Heritage Citroën Logo
Why Citroën's Logo Looks The Way It Does? What does it symbolize? French automaker Citroën is a company with a history as fascinating and bizarre as some of its cars—and the origin story behind its double chevron logo is actually very closely tied to its founder’s first claim to fame. But, to get to the logo, we actually have to go back further, before Citroën was a company and was still just a man. André Citroën was born in Paris on Feb. 5, 1878, to Jewish parents from Poland and the Netherlands. The family name was originally “Citroen,” which is Dutch for “lemon” because they were once in the business of selling fruit. The diaeresis (=the little dots above the “e”) was added to the name once the family moved to France. After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique near Paris 1900, Citroën was introduced to wooden double helical gears used for water-driven machinery. These gears were quiet when they ran and were able to transmit huge loads without damaging the wood they were made out of. Citroën then bought the rights to the invention of the herringbone gear from a relative in Poland and began manufacturing them in Paris out of steel, and, naturally, he named them after himself. While others might have called them of the herringbone type, [Citroën] has so persistently named them “[Citroën]” gears that the name has been accepted as part of the language in the countries using them. A herringbone gear (also called a double helical gear) is part of a set of gears that is designed to transmit power through parallel or perpendicular axes. This, in particular, is important because it allows for power to be transferred from shafts that aren’t parallel to each other. Herringbone gears have unique, V-shaped tooth structures which are engaged during rotation and also happen to look very cool. Before the herringbone was invented, turn-of-the-century gearboxes were loud, constantly whining and hard to engage. The herringbone gear did away with that, resulting in gearboxes that were quieter and more efficient. They are produced in mirrored pairs. Their complex tooth profile makes them more expensive than most gear options. It is common to place two opposite-hand helical gears adjacently and mill a centered, flat groove; this does not affect their performance. Perpendicular herringbone gears are rare, but gained prominence in Citroën vehicles. As the French automobile industry was very well advanced, the requirement for gears was high. Citroën began very quickly to comprehend the need to mass produce components in order to achieve low prices and fast deliveries. He therefore invested in latest up-to-date machinery and introduced flow control management processes. His gears found their way into most French cars and to such diverse avenues as the steering system for the ‘Titanic’ and to being evaluated for use by Rolls-Royce. When the first Citroën car appeared in 1919, André Citroën, of course, chose the double chevron as the company logo. Two of them, to represent the meshing gears. There’s another important advantage of herringbone gears. Straight-cut gears, as you pointed out, tend to be noisy. Helical gears are quieter, but because of the angle of the teeth, they produce axial thrust when under load - they want to move sideways along the shaft, or to push the shaft sideways. This necessitates special bearings to hold everything in place. Herringbone gears cancel out the axial thrust, since the teeth are angled one way on one side and the opposite way on the other side.
Citroën was established in 1919 by André-Gustave Citroën. Within the first ten years of its history Citroën had become one of the largest car companies in the world.
All the legendary Citroën logos feature an illustration of two helical gears, which were patented by André Citroën. The gears look like two letters “V” turned upside-down. On almost all the brand’s logo versions the two chevron arrows are identical.
The color palette of the emblem changed several times through its history, but the chevrons never left the brand’s logo.
The original Citroën logo was created in 1919 by the brand’s founder, André Citroën, whose family company Engrenages Citroën specialized in the design and production of helical gears. The herringbone teeth of the gears became an inspiration for the famous chevron logo.
Heritage Citroën Logo
Why Citroën's Logo Looks The Way It Does? What does it symbolize? French automaker Citroën is a company with a history as fascinating and bizarre as some of its cars—and the origin story behind its double chevron logo is actually very closely tied to its founder’s first claim to fame. But, to get to the logo, we actually have to go back further, before Citroën was a company and was still just a man. André Citroën was born in Paris on Feb. 5, 1878, to Jewish parents from Poland and the Netherlands. The family name was originally “Citroen,” which is Dutch for “lemon” because they were once in the business of selling fruit. The diaeresis (=the little dots above the “e”) was added to the name once the family moved to France. After graduating from the Ecole Polytechnique near Paris 1900, Citroën was introduced to wooden double helical gears used for water-driven machinery. These gears were quiet when they ran and were able to transmit huge loads without damaging the wood they were made out of. Citroën then bought the rights to the invention of the herringbone gear from a relative in Poland and began manufacturing them in Paris out of steel, and, naturally, he named them after himself. While others might have called them of the herringbone type, [Citroën] has so persistently named them “[Citroën]” gears that the name has been accepted as part of the language in the countries using them. A herringbone gear (also called a double helical gear) is part of a set of gears that is designed to transmit power through parallel or perpendicular axes. This, in particular, is important because it allows for power to be transferred from shafts that aren’t parallel to each other. Herringbone gears have unique, V-shaped tooth structures which are engaged during rotation and also happen to look very cool. Before the herringbone was invented, turn-of-the-century gearboxes were loud, constantly whining and hard to engage. The herringbone gear did away with that, resulting in gearboxes that were quieter and more efficient. They are produced in mirrored pairs. Their complex tooth profile makes them more expensive than most gear options. It is common to place two opposite-hand helical gears adjacently and mill a centered, flat groove; this does not affect their performance. Perpendicular herringbone gears are rare, but gained prominence in Citroën vehicles. As the French automobile industry was very well advanced, the requirement for gears was high. Citroën began very quickly to comprehend the need to mass produce components in order to achieve low prices and fast deliveries. He therefore invested in latest up-to-date machinery and introduced flow control management processes. His gears found their way into most French cars and to such diverse avenues as the steering system for the ‘Titanic’ and to being evaluated for use by Rolls-Royce. When the first Citroën car appeared in 1919, André Citroën, of course, chose the double chevron as the company logo. Two of them, to represent the meshing gears. There’s another important advantage of herringbone gears. Straight-cut gears, as you pointed out, tend to be noisy. Helical gears are quieter, but because of the angle of the teeth, they produce axial thrust when under load - they want to move sideways along the shaft, or to push the shaft sideways. This necessitates special bearings to hold everything in place. Herringbone gears cancel out the axial thrust, since the teeth are angled one way on one side and the opposite way on the other side.
Citroën was established in 1919 by André-Gustave Citroën. Within the first ten years of its history Citroën had become one of the largest car companies in the world.
All the legendary Citroën logos feature an illustration of two helical gears, which were patented by André Citroën. The gears look like two letters “V” turned upside-down. On almost all the brand’s logo versions the two chevron arrows are identical.
The color palette of the emblem changed several times through its history, but the chevrons never left the brand’s logo.
The original Citroën logo was created in 1919 by the brand’s founder, André Citroën, whose family company Engrenages Citroën specialized in the design and production of helical gears. The herringbone teeth of the gears became an inspiration for the famous chevron logo.