Baron Auguste de Méritens was a French electrical engineer of the 19th century. He was born in 1834. He is best known for his work on magneto generators, particularly those used for arc lighting and

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

s. Similar magneto generators had been produced earlier by Nollet; de Méritens' innovation was to replace the rotor coils previously wound on individual bobbins, with a 'ring wound' armature. These windings were wound on a segmented iron core, similar to a Gramme ring, so as to form a single continuous hoop. This gave a more even output current, which was advantageous for use with arc lamps. In 1881 he was awarded a French patent for the first

arc welding Arc welding is a welding process that is used to join metal to metal by using electricity to create enough heat to melt metal, and the melted metals, when cool, result in a joining of the metals. It is a type of welding that uses a welding power ...

process. This used a carbon electrode to generate an arc to the workpiece. The process achieved relatively low temperatures and was not successful with steel. However it was widely used commercially, for welding

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

plates to manufacture

storage batteries A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of Accumulator (energy), energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a ...

. De Méritens produced this welding equipment with an enclosed hood and fume extraction pipe, to control the hazardous

lead oxide Lead oxides are a group of inorganic compounds with formulas including lead (Pb) and oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), gr ...

fumes from the hot lead. He poisoned himself after having run bankrupt at Eragny-sur-Oise in the last days of October 1898.

Patents

* 10 April 1878, French patent no. 123,766 (improved magneto-electric generator). * 17 September 1878, British patent no. 3,658 (improved magneto-electric generator). * 1881, French patent (electric arc welding)

References

19th-century French inventors French electrical engineers 1834 births 1898 deaths 1890s suicides Suicides by poison Suicides in Paris {{France-engineer-stub

Patents

Further reading

References