Decauville

Decauville 1898-1910

Ste des Voitures Automobiles Decauville, Petit Bourg, Seine-et-Oise, France.

The Societe Decauville was founded in 1854 and engaged in a wide variety of engineering activities, but their speciality was narrow-gauge railway locomotives for branch lines and works use. At the end of 1897 a subsidiary company was formed to make a small car designed by Messrs Guedon and Cornilleau of Bordeaux, and this went into production in 1898. It was of very light construction, with a tubular steel frame and powered by two 1.75hp De Dion Bouton engines on the same crankcase, mounted under the seat and driving the rear axle through a 2-speed gearbox. Front suspension was independent, by a trasverse spring and sliding pillars, and was the first known example of Independent Front Suspension on a petrol-engined car. However there was no rear suspension at all. The car seated three, one seat facing the other two.
The little Decauville was a classic example of a voiturette, but as this name had been adopted by Leon Bollee, Decauville chose the name voiturelle for their little car. Production for 1898 was set at 600 cars, but only about 100 were delivered that year. Improved models were made in 1899, incorporating a water-cooled engine, rear suspension and a 3 speed gearbox. A larger engine of 5hp was available. The voiturelles proved very popular, took part in town-to-town races and were made under licence in Germany by Wartburg and in Italy by Marchand.
In 1900 the engine was moved to the front, under a round bonnet with a dashboard radiator. It was now an 8hp in line twin of 1416cc, with a 4 speed gearbox and shaft drive. It was followednby a 2090cc 10hp twin, with fully floating rear axle, one of which was bought by Henry Royce. He used several aspects of its design in the first Royce car of 1904. The voiturelle was dropped at the end of 1902, and from then onwards Decauvilles were conventional cars, with dual ignition and chain drive on the larger models. A 12/14hp twin was listed until 1905, but thereafter all Decauvilles had four cylinders; 350 cars were delivered in 1905, which was probably Decauville's best year. Trucks and buses were also made at this time. Five models werte catalogued in 1906, from 2.7 to 9.2 litres. Again there was licence production of some models in Germany and Italy, this time by Ehrhardt in Germany and by Lux in Italy. Production dwindled in the last few years as the cars failed to keep up with current developments. The last cars were probably made in 1909 0r 1910, and the automobile division of Decauville was closed in 1911.