Vocation : Engineer : Mechanical

Jean-Albert Grégoire (7 July 1899 in Paris – 19 August 1992) was one of the great pioneers of the front-wheel-drive car. He contributed to the development of front-wheel-drive vehicles in two ways. The first way was in developing and promoting the Tracta joint (designed by his friend Pierre Fenaille), which was, until manufacturing techniques had progressed sufficiently to allow the successful manufacture of the constant velocity joints commonly in use today, the preferred choice of most manufactures of vehicles that had driven front wheels. Tracta joints were used by many of the pioneers of front-wheel drive, including DKW between 1929 and 1936 and Adler from 1932 to 1939 as well as the cars designed by J A Grégoire that will be mentioned later. The Tracta joint was fitted to most of the military vehicles that had driven front wheels used by most of the combatants in the Second World War. They included Laffly and Panhard in France, Alvis and Daimler in the UK and Willys in the United States that used the joint in a quarter of a million Jeeps and many others. This was to continue after the war, the first Land Rover being so fitted.
The second way he contributed to the development of front-wheel-drive vehicles was in designing and in some cases manufacturing front-wheel-drive cars. The Tracta Gephi was his first design and it was this car that inspired him to design a constant velocity joint. All subsequent Tracta cars, and there were about two hundred manufactured between 1927 and 1932, used it. The first of these was raced at Le Mans in 1927 completing the 24-hour race. The Tracta cars used engines from S.C.A.P. from 1100 cc to 1600 cc, and Continental and Hotchkiss, from 2700 cc to 3300 cc.
J.A. Grégoire designed an 11cv 6-cylinder car for Donnet in 1932. Only four prototypes were produced, one being shown at the Paris Salon of 1932 before Donnet went into liquidation. He then worked with Lucian Chenard to design two cars for Chenard et Walcker. They were of advanced design but were not a commercial success. In 1937 he designed the Amilcar Compound, produced by Hotchkiss from 1938 to the Second World War, by which time 681 examples had been made. It was constructed using another of Grégoire's ideas, a cast Alpax (light alloy) chassis frame. Other advanced features were rack and pinion steering and all independent suspension. But the car had its bad points, cable brakes and gear-change linkage and a side-valve engine although the latter was still common at this time. An overhead valve version came later. During the Second World War he secretly worked with his design team at his works at Asnières-sur-Seine on a small car the Aluminium "Francais-Grégoire". It had a chassis-body frame of light alloy, front-wheel drive, an air-cooled flat twin engine and independent suspension on all wheels. A four-seat car weighing only 880 pounds (400 kg) and could reach 60 mph (97 km/h) while returning 70 mpg. This design was to form the basis of the 1950 "Dyna" Panhard. In 1950 another Hotchkiss car the Hotchkiss Grégoire, was produced again with an alloy chassis and body. With independent suspension on all four wheels and fitted with a water-cooled flat four engine of 2 litres, ahead of the front axle, it was fast, with a top speed of 94 mph (151 km/h), but the car was expensive and only 250 examples were made by 1954. In 1956 Grégoire produced a two-seat convertible with a 2.2-litre supercharged flat-four engine producing 130 PS (96 kW; 128 hp) and, as in the case of the cars mentioned previously, front-wheel drive. All ten cars made were fitted with bodies designed and built by Henri Chapron.

All the cars mentioned previously were front-wheel-drive cars. Grégoire also designed a couple of rear-wheel-drive machines: the first electric car with the machinery in the mid-engine position and a gas turbine car, the experimental SOCEMA-Grégoire with a front-engined, rear-wheel drive layout.

Niklaus Riggenbach (21 May 1817 – 25 July 1899) was an Alsatian-born Swiss mechanic, railway engineer, politician and inventor of the rack railway system as well as the counter-pressure brake. Riggenbach was primarily known for introducing his railway system and using it within the tourism industry such as on the Rigi, Pilatus or even on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in India. In 1878 he was the recipient of a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. He served on the Cantonal Council of Solothurn from 1866 to 1868.

