Gardner-Serpollet 1900 5HP Steam Double Phaeton on London to Brighton VCR 2010

Lord Hillingdons PTL Serpollet Phaeton 6067367253

Gardner-Serpollet was a French manufacturer of steam-powered cars in the early 20th century.

Léon Serpollet Léon Serpollet (4 October 1858 – 1 February 1907) was a French engineer and developer of flash steam boilers and steam automobiles. Léon Serpollet was born in Culoz, in the Ain department of France in 1859, son of the carpenter August ...

is credited with inventing and perfecting the

flash boiler A flash boiler is a type of water-tube boiler. The tubes are close together and water is pumped through them. A flash boiler differs from the type of monotube steam generator in which the tube is permanently filled with water. In a flash boiler, ...

in the late 1800s.Full Steam Ahead – Leon Serpollet
The Old Motor, February 4, 2014 Retrieved July 9, 2015 Serpollet produced his own automobiles under the name Serpollet and Gardner-Serpollet until his death in 1907.

Origins

Léon Serpollet was born in the

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

department of France, and went on to establish his factory with his brother Henri on the rue des Cloÿs in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, a location that has become the ''Parc Léon Serpollet'' today. In 1886 the brothers formed ''La Société des Moteurs Serpollet Frères'' in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

Flash boiler

Leon Serpollet and his brother Henri, early French steam car pioneers, worked together to perfect the flash tube boiler that introduced an efficient and new way to produce steam. The exact date that their innovative system was first built appears to be unknown, but after further development it went on to make steam power in an automobile more practical because of its advanced design and quick steam output. They made a steam tricycle in the late eighteen-eighties to test the steam engines and it soon convinced others of the merit of the design. In 1896

patented the

, which made steam a much more practical source of power for an automobile. The oil-fired flash boiler fed steam to a very advanced four-cylinder enclosed engine similar to the contemporary petrol engine design including poppet valves and an enclosed crankcase.

1894 Paris-Rouen

On July 22, 1894 four Serpollet vehicles competed in the '' Le Petit Journal Contest for Horseless Carriages'' from Paris to Rouen. Maurice Le Blant finished 14th and Ernest Archdeacon finished 16th, but 'De Prandiéres' and Étienne le Blant stopped en route.Gallica, Online Archive of France. 22 July 1894. ''Le Petit Journal''
/ref> Image:Petit Journal 22 7 1894 Serpollet steam voiture completes Paris-Rouen.jpg, Serpollet
steam car
''De Prandiéres'' did not finish
''Le Petit Journal - Contest for Horseless Carriages'', Paris-Rouen.
'' Le Petit Journal''
Sunday July 22, 1894 Image:Petit_Journal_22_7_1894_vapeur_Serpollet_voiture_a_7_places_completes_Paris-Rouen.jpg, Serpollet
steam car with 7 seats
Ernest Archdeacon finished 16th
''Le Petit Journal - Contest for Horseless Carriages'', Paris-Rouen.
'' Le Petit Journal''
Sunday July 22, 1894 Image:Petit_Journal_22_7_1894_Voiture_Chastel_et_David_vapeur_Serpollet_competes_in_Paris-Rouen.jpg, Chastel et David Serpollet
steam
Étienne le Blant did not finish
''Le Petit Journal - Contest for Horseless Carriages'', Paris-Rouen.
'' Le Petit Journal''
Sunday July 22, 1894

Gardner-Serpollet formed

In 1898 the brothers met Frank Gardner, a wealthy American. They formed the Gardner-Serpollet Company which began producing cars in 1900. A 1903 Gardner-Serpollet is on display at

Larz Anderson Auto Museum Larz Anderson Auto Museum is located in the Anderson Carriage House on the grounds of Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, Massachusetts and is the oldest collection of motorcars in the United States. The museum is a non-profit educational instituti ...

in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The Easter Egg

Besides being an inventor and manufacturer, Leon Serpollet became the first driver of a non-electrically powered car to hold the

Land Speed Record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

. His ovoid steam car ''Œuf de Pâques'' (Easter Egg) reached a speed of over the flying kilometre on the

Promenade des Anglais The ''Promenade des Anglais'' (; Niçard: ''Camin dei Anglés''; meaning "English Walkway") is a wikt:en:promenade, promenade along the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Nice, France. It extends from the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, airp ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, France on April 13, 1902, exceeding the 1899 record of Camille Jenatzy's ''

La Jamais Contente ''La Jamais Contente'' ( en, The Never Contented) was the first road vehicle to go over . It was a Belgian electric vehicle with a light-alloy torpedo-shaped bodywork and batteries. The high position of the driver and the exposed chassis und ...

''.

References

External links

{{commonscatinline
Land Speed Record
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1886 1886 establishments in France Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Steam cars Manufacturing companies based in Paris Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1907 1907 disestablishments in France