squares
Squares from 1898
Squares
Presentation year:	1898
Vehicle fair:
Class :	Microcar
Body shape :	Touring car
Engine:	Otto engine : 0.3 liters
Production model:	none

Front view

Side view with a view of the drive chains

Quadriette is a passenger car from 1898.

description

The manufacturer of the vehicle was an undisclosed company from France . There is a reference to the Puteaux production site . However, this can also mean the seat of the engine manufacturer. It is unclear whether the vehicle made it into series production. One source thinks it is very likely to be unique.

The vehicle has four wheels. The front ones are steered. The single-cylinder engine with a displacement of 301 cm³ comes from De Dion-Bouton . It is mounted in the front of the vehicle under a hood and is air- cooled. One source gives friction wheel drive and rear wheel drive. Chains can be seen under the vehicle, suggesting power transmission via chain.

The driver sits in the front on a bench. It is surrounded by a body that has a door at least on the left side. It is unclear whether there is also a door on the right. This is unusual because at the time open vehicles usually did not have front doors, but gave the driver free access. Behind it is another bench for two people. Access is through the open side. There are no doors at the back. There is also no windshield or hood.

A steering wheel is used for steering , which is almost centrally located and only slightly offset to the right. Steering levers were still common back then. The steering wheel has five spokes.

The overall construction can be described as modern. De Dion-Bouton only offered the single-seat De-Dion-Bouton motor tricycle and a two-seat quadricycle with a front passenger seat in 1898 . The three- to four-seater De Dion-Bouton Vis-à-Vis with rear engine, steering lever, rear driver's seat, front seat arrangement against the direction of travel and missing side body was still in the development phase at the time.

The vehicle has been preserved. It was part of the Grandson Castle collection for a long time . During the special exhibition When the Cars Learned to Run from April 15 to October 8, 2012, it was on display in the Pantheon Basel in Muttenz , Switzerland . In 2018 it was in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne .

additional

The Caribbean state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines issued a postage stamp with this vehicle. The manufacturer's specification De Dion-Bouton and the model name Quadricycle are doubtful, the year of construction 1891 definitely wrong, because at that time De Dion-Bouton was not yet producing gasoline engines that were powerful enough to power such a multi-seat vehicle. Their single-seat motor tricycle did not appear until 1895.

literature

Niklaus Starck : When cars learned to run. Editions Pantheon Basel, Muttenz 2012, ISBN 978-3-9523682-5-1 , pp. 26-27. on-line

Web links

Commons : Quadriette - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Niklaus Starck : When cars learned to run. Editions Pantheon Basel, Muttenz 2012, ISBN 978-3-9523682-5-1 , pp. 26-27. on-line
↑ Photo from the right side (accessed October 12, 2019)
↑ Photo of the interior (accessed October 12, 2019)
↑ Postage stamp (accessed October 13, 2019)

[Pantheon-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Niklaus Starck : When cars learned to run. Editions Pantheon Basel, Muttenz 2012, ISBN 978-3-9523682-5-1 , pp. 26-27. on-line

[Foto_rechte_Seite-2] Photo from the right side (accessed October 12, 2019)

[Foto_Lenkrad-3] Photo of the interior (accessed October 12, 2019)

[Briefmarke-4] Postage stamp (accessed October 13, 2019)