In 1869 he installed ice-making equipment with capacity of 20,000 kilograms (44,000 lb) per day for use in his brewery and for sale locally.

[3] Velten became a political activist and helped with the elections of Léon Gambetta in 1868 and of Henri-François-Alphonse Esquiros in 1869.

[1] From 1874 to 1876 Velten made 1,000,000 kilograms (2,200,000 lb) of ice each year to supply ships in the trade with China.

[4] Velten founded the newspapers L'Égalité, La Jeune république (The Young Republic), and Le Petit Provençal.

[2] The journalist, poet and politician Clovis Hugues (1851–1907) was editor of La Jeune Republique from 1876 to 1881, and editor-in-chief in 1879.

[9] On 6 January 1885 Velten was selected as the Republican candidate in the Senate by-election to replace Eugène Pelletan, who had died.

[1] In the Senate he agreed with the expulsion of the princes, supported the new military law, supported the restoration of district elections on 13 February 1889, and was in favor of the draft Lisbonne law defining restrictions on the freedom of the press.

On 15 November 1906 he co-signed an order of the day trusting the government of Georges Clemenceau to ensure that the railways met the needs of the country.