André-Gustave Citroën (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ɡystav sitʁɔɛn]; February 5, 1878 – July 3, 1935) was a French business leader and the founder of the French car company Citroën. He is also known for using double helical gears.
Life and career
André-Gustave Citroën was born in Paris in 1878. He was the fifth and last child of Jewish parents, Levie Citroën, a diamond merchant, and Masza Amelia Kleinman. He was a cousin of Sir A. J. Ayer, a British philosopher, who was the only son of his aunt Reine.
The Citroën family came from a grandfather in the Netherlands who sold tropical fruit and had the surname Limoenman, which means "lime man" in Dutch. His son later changed the name to Citroën, meaning "lemon" in Dutch. In 1873, the family moved to Paris. A diacritic mark, called a tréma, was added to the surname by one of André’s teachers, changing it to Citroën.
André’s father died by suicide when André was six years old. It is believed that his father’s business failed in a diamond mine in South Africa. As a young boy, André was inspired by the works of Jules Verne and saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower during the World Exhibition, which made him want to become an engineer.
Citroën graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1900. That same year, he visited Poland, the birthplace of his mother, who had recently died. During his trip, he saw a carpenter using gears with a fishbone structure. These gears were quieter and worked better.
Citroën bought the patent for these gears for very little money, leading to the invention of double helical gears. The pattern of these gears is said to have inspired the double chevron logo of the Citroën brand. In 1908, he became chairman of the automotive company Mors, where he was very successful.
During World War I, Citroën was responsible for mass-producing weapons. He gained an international reputation as a leading production expert in France. His work was closely connected to the Renault plant, which employed 35,000 workers to make munitions during the war.
In 1919, Citroën was one of the directors of the Société Française Doble in Paris, where the company aimed to build steam-powered cars. Other directors included Paul Sicault of Renault, M. Mery of Turcat-Mery, and M. Delage, an automobile designer. The design was not practical, so Citroën moved on to other projects.
In 1919, Citroën founded the Citroën automobile company. By the early 1930s, it had become the fourth-largest automobile manufacturer in the world. However, the high costs of developing the advanced front-wheel drive unibody Traction Avant and rebuilding the factory to produce it led to bankruptcy in 1934. The company was taken over by Michelin, a tire manufacturer that had supplied tires for Citroën cars. The Traction Avant improved sales after initial problems and remained in production until 1957, except during World War II.
Citroën died in Paris, France, from stomach cancer in 1935. He was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery, and the funeral was led by the Chief Rabbi of Paris.
Posthumous recognition
On October 9, 1958, during the Motor Show, city officials renamed the Quai de Javel to "Quai André Citroën" to honor the changes that had taken place in the area. The 15th arrondissement, once known for its market gardening, was chosen by Citroën as the site for Europe’s first large-scale car production plant two generations earlier.
This was the second time the street received a name honoring a person. In 1843, it was named "Quai de Javel" to recognize the chemical factory that produced industrial acids, including the well-known "Eau de Javel," commonly called bleach.
In 1992, the public garden "Parc André Citroën" in Paris was named after him. The park was built on the site of Citroën’s former car manufacturing plant, which operated until the 1970s. The plant was demolished between 1976 and 1984. In 1998, André Citroën was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.