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Envoi d'un message : ROYAL DE LUXE 016_1

From: Valetoux <valetoux~at~wanadoo.fr>
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:07:21 +0100 (Paris, Madrid)
To: <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

Dear Peter,
Yes, this article about Bollée is exciting, as a black/white syncoped film
of our grant-grantdadies.
But the reality is different as nobody created something from nothing. Very
often, an industrial realisation is the sum of years and years of research
done by very different peoples thinking about the same subject with
different approaches.
Bollée was one of those men of progress, but about the wagons and
locomobiles, he was certainly not the first one.
Officially, the first application of steam to mobile was done by "Cugnot"
thinking his "fardier" (wagon for artillery) in 1765 and building the first
prototype in 1769, and the second in 1771 (still visible in Paris!).
At the begining of the XIX century, many people have worked on application
of steam on the roads and on the fields.
In my archives, i have a small article of newspaper telling the efforts of
builders to make a satisfactory locomobile replacing horses.
British ingeneers were very famous for locomotives and England was very far
ahead for this sector of trains.
But due to the importance of agriculture in France, locomobile (mainly used
for fields working) were also progressing on the continent.
In different reviews, you can read around 1840/1850 about progress in this
technology.
One of those tremendous people thinking days and nights about technology was
one guy you know the name: J.F. Conseil! He his well-known in France for
works abour salvage and submarines. I have explained in my book, he helped
Jules Verne to understand the submarine technology. That's the reason there
is a guy in 20000 leagues...called...Conseil! The same creator has invented
a locomobile, called "La Neustrienne" (Neustrie was the origin of Normandy)
tested near Rouen. This "thing" was proceeding at 15km/ph....During the
international exhibition of Paris in 1867, there was a complete sector
dediced to locomobiles.
As you know, Jules was reading a lot of scientific reviews. So, one more
time, Jules has got all the technical informations necessary to know this
sector and imagine an original story. As he wrote "the steam-house" around
1880, it is still possible that he met Bollée (but no letters or achives for
the moment), but it is sure he read about his wagons. One thing is
surprising: Jules does not speak about motors, a new technology at that
time. The fascination of steam power, when he was young and visit the Indret
Marine shipyard... maybe?
I hope those ideas will amuse you and give you part of the answer.
And i join a picture of an other elephant, directly issued from Jules'book,
built by the theater troop "Royal de Luxe" in Nantes. Really amazing...but
fully hydraulic!
yours faithfully,
 
Valetoux Philippe
Le Havre/France
 

Received on Thu 24 Jan 2008 - 22:59:35 IST

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