Argand, F-P
NAME: Argand, Francois-Pierre Ami
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Argand lamp.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: July 5, 1750, Geneva, Switzerland
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: October 13, 1803, London, England. Aged 53
DISCIPLINE: Chemist. Inventor
FIELD: Chemistry. Invention.
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Unknown
SIBLINGS: Jean
SPOUSE: Name unknown
CHILDREN: One son, died in infancy
EDUCATION: Academy of Geneva
MAJOR WORK: None
LIFE AND TIMES:
At the Geneva Academy, Argand studied chemistry and physics under Swiss physicist/geologist Saussure*, with whom he became friends. In 1775, he moved to Paris, where he met chemist Lavoisier*.
In 1778, Argand invented a new distillation process for making brandy and other wine spirits and sought backing from Necker*, France's Director General of Finances. Necker agreed to Argand's proposal and sponsored a demonstration of the process at the Academy in Montpellier. Vintner Philippe-Laurent de Joubert, a prominent member of the Academy, liked the invention, and in 1780 signed an agreement with Argand and his brother Jean to set up a large-scale plant directed by the Argands. Within three years, Argand had established another two large distilleries in the Montpellier region.
Meanwhile, with night shifts perhaps in mind, Argand had been working on a new method of lighting large areas such as factories. His lamp burner, based on a principle that later would be applied to gas burners, consisted of a cylindrical wick (dipped in a container of oil fuel beneath) enclosed by two concentric metal tubes. The tubes provided a passage through which air rose to help the wick burn better, and a glass chimney strengthened the draft, helped keep the flame from flickering, an facilitates a more efficient burning of the oil fuel. As a result the Argand gave about 10 times the light of an earlier lamp of the same size, as well as a cleaner flame, though its oil consumption was greater.
In 1783, Argand took his lamp to the Montgolfier’s* (he developed the hydraulic ram* with Joseph), who used it to provide heat during their Paris balloon ascents. Argand then took his lamp to England, looking for a manufacturer. He approached Matthew Boulton* and James Watt* in Birmingham, but it would be two years before they agreed to a deal. In 1784, he took out a British patent for the lamp, but a year later, it was challenged and annulled, depriving him of exclusive rights in Britain. The first commercial use of the Argand lamp was at the Drury Lane theater in February, 1785, where it was praised for lighting up the stage with a brighter and less flickering light.
Back in Paris, Argand discovered that two former employees, Quinqet and Lange, were laying claim to his lamp-making methods, and taking out a patent on them. Argand went to court. In the ensuing trial, Argand was supported by Louis XVI and the Ministry of the Interior, while Lange was backed by the Academie des Sciences. Eventually, the Academie granted Argand a license to manufacture the lamp, and he set up a factory at Gex in France. But the Gex factory and the one he had in Montpellier were destroyed during the French Revolution and his patents were annulled.
In 1790, Argand married and retired to Versoix in Switzerland, where he designed reflectors suitable for lighting streets, factories, churches and houses. In 1797, assisted by Joseph Montgolfier, he invented the Belier-Hydraulique water distributor, using a Montgolfier hydraulic ram.
Out-of-patent Argand lamps were soon being manufactured on a large scale in England. The Argand lamp was the first oil burner suitable for lighthouses and was adopted from the late 1780s. By 1820, Argands were installed at some 50 coastal lighthouses in Britain and Ireland, and by 1880, were in use at many other lighthouses around the world.
ASSESSMENT: Invented the successful Argand lamp
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: His work related to that of Garrick*.
He may have invented the Bunsen burner*
ONELINER: F-P A Argand, inventor of the Argand lamp
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
EB
Biographical Dictionary of Technology