170 - Auguste Désiré DUFRANE-MACART (1836 - ) [1] [2]
DUFRANE, was born in 1836, in Farmières (Belgium). He married Céleste MACART around 1858 and took on a double family name. [3]
The couple lived in Mons in 1869, in Antwerpen in 1875 and in Raincy (France) in 1896.
DUFRANE was an entrepreneur de travaux publics and had invented a new system for tram rails which was successfully applied in a number of large cities, such as
1873 in Gand
1878 in Antwerpen (track Antwerpen-Boom)
1886 in Rotterdam
1888 in Seine et Oise, France (track Raincy to Montfermeil)
DUFRANE obtained a patent for his system in Belgium on 14 April 1875, under the title of « nouveau système de rails pour tramway ».
The publication «Handbuch für spezielle Eisenbahn-Technik» of 1878 described DUFRANE’S system as follows: [4]
In Antwerpen hat Ingenieur Dufrane eine Schiene von Walzeisen, ca. 23 Kilogr. in Anwendung gebracht, welche in Entfernungen von je 1 m mit Querschwellen unterstützt wird, in dem die Schiene auf einer Gussunterlagplatte liegt und durch zwei Winkel von Walzeisen, mit einer Schraube verbunden, seitlich gestützt wird.
A Belgian catalogue of the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1878, in which DUFRANE took part, presented the following information on the latter’s business: [5]
Voie de tramway.
Le but principal de ce rail est la suppression des longrines en bois. Ce rail a quinze Centimètres de hauteur: il est profilé pour maintenir le pavé à distance et obtenir une rainure droite, régulière et parallèle à son champignon, permettant au bourrelet des roues un passage facile. Plus de 200 kilomètres de voies sont construits ou en voie de construction au moyen du système de l’exposant, notamment à Anvers, à Dusseldorf, Cologne, Metz, Mannheim, etc., etc.
On 28 September 1875 DUFRANE applied for a brevet d’importation in Luxembourg with the title of:
Nouveau système de rails de tramway permettant la suppression des longrines en bois
The patent application was recorded in the Patent Register but no administrative file has been kept in the National Archives and no patent was granted either.
________________________________________
[1] FamilySearch database (G43D-G61)
[2] The Patent Register lists Dufrane’s first name as Joseph, which is probably incorrect, unless it is the first name of a Dufrane son. In any case, the inventor of the patent application was called Auguste Désiré Dufrane.
[3] His business partner was François Macart, probably his brother in law.
[4] Handbuch für spezielle Eisenbahn-Technik, Edmund Heusiger von Waldegg, 1878, page 328
[5] Exposition universelle de Paris, 1878, Section belge, Catalogue officiel, page 170
(10/02/2021)
