STEAM CAR WARMS UP BUYERS AT RETROMOBILE: by Michael Rose
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Gary Evans,
Monday, March 12 2007
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Page 2 of 4  The De Dion was the oldest car on sale and its price of $931,547 was more than five times the estimate. As the world searches for an alternative to petrol power it was interesting to be reminded that at one time steam and electric cars had the edge over gasoline.
It was also a reminder that the automobile business was started in much the same way as the computer business. Much of what we call the car business today was begun by individuals experimenting with the wild ideas that consumed them. In 1882 MM Bouton and Trépardoux operated a modest engineering workshop in Paris where they made models and scientific toys for the firm of Giroux. Count de Dion became a Marquis on the death of his father in 1901 and, as a young man-about-town, was organizing a ball with the Duke de Morny and went to Giroux's shop to buy presents for the ladies. His attention was taken by a beautifully made small steam engine and he immediately went to find the makers. This somewhat capricious sequence of events soon saw Trépardoux and Bouton working for the Count at a workshop in Puteaux, on the north-western edge of Paris. This resulted in the creation of a lightweight steam generator, and then the construction of a carriage to demonstrate the practicality of this new boiler. The different abilities of the members of the triumvirate were suited to the tasks at hand. The Count took the initiative in driving development forward, while Trépardoux, who was a graduate engineer provided the scientific and theoretical background which Bouton, as a brilliant intuitive engineer was able to turn into practical results. Initially the business traded as Trépardoux et Cie. Opinions vary as to why this name was chosen. Like many inventions the boiler design was simple in concept and construction, consisting of a number of vertical cylinders of diminishing size made of wrought-iron sheet that stood one inside another like a set of Russian dolls. The outer layer held the water, the central tube served as the hopper for the coke-feed to the fire grate at the base of the boiler and from here the hot gasses rose to heat the upward sloping water tubes, the steam from these feeding into the space surrounding the central tube. 
To demonstrate the efficiency of this lightweight and quick-steaming boiler a four-wheeled vehicle was made in 1883, this having the boiler between a pair of large front wheels that were each driven by belt from a separate engine, while central-pivot rear-wheel steering was used. Experience gained from this building this prototype machine led to a number of other designs being built. Improvements were made to the boiler, notably the fitting of a downward exhaust flue that carried both smoke and spent steam out and away to the rear. In the latter part of 1886 De Dion felt confident enough to produce a sales catalogue of the firm's vehicles and one of these was a lightweight quadricycle with back to back seating. It was capable of carrying four people with the drive from the two separate engines to a pair of closely placed rear wheels. At first glance it gave the appearance of a tricycle layout.
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