DISRAELI DOCUMENTS
see also French Patent # 425,800 - Audouard 1911
see also French Patent # 425,800 - Audouard 1911
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1912 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1912 - Audouard ad
see also L'Auto 06/04/1913 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 06/04/1913 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens 08/1913 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 08/1913 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1914 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1914 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1914 - Pour le Cyclotourisme
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1914 - Pour le Cyclotourisme
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1914 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1914 - Audouard ad
see also L'Auto 03/05/1914 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 03/05/1914 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 04/05/1914 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 04/05/1914 - Le Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 05/05/1914 - Echos du Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also L'Auto 05/05/1914 - Echos du Championnat de la Polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens 05/1914 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 05/1914 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 06/1919 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 06/1919 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1920 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1920 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens - 12/1920 La Bicyclette de Tourisme au Concours des Voges
see also TCF Rev Mens - 12/1920 La Bicyclette de Tourisme au Concours des Voges
see also TCF Rev Mens - 12/1920 La Bicyclette de Tourisme en 1921
see also TCF Rev Mens - 12/1920 La Bicyclette de Tourisme en 1921
see also TCF Rev Mens - 07/1921 Troisième championnat de la bicyclette polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens - 07/1921 Troisième championnat de la bicyclette polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens 08/1922 - La Semaine d'Auvergne
see also TCF Rev Mens 08/1922 - La Semaine d'Auvergne
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1923 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 04/1923 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1923 Les résultats du 5e Championnat de la Bicyclette polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1923 Les résultats du 5e Championnat de la Bicyclette polymultipliée
see also French Patent # 575,191 - Auduoard 1924
see also French Patent # 575,191 - Auduoard 1924
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1924 L’équipement des brevetés cyclotouristes
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1924 L’équipement des brevetés cyclotouristes
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1924 Le 6e Critérium de la Bicyclette polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens - 06/1924 Le 6e Critérium de la Bicyclette polymultipliée
see also TCF Rev Mens - 08/1924 La Semaine cycliste du Dauphiné
see also TCF Rev Mens - 08/1924 La Semaine cycliste du Dauphiné
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1929 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens 03/1929 - Audouard ad
see also TCF Rev Mens - 02/1934 Chronique cyclotouristique
see also TCF Rev Mens - 02/1934 Chronique cyclotouristique
see also Cyclo - Origine du dérailleur 1959
see also Cyclo - Origine du dérailleur 1959
Audouard was the brand of Société Audouard et Cie, a small bicycle maker based in St Etienne, France. During the early 20th century the company seems to have been owned and run by one Antoine Audouard.
Audouard published a patent in 1911 (see French patent # 425,800) describing a derailleur system that was a direct descendant of Edmund Hodgkinson’s Gradient and several Terrot designs. It used a four speed cassette of cogs at the rear that moved from side to side, while a fixed pulley cage effected the gear change and took up the slack in the chain. Unlike the Gradient, and more like Terrot’s later Modèle HT, there were no cunning, but fragile, chain lifting devices - the chain was physically rammed from gear to gear - in the same way as a modern derailleur.
This derailleur system seems to have been produced from 1911, and performed splendidly at the Concours de ATF in August 1911. From then until the start of the First World War, Audouard seems to have focussed on a single model - an 8 speed bicycle using this 4 speed derailleur system and a double chainwheel. It appears to have been a very practical and well sorted machine that won many awards.
After the end of the First World War Audouard adverts offer a smörgåsbord of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 speed models. I am not sure exactly what gear systems were used on all of these, but you could certainly guess that the 4 and 8 speed options used Audouard’s sliding cassette derailleur system. Perhaps the various permutations of a single and double chainwheel and a single freewheel and a three speed hub gear could account for the 2, 3 and 6 speed options.
In 1923 the picture changes. An Audouard advert of the time describes 2, 4 and 8 speed Touring options and a 2 speed racing system. You could guess that the touring options were, respectively, a double chainwheel and a single freewheel, a single chainwheel and the traditional Audouard 4 speed system and a double chainwheel and the Audouard 4 speed system. The racing system is likely to use the brand new Audouard Le Crack. This is a conventional two speed design, in that the derailleur moved laterally and the cogs did not, and is described in French patent # 575,191, applied for by Antoine Audouard in 1924.
In April 1924, at the sixth Critérium de la Bicyclette Polymultipliée, Audouard bicycles competed with either the Audouard Le Crack in plain vanilla 2 speed form, or as a 2 by 2 set up with a double chainwheel.
Later in 1924, at La Semaine du Dauphiné, Audouard bicycles are recorded as competing fitted with one of two different derailleur systems, a 2 by 2 Audouard Le Crack system or a 2 by 5 system that I guess to be a development of the original Audouard 4 speed system with the sliding cassette.
By 1929 Audouard is advertising the Audouard Le Crack as either a two speed or a three speed derailleur. The classic Audouard sliding cassette system is not mentioned.
By 1934 Audouard derailleurs are just a memory - Caminade is described as ‘reviving’ the Audouard concept with its new design involving a laterally fixed ‘derailleur’ and a cassette that moves from side to side.
