DISRAELI DOCUMENTS
This is a fairly run-of-the-mill advert - all text and no pictures. But it does indicate that the Chaluret 93 was introduced some time before April 1944.
One other noteworthy feature is that the rider who is listed as winning the Randonneurs category in the 1944 Criterium de la Poly is none other than Raymond Bon - who went on to develope the classy Spirax brand of derailleurs. In 1939 Raymond Bon applied for French Patent # 849,729 for a derailleur sporting an extravagantly shaped pulley cage and spiral pulley movement very similar to that used on the Chaluret 93. I would bet good money that Raymond designed the Chaluret 93 and was riding his own beloved design in the 1944 Poly.
However, it is worth noting that Cyclo also ran an advert in the very same edition of L'Auto, which claimed that Raymond Bon was using a Cyclo derailleur. Hmmm, vay-rry-in-terr-est-ing! Perhaps Raymond had a Cyclo front derailleur and a Chaluret 93 on the rear!
(Source gallica.bnf.fr/ Bibliothèque nationale de France)
