Page 472 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

472 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

were canceled; nobody else was interested in their products and without income the company
had to be closed. During that time the process of liquidation was in progress. Ilin observes
negligibility and gunk all over, only one sentry was at the gate. After a short conversation
the guardian offers to call the account that works inside the building for the dismantling. Ilin
accept the offer and in ten minutes the account arrives. It was a respectful and nice person
and in a short time Illin develops with him understanding and friendship relations. They had
a long conversation including a nice dinner and Illin learn everything about CABI-CAT-
taNeo and the owners. Incidentally, the Israeli agent, met two of the most capable and
3
th
famous engineering inventors in the 20 century.
giustinO and guidO cattaneO
C.A.B.I. Cattaneo was established in 1936 by Giustino Cattaneo and his son Guido.
C.A.B.I. is the acronym of Cattaneo Applicazione Brevetti Industriali.
4
In 1905 Isotta Farchini, who became one of the famous Italian automobile company, hired
engineer Giustino Cattaneo to be Isotta-Fraschini’s technical director. This would prove to be
one of the greatest decisions ever made by the company, as Cattaneo, through his endeavors
with Isotta-Fraschini, would become one of the greatest Italian engineers of all times.
The acceptance and praise of Isotta-Fraschini in these early years can largely be credited
to the company’s successes on the racetrack, of which there were many. Winning a race in the
budding years of the automobile industry not only earned a company excellent promotion,
but it proved to be the ultimate display of reliability, something that was not automatically
assumed by customers when buying a new vehicle.
However, the first Isotta-Fraschini race car designed by Giustino Cattaneo may be the
most famous, and certainly not for its racing success. The Isotta-Fraschini Tipo-D race car
was powered by a 17,195 cubic centimeter, (1,050 cubic inch) four-cylinder engine. This
massive roadster did not last the first lap, but it taught Cattaneo an important lesson: more
than power was needed to win a race. Just one year after Cattaneo was hired to lead product
development, Isotta-Fraschini managed to secure second place behind Fiat as Italy’s largest
producer of automobiles. The 300 automobiles they built in 1906 were a far cry from Fiat’s
1,800 but, given the company’s relative infancy, this was quite an achievement.
Seeking further advantages in Isotta-Fraschini’s now very successful racing campaigns,
the company began working on a four-wheel braking system that would improve the car’s
performance dynamics. Confident with the new design, they decided to showcase four-wheel
braking to the general public at the 1910 Paris Auto Salon on one of their production ve-
hicles. The innovation was received with widespread skepticism. Pioneers in front-wheel
braking had found that attempting to slow down the front wheels of a vehicle in motion cre-
ated dangerous instability, and everyone had given up on the idea, save one man. Cattaneo
picked up where all others had failed, and managed to create a four-wheel braking system
that was inherently balanced, providing equal braking force to the front wheels no matter the
steering input or position.

3 Ilin Efraim, Sign by him, Tel Aviv, 2002, chapter 17.
4 www.cabicattaneo.it.