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Mr. Rosario Di Blasi is the founder and current general manager of our
company.
For our clients and for anyone who appreciates our products, here is his
story as an inventor and an entrepreneur.
Mr. Di Blasi was an
pilot officer of the Italian Air Force until 1946. During the war he
flew three-engine
SM79’s over the skies of North Africa,
Malta
and the western Mediterranean.
Along with his passion for flying, Mr. Di Blasi always had a special
fondness for mechanics and anything innovative.
So in 1940 he established a “Charting
Rule” which is a rule to perform the necessary calculations for aerial
navigation, in an era when it was still an art that was left up to the
ability of the pilot.
In April 1942 the now Major Rosario Di Blasi published an article titled “Operational
Diagram of a Rotary Engine” in the “Rivista Aeronautica”, official
magazine of the Italian Ministry of Aeronautics. In this study, its author
clearly set the theoretical base for the functioning of a rotary engine
which later became known as
Wankel
engine. He not only indicated the advantages but also the difficulties in
building it, as the various attempts of practical production had
demonstrated. In February 1943, the same article was also reprinted in the
German magazine “Deutsche
Luftwacht Luftwissen”.
Immediately after the war, Mr. Di Blasi lived in Rome. He owned a bicycle
which in those days was an important asset (recall the famous neorealist
film of 1948 by
Vittorio De Sica “Bicycle
Thieves”). In order to not leave his bicycle unattended, he was forced
to carry it into his home, on the eighth floor of a building with an
elevator that was too narrow to hold it. This is where the idea came from
that a folding bicycle would be much easier to transport. By the end of the
1940’s, Mr. Di Blasi left the Air Force and began his own agricultural
business in the town of his birth near
Syracuse, a city rich in the proof of its important past in the
Greek world.
As a hobby, he started with the idea of a folding vehicle which in the
meantime had transformed into the idea of a folding scooter (remember that
the boom years for scooters such as the
Vespa
and the
Lambretta
were just ahead). From 1952 to 1956 he created
prototypes of various folding scooters, all characterized by innovative
solutions, such as the central freestanding hinge (because it is slightly
inclined with respect to vertical), the retractable front wheel, etc. For
the curiosity of our readers, we would like to point out that the
boy shown in one of the photos, with his finger in his mouth, is one of
Mr. Rosario’s sons: his name is Carmelo and today he works for our company
in foreign relations as well as customer relations.
Some past documentation of entrepreneurial interest regarding Mr. Di Blasi
are a
brochure of that first scooter and a
press clipping with him at an Inventions Show at the Rome Exhibition
Centre.
But the time wasn’t right to transform a brilliant idea into a production
activity.
The idea of the folding vehicle was dormant until the end of the 1960’s,
when it finally appeared in the form of a motorized folding tricycle (called
DIBLA 7) which was also innovative in its patented solutions. It was
equipped with a Zanetti engine, in those days a well known manufacturer in
Bologna, and an Encarwi membrane carburettor, possibly known only to our
Dutch readers.
The young man in one of the photos is another of Mr. Di Blasi’s sons:
his name is Carlo and today he works for our company in the production and
technical areas.
The DIBLA 7 was shown at the
1968 Turin Auto Show as documented by the photo which shows Mr. Di Blasi
presenting his tricycle to a then younger On. Andreotti, who was visiting
the show and was then the
Secretary of Industry for the Italian Government.
That tricycle did not effectively go into production, but we will talk
more about it after we continue our trip through time for another thirty
years.
In the meantime, Carmelo graduated in aeronautical engineering and a few
years later, Carlo too would receive his degree in aeronautical engineering.
We are now in 1973 with an innovative idea for folding vehicles. A
quadrilateral hinged frame that reduces in size when collapsed.
This idea, protected by international patents, is applied to a folding
bicycle (mod.
Avia) and to a
folding moped mod. R2: two vehicles characterized by the extreme
simplicity to fold, the completely original lines and by the fact that every
detail is innovative. For example, the first foldable pedals ever produced
were mounted on the bicycle, pedals that were later copied by the
competition. The speed and simplicity of folding these vehicles is one of
the qualities that even our competitors recognize and still today remains
unequalled.
These vehicles were exhibited for the first time at the
Motorcycle and Bicycle Show of Milan in 1973. An unforgettable date for
us for two reasons: because with that initiative our adventure as
entrepreneurs began and because it was right at the time when the first
important
gas shortage began and consequently started the famous “Sunday’s without
car” and the boom, or rather the big bang of the bicycle: All the
manufacturers sold out their stocks before the first day of the exposition.
Unfortunately at that exposition we only displayed two prototypes and
therefore we could not take advantage of the enormous demand for bicycles.
In September of 1974, we were at the
Motorcycle and Bicycle Show of Cologne (Germany) where we met who turned
out to be our German importer for more than twenty years. From that moment
80-90% of our production was destined for exportation.
That first model R2 folding scooter, known in Germany by the commercial
name of
Paperino
(= Donald Duck), has today become a sort of cult object among antique
motorcycle enthusiasts. It had a single gear
Franco Morini engine.
In 1979 the R2 model was replaced by the R7 model which had an engine
built by us, because it was more adapted to the needs of our folding
scooter, fitting a variable speed system. Therefore the R7 model had vastly
improved drive characteristics over that of the R2 model.
Over the years, this scooter has been continually improved. Its
possibilities of use are many: as a backup vehicle on a camper, on a boat,
in an automobile, as a service vehicle for the delivery and pick-up of
rental cars, etc. It has also been used as an auxiliary vehicle on board the
helicopters
of the
Italian National Police. The model currently in production is the
model R7E.
The bicycles have also evolved: after the
Avia
model came the
R20
in 1980, the
R50
in 1984, the
R6
in 1991, the
R4
in 1995 and then the
R5
and the
R21, this last one with 20” wheels. The production of the
R24 model began in 2005, a bicycle that is even more compact when folded
(as a matter of fact, the smallest on the market),
lighter and easier to fold.
In 2000 we began production of an innovative, patented pedal tricycle. The
current version is the
R31 model. We have the only foldable tricycle available on the market.
It can be
folded in 5 seconds with three very simple steps. It is also very simple
and quick to return it to being a comfortable tricycle that is very useful
for people that have difficulty using a bicycle, for the elderly who wish to
stay fit, for people with mild physical handicaps or for people who simply
want a different means for pedalling.
But the interests of Mr. Di Blasi are not limited to folding vehicles. The
sores that formed on a family member who has been confined to bed for a long
time, suggested the idea of an innovative
anti-bedsore bed. It was created in 1993. It was made of a series of 18
independent elements, all easily removable and some vertically movable in
order to alternatingly leave free the parts of the body subject to the
formation of bedsores. The periodic interruption of pressure on the
corresponding parts of the body as well as their ventilation not only
prevents the formation of bedsores but allows those that have previously
formed to heal more rapidly.
The future? We have many projects in the works, but for obvious reasons,
we cannot reveal them. We can only say that, as always, they will be
original and innovative. We can however allude only to a folding tricycle
with an electric motor that has some improved upon ideas from the old
DIBLA 7.
And finally for the curiosity of our readers, we show the photo of Mr.
Rosario on his
90th
birthday, surrounded by the employees of our company. |
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