Adolphe Kégresse

Adolphe Kégresse ( born June 20, 1879 in Héricourt, Haute -Saône, † February 9, 1943 in Croissy -sur -Seine ) was a French engineer and designer. He was co-inventor of the halftrack.

Life

Kégresse immigrated at a young age to Russia and was at the court of Tsar Nicholas II responsible for the operation of agricultural equipment. Here he improved and perfected the idea of ​​the caterpillar drive. This has been used only in military and was very slow and prone to failure. After his return to France Kégresse worked for the factory Citroen and developed the first half-track vehicles that were produced for civilian use. He developed a drive that is called a half-track or Ansteckraupe. What was new in this invention that have been mounted in place of the rear wheels caterpillars. The first model of this type was the model B12. Initially it was produced by the joint venture Autochenille Citroën Hinstin - Kégresse, 1920 André Citroën acquired the patent of Kégresse.

Transmission

1939 reported Kégresse to the first patents for a type dual clutch transmission, a year before the Darmstadt Professor Rudolf Franke, who made a similar design. Only in the 1980s, the invention of Porsche under the name PDK (Porsche Double Clutch Transmission ) has been realized.