There is a long and fevered debate amongst those who can be bothered about such things, about who really invented the parallelogram derailleur.
This is a hot topic only because it is often written that Tullio Campagnolo’s 1951 Gran Sport was the first parallelogram design - when it clearly wasn’t. The fact that the Campagnolo Gran Sport completely redefined the derailleur world (something that earlier designs clearly failed to do) is often conveniently forgotten.
To my mind the list of contenders for the rather unimportant title of 'inventor of the parallelogram derailleur' includes:
- First out of the blocks, applying for French Patent # 763,536 in October 1933, is that man-about-cycling Gaston Rivierre. His patent clearly shows a parallelogram derailleur, but the drawings look as though they were scribbled on the back of a fag packet with a blunt pencil. They certainly do not look like detail technical drawings that have just been used to even manufacture a rough prototype.
- Then there is Lucien Juy of Simplex with his September 1934 French patent # 778,474 - but this was for a fork type design (and one that mounted on the chainstay) and so may not be able to claim to be a true ancestor of modern designs.
- Next is Charles Jeanmot of JIC with his December 1936 French Patent # 830,162, which includes highly modern looking parallelogram design with a sprung pulley cage with two pulley wheels. It differs from modern geometry only in that it mounts on the chainstay.
- Then Pierre Gardini, Georges Trottier and René Déchanet of Nivex, in November 1937, applied for their French Patent # 838,657. Their design had few distinctive new features over the 1936 JIC but it was properly sorted, manufactured in some volume and highly effective.
- A dark horse is Eugène Dhers whose January 1938 French Patent # 841,339 describes a very well sorted and detailed design.
- The first non-French contender is Karl Martin Alm of ORK in Sweden. He applied for French Patent # 879,291 in July 1940. Again his design is a single pulley model.
- For some Italian flavour, we must not forget Francesco Ghiggini who, according to Frank Berto, applied for Italian patents in 1937, 1938 and November 1941. Due to the neanderthal web presence of the Italian patents office, I have only been able to find a French patent that relates to the 1941 Italian patent (French Patent # 978,189). This shows a parallelogram derailleur that mounts at the dropout and has a single pulley wheel. Frank Berto claims that it was Ghiggini’s patents that were bought by Tullio Campagnolo in 1951.
- An finally there is a British entry; Leslie Bane of Constrictor with his October 1945 UK patent # 601,743. This was for an all aluminium design that, again, mounts at the rear dropout but has only one pulley wheel.
So who has the strongest claim to be the 'inventor of the parallelogram derailleur'? My answer would be either Gaston Rivierre or Charles Jeanmot of JIC, depending on how much you value vague concepts compared to real pieces of machinery.
The follow up question is who has a grip on the similar, but different, title of 'first manufacturer of a commercial parallelogram derailleur'. Here the contest may include:
Here the winner is clear - it's Nivex. A popular choice.
