Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Delaunay Belleville
Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Delaunay Belleville of St. Denis-sur-Seine, France.
Part of the business was S.A. des Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville, a French luxury automobile manufacturer. At the beginning of the 20th century they were among the most prestigious cars produced in the world, and perhaps the most desirable French marque.
1849 Julien Belleville set up business as maker of marine boilers - also see J. Belleville and Co. Louis Delaunay (1843-1912) joined the firm in 1867 and married Belleville's daughter changing his name to Delaunay-Belleville and succeeded Julien as head of the company.
By 1914 the products included Belleville boilers, high-speed steam engines, Diesel engines, refrigerators, electric plants worked by coal gas, lighting gas, benzol, air compressors, ventilators, condensers, etc. A special department made automobiles.[1]
Cars
1904 Delaunay-Belville established a special department for the construction of automobiles.
1904 Marius Barbarou started work for the brothers Pierre and Robert Delaunay-Belleville.[2]. Marius had experience working for Clement and Benz and was responsible for design and styling.
The first car was exhibited at the 1904 Paris Salon
1906 SA des Automobiles Delaunay Belleville was formed to look after car manufacture.
Most of the models were powered by inline-six engines, with a few four cylinder engines. A pressurized system of pumps and oil ways for lubrication was one of the first of its kind, most cars of the day having a drip system.
1914 Barbarou, technical director, having developed a range of luxury models with engines known for their absence of vibrations, moved onto a new manufacturer, Lorraine-Dietrich.
By the late 1920s the Delaunay-Belleville had lost its prestige and converted to truck and military vehicles production.
1936 the previously separate car company was merged with the Delaunay Belleville parent.
1946 The St. Denis factory was sold to Robert de Rovin who used it to make minicars.
Steam Engines
1904 Delaunay Belleville exhibited a 1500 HP six-cylinder quadruple expansion engine at the St. Louis International Exhibition.[3], fed by a Belleville water-tube boiler; it was directly connected to a three-phase alternator of 1000 kilowatts, built by the Societe d'Eclairage Electrique, of Paris.
Aircraft
WWI Built several aeroplane designs, including designs by Henri Coanda.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia