Made in Belgium by A. WAFFLARD, rue bois Gotha 19 Liége, from 1899-1908 using engines from Fafnir and Kelecom, and those of their own manufacture.
Eso hizo que me picara el bicho de la curiosidad y traté de averiguar algo sobre la marca y de este modelo en particular. La información es bastante escasa, sin embargo luego de enviarles mi inquietud a varios amigos de la Web, finalmente el "Vétéran Moto Club Belge" me tiró alguna pista. Me respondió Pierre Laumont, un socio que tiene una Eole monocilindrica con motor Fafnir y que conoce a un coleccionista en Bélgica que tiene un motor Eole cuatro cilindros y los moldes de madera que se necesitan para hacer las fundiciones del cuadro. Este socio me envió una foto de su Eole con la nieta de Wafflard en una exposición hace unos años atrás y también una foto de época (la única que se conoce) de la Eole Four.
Textualmente me comentaba que: "Para su información los Wafflard fueron inventores que patentaron todo tipo de invenciones, entre ellas varias que se aplicaron en las Eole. Parece que fueron a la quiebra cuando un barco que contenía una importante partida de motocicletas para Argentina fue hundido antes que se completara el pago!!!"
Eole era una histórica marca belga de motocicletas que existió entre 1899 y 1908. El nombre de la empresa era Ateliers A. Wafflard, Lieja.
En 1899 el Ingeniero Wafflard ya tenía patentada una motocicleta muy especial, donde toda la "parte activa" del motor estaba oculta en un tubo del cuadro. Desde afuera realmente no podía verse que se trataba de una motocicleta, se veía como una bicicleta normal. Incluso el tubo del cuadro en el que se situaba el motor no era mucho más grande que el de cualquier bicicleta. La transmisión era cardánica, así que tampoco había una correa o cadena visible.
Más tarde Wafflard produce motocicletas más convencionales, usando motores Antoine-Kelecom, Fafnir y también sus propios motores. Probablemente fue la primera motocicleta belga con suspensión. Las motocicletas que presentaron durante la exposición de Bruselas de 1906 estaban equipadas con motor Fafnir alemán y tenían horquillas con resortes.También encontré en un número de "The Motorcycle" de Diciembre de 1907 que mencionan la presentación en el Stanley Show de una Eole de 4 HP con suspensiones delantera y trasera, algo realmente de avanzada para la época, ¿Cómo llegó esta singular moto a Rosario? Una hipótesis probable que se me ocurre podría ser la presencia de empresarios belgas en nuestra ciudad, ya que a finales de 1905 el intendente Pinasco firma la concesión del transporte urbano a la "Compañía General de Tranvías Eléctricos del Rosario" (C.G.T.E.R.) de capitales belgas, concesión que duraría hasta 1932. La C.G.T.E.R. así como la "Societé d’Electicité de Rosario" eran empresas subsidiarias del mismo "holding" belga: SOFINA.
En marzo de 1906 llegaron al puerto de Rosario los primeros tranvías junto a varias toneladas de materiales, todo ello procedente de Bélgica. No es descabellado suponer que en alguno de estos viajes, entre todos los materiales y maquinarias, algún directivo belga haya decidido traer esta moto para su uso personal. La incógnita perdurara…. o nó.
A while ago, when I wrote about the Whiting V4, Rodrigo Peña reminded me that years ago I had sent some photos of a similarly configured engine
that was here in Rosario, in the museo del Instituto Politécnico Superior. According to the references that I found in Juan Von Martin's Historia del Motociclismo Argentino this motor belonged to a
Belgian Eole machine, a marque unknown to me until that moment. In addition, the ever-helpful Gustavo Agra offered his technical opinion
on the unusual engine, and he estimated a displacement
of around 750 cc, inlet valves by depression and fired by two magnetos.
Bitten by the curiosity bug I sought information
about the brand and this particular model. The data is scant, however after I contacted several friends, finally the "Veteran Motorcycle Club Belge" gave me a clue.
I corresponded with Pierre Laumont, a friend who has a single cylinder Eole with a Fafnir engine and who knows a collector in Belgium who has a four cylinder
Eole engine and wooden moulds required to build the frame. He sent me a photograph taken at an exhibition a few years ago showing his Eole accompanied by the granddaughter
of Wafflard, and also the only known period photograph of the Eole four.
I was saying, and I quote: "For your information Wafflard patented inventions of all kinds, including several that
were implemented in the Eole. It appears that they were bankrupted when a ship
that contained a shipment of motorcycles for Argentina was sunk
before payment had been completed."
Eole was a Belgian motorcycle which existed
between 1899 and 1908*. The name of the company was Ateliers A.
Wafflard, of Liège.
In 1899 the engineer Wafflard already had patented a most unusual motorcycle in which active parts of the engine were hidden within a section of the frame. From the outside one could not really see that it was a motorcycle - it looked like a regular bicycle. Even the frame tube concealing the
engine wasn't much larger than that of a bicycle and had shaft drive transmission so there was no drive chain visible.
Later Wafflard produced more conventional motorcycles, using engines
from Antoine Kelecom, Fafnir and also their own. It was probably the
first Belgian motorcycle with suspension. Motorcycles that appeared at Brussels Exhibition of 1906 were equipped with German Fafnir engines and had spring forks. I also found in a December 1907 number of "The Motor Cycle" a mention of the Stanley
show about an Eole 4 HP with front and rear suspension, something really
advanced for the day.
How did this unique motorcycle find its way to Rosario, Argentina? A likely scenario I can think of
could be the presence of Belgian entrepreneurs in our city, because at
the end of 1905 the mayor, Pinasco, signed a contract granting urban
transport rights to the Company General Electric Trams del Rosario
(C.G.T.E.R.). The Belgian firm which gained the contract, which lasted until 1932, as well as the Société D ' Electicité del Rosario were
subsidiary companies of the same Belgian holding company - Sofina.
In March 1906 Rosario greeted the arrival of a ship from Belgium bearing the first tram along with several tons of material. It is not
unreasonable to assume that with one of the shipments, among all the materials and machinery, some Belgian manager brought this
motorcycle into the country for his personal use. The puzzle will no doubt endure.
Notes 1. The well-researched book on Belgian motorcycles cited below gives manufacture dates of 1899 to 1908. Tragatsch says simply "c1900", and Henshaw "c1900-1907". Originally this page read "...1903 until 1914 when manufacture ended at the onset of the First World War", information based on correspondence accompanied by a photograph of an Eole dated 1913.
2. Sergio writes: "Eole was probably the first Belgian motorcycle with front and rear suspension. Look at the rear suspension, looks like the ASL ones (but surely not pneumatic)"
Sources: Sergio Scalerandi
Bibliography: A-Z Belgian Motos, Historia del Motociclismo Argentino, Tragatsch
Sat, 28 Oct 2017
rita at vanillia.eu
Eole 1908
Good morning, Your summary about A.Wafflard is very interesting, and quite accurate, as far as I know. However, being myself A. Wafflard's grand daughter, I can assure you that the lady on the picture is not who you say! I think it might be either his daughter, or his niece. It's important for us, his descendant, that Alphonse Wafflard would be recognized for what he was: an entrepreneur ahead of his time regarding advanced technology. His life has not been spared with hardships, from WWI to natural disaster, and he never became rich. But he kept going forward, trusting his imagination and his personal resources. A figure for us! Thanks for posting that information on Internet.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll try to contact the persons named in the extract.
My father Edgar (who was Alphonse's younger son) had continued his father's business by making washing machines and spinners (?) under the same brand name Eole. In the 80's he still had in his possession one of the motorcycle engines.
Unfortunately after he passed away in 1991, my Mom (today 95 yrs old) sold it to someone in Belgium, and she doesn't remember to whom. I would like very much to retrieve it, and would appreciate receiving any information that you would have about collectors in Belgium.
She also gave away some documents for an exhibition, that she never bothered getting back. Let's hope they're in good hands!
Best regards,
RITA WAFFLARD
Liege Belgium
Sat Nov 26 2016
James Marchment
Tout à fait remarquable, les Gars! Merci pour ce renseignement. Et la moteur FAFNIR! Toujours la MYTHOLOGIE. Eole, Dieu des Grecques, et FAFNIR des Sagas Icelandiques, les EDDAS, adapté au Moyen Age par Wolfram von Eschenbach en Der Nibelunglied, modifié enfin par Wagner, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN.
I'll avoid Old Norse, where Brünnhilde is no Walküre but a Princess of Iceland, Fafnir and Fasolt twins, Ice Giants from the age before Odin and all Asgard reigned in Heaven and over Middle Earth. Made mad by lust for the Rheingold, Fafnir murders his brother, and becomes a FIERY DRAGON, perfect for powering a mighty steed called EOLE, but slain by Siegfried with the Sword Nothung, mere millennia before Belgium's birth. Fafnir has been staged, flames and all, for near a century and a half at the Schauspielhaus.
No Fafnir, though, this clever, compact EOLE V4. Looks as modern as today (F-head aside). It'd grace a modern frame - bigger fins, all cam-operated valves ("operated BY depression" ie PAR rather than POUR = opened by atmospheric pressure OUTSIDE exceeding low cylinder pressure in Otto Cycle's intake downstroke.
ADD bigger fins or waterjackets, best modern metallurgy, e.f.i., and BY ZEUS, I'D TUNE AND RIDE ONE!
Fri Dec 14 2007
lydie_deceuninck at hotmaildot com
Eole of Belgium
Will anyone who have or know something about the Belgian motorcycle
EOLE make contact with me on lydie_deceuninck at hotmail.com
Belgium
If you have a query or information about Eole Motorcycles please contact us
