Léon Bollée

Inventor of the first calculating machine, Bollée began work in 1887 on three calculating machines: the Direct Multiplier, the Calculating Board, and the Arithmographe. Bollée's Multiplier was the second successful direct-multiplying calculator (the first was Ramón Verea's) and it won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Three versions of the large multiplier and several smaller machines were developed by Bollée, and the devices were patented in France, Belgium, Germany, the USA, and Hungary.

The Léon Bollée "Voiturette" first appeared in France in 1895. The vehicle was created by Léon Bollée, who was a son of the most important pioneer of steam road vehicles in France, Amédée Bollée père. Powered by its air-cooled, single-cylinder 650cc (3hp) engine and using hot-tube ignition and three forward gears, the Voiturette was at the time the fastest petrol-engined vehicle on the road.

The vehicle had a tubular frame with a steel footwell at the front to protect passengers' feet from puddles on the road, while the driver sat at the rear. In 1899 the vehicle was superseded by a four-wheeled vehicle, and in 1901 the design rights were sold to Darracq. Even though the Léon Bollée name temporarily disappeared—re-emerging between 1903 and 1933—the name "Voiturette" lived on.

Bollée was the first person in France to create a small petrol car, and so he called it "Voiturette," distinguishing it from steam-powered vehicles. The name, however, was taken up by both the trade and public in France as a general term for a small light car, and so it continued to be used.