Georges Tradée Bouton (1847–1938) was a French toymaker and engineer who with fellow Frenchman Jules-Albert de Dion founded the De Dion-Bouton company in 1883. The pair first worked together in 1882 to produce a self-propelled steam vehicle. The result gave birth to the company which, at the time, went under the name Trépardoux et Cie.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Georges_Bouton.jpg/220px-Georges_Bouton.jpg)
Bouton was the nominal winner of the 'world's first motor race' on 28 April 1887, when he drove a de Dion-Bouton vehicle 2 kilometers from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne. He was also the only competitor.
Personal life
editGeorges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux ran a 'scientific toys' shop in Léon, Landes. [1]
De Dion-Bouton
editThe genesis of De Dion-Bouton was in 1881 when de Dion saw a toy locomotive in a store window at "passage Léon" (covered passage in Paris) and asked the toymakers to build another. The engineers Georges Bouton and Charles Trépardoux had been making a bare living selling scientific toys, and Trépardoux had long dreamed of building a steam car, but could not afford it. Dion, who was inspired by steam railway locomotives,[1][2] could finance the work.[3] Trépardoux et Cie was formed in Paris in 1883. This became the de Dion-Bouton automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time, becoming well known for their quality, reliability, and durability.[4] However, both Bouton and Dion survived the company they had founded, as De Dion-Bouton went out of business in 1932.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Wise, p. 510.
- ^ G.N. Georgano, p. 27.
- ^ G.N. Georgano, p. 24.
- ^ Wise, pp. 511–4 passim