What is it? Quiz # 234 1884 Delamare-Deboutteville
These are the patent drawings of a French motorcar. The patent was signed off at 12 February 1884 making this as far as we know the oldest patented motorcar with combustion engine. (see the patent #160267 ; click). In the past and also during this quiz week there's been a lot of turmoil about this automobile. Whether it ever existed in the 'the flesh'? Did it ever run? Did it break down within thirty meters? Did it break in two parts during the test run? All totally irrelevant. Leonardo da Vinci's helicopter never flew! Still, being the very first or being among the very first, that is relevant! With a 1884 patent you have mighty fine papers in that discussion! Anyway we had no less than ten competitors & jury members who produced the right name: John Baker, Bernard Hunault, Bruno Estibals, Phil Cordery, Fredi Vollenweider, Dick Trenk, Ivo Steentjes, Henk Visscher, Szczepan Kolaczek, Malcolm Jeal. In the end we decided that the winner should be the man who wrote about the patent rather than about the car: congratulations to Jonathan Baker who reached jury membership after years and years of loyal quiz competition.
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Jonathan Baker's answer: "On 12th. February 1884 Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville and Leon Malandin patented the design for this vehicle under French patent number 160267. It was claimed that a vehicle to this design had run under its own power early in 1884, but it is also reported that the chassis broke in two on this run. To celebrate the centenary of the event, car shows were organised in France in 1984 under the title "100 ANS D'AUTOMOBILE FRANCAISE". Several replicas of the Delamare-Deboutteville were constructed for these celebrations."
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