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Nom
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Assier-Pericat, Antoine
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Lieu de naissance
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1730 ou 1731
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Lieu de mort
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pre-1806
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Couverture temporelle
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2/2 18th century
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Biographie
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born in Grenoble, Assier-Pericat succeeded André Bourbon (qv) (1), as a specialist maker of instruments and apparatus for experimental physics. In 1771 he invented a new form of barometer which was approved by the Académie Royale des Sciences in the same year but in the following year was pursued by the Corporation of Faienciers who claimed to control barometer and thermometer making (2). In 1773 he made a large cistern barometer for the Duc de Luynes despite his own (totally misguided) dislike of such instruments (3), and was lauded by the chemist Baume (4). According to his own account (5) at a cost of over 30 000 livres Assier-Pericat had made numerous innovations to the construction of barometers, thermometers, areometers and related instruments which he listed in his Avis (see below). Among these innovations were a bath thermometer in 1776 modified in 1781, a constant-level barometer in 1775, a barometer for hot balloons reading in ‘toises perpendiculaires’ of which the first made was presented to Montgolfier and a surveying barometer in 1786. He received a brevet as ‘Ingénieur du Roi’ on 26 July 1780 which protected him from claims from the corporations, the terms of which he printed in his Observations… Between about 1775 and 1792 he gave public lecture-demonstrations in physics. In 1792, the Bureau de Consultation awarded him a 300 livres ‘gratification’ primarily because he had recently wounded himself while experimenting with new forms of bullets plus a further 200 for his age. Eventually on 29 May 1793 he received 1000 livres (7). However the fact that his petition for a recompence or a state contract for his areometers in An VI [1797/8] was refused by the expert committee to which it was referred by the Bureau de Consultation tends to confirm the judgement of Middleton (8) that he was ‘one of the most prominent, though not one of the most able of French instrument makers’ and, following Luz, that