Jean Daninos (2 December 1906 – 13 October 2001) was a Greek-French constructor of luxury cars Facel Vega, born in Paris.
The brother of the Pierre Daninos, Jean Daninos had founded the company FACEL (Forges et Ateliers des Constructions d'Eure-et-Loir, forge and construction workshop for the department of Eure-et-Loir) in 1939 with hopes of one day designing and manufacturing his own automobile. An engineer, he had previously collaborated with Citroën on the Traction Avant and had worked in the aviation field.
The FACEL company produced the bodies of custom cars like the Panhard Dyna cabriolet and the Ford Comète.He had also a long time business partnership with Henri Théodore Pigozzi CEO of Simca. All the stylish Aronde sports derivatives (coupes and convertibles called PLein Ciel and Océane, targeted for well to do women customers ) were manufactured by Facel.
However Pigozzi and Simca chose cheaper and more trendy Carrozeria Bertone for the later the Simca 1000 derivatives (Simca 1200S) and ended the Simca partnership. The first Facel Vega model, designed by Daninos himself, debuted in 1954, equipped with a Chrysler engine. Daninos counted among his clients celebrities including (Tony Curtis, Ava Gardner) and racing drivers (Stirling Moss, Maurice Trintignant). Several sports car models followed until the company's demise in the mid-1960s. During ten years of production, FACEL had manufactured 3,000 automobiles.
Daninos died in Cannes at age 94 from cancer. He was buried with his relatives in Jouy-en-Josas.

Benoît Fourneyron (31 October 1802 – 31 July 1867) was a French engineer, born in Saint-Étienne, Loire. Fourneyron made significant contributions to the development of water turbines.
Benoît Fourneyron was educated at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne, a nearby engineering school that had recently opened. After he graduated in 1816, he spent the next few years in mines and ironworks.
Around this time, a number of French engineers—including some of Fourneyron's former teachers—were starting to apply the mathematical techniques of modern science to the ancient mechanism called the waterwheel.
For centuries, waterwheels had been used to convert the energy of streams into mechanical power, mostly for milling grain. But the new machines of the Industrial Revolution required more power, and by the 1820s there was enormous interest in making waterwheels more efficient.

Léon Levavasseur (8 January 1863 – 26 February 1922) was a French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and liquid engine cooling. Primarily associated with the Antoinette company, he continued to experiment with aircraft design after the company went bankrupt.

Louis Delaunay-Belleville (20 November 1843, Corbeil – 10 February 1912, Cannes) was a French engineer.

Paul Decauville (1846–1922) was a French engineer and businessman. He was also mayor of Evry-Petit Bourg and senator from Seine-et-Oise.
He is the founder of a manufacturing company that bears his name (Decauville, established in 1875), producing industrial railways, locomotives, and cars. By extension, the name is also used for his invention of a narrow gauge track railway system, the Decauville system, through the vast business acumen of its promoter. His name was also used for a subsidiary, Voitures automobiles Decauville, producing early automobiles. Decauville's name is further associated with the towns of Corbeil-Essonnes and Evry, Essonne, on whose territories the company Decauville erected its factories, which he directed until 1885.
He founded a construction company in 1910 to exploit the patents it had obtained. This company, Comptoir d'outillage et de matériel à air comprimé (Commercial establishment for tools and compressed air equipment), survived until the late 1980s. Another of his companies, Emidecau, specializing in hydraulic presses, still exist.
In politics, Paul Decauville was mayor of Evry-Petit Bourg from 1881 to 1892. He was also Senator of Seine-et-Oise from 1890 to 1900, member of the Board of Customs, Secretary from 1897 to 1899. After leaving Paris, Paul Decauville served as mayor of the town of Saint-Léger (Manche).

Zora Arkus-Duntov (December 25, 1909 – April 21, 1996) was a Belgian-born American engineer whose work on the Chevrolet Corvette earned him the nickname "Father of the Corvette.": 6  He is sometimes erroneously referred to as the inventor of the Corvette, whereas that title belongs to Harley Earl. He was also a professional racing driver, appearing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times and taking class wins in 1954 and 1955.

Alphonse Eugène Beau de Rochas (9 April 1815, Digne-les-Bains, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence – 27 March 1893, Vincennes) was a French engineer. He was the first to patent the four-stroke engine in 1862, but he did not build one and the idea was subsequently developed by Nicolaus Otto and other engineers.

Dolly Sinatra (Italian pronunciation: [siˈnaːtra]; born Natalina Maria Vittoria Garaventa; [nataˈliːna maˈriːa ɡaraˈvɛnta]; December 26, 1896 – January 6, 1977) was an Italian woman, mother of American singer Frank Sinatra. She was born in Lumarzo (Province of Genoa), in northern Italy; she immigrated to the United States as an infant.
Dolly married Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra in 1913, and in 1915 the couple's only child, Frank Sinatra, was born. Dolly was influential in the Sinatras' neighborhood in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they later operated a tavern during Prohibition. She became involved in politics and worked as a midwife. It is believed that she also provided an illegal abortion service in the area. She died in a plane crash in 1977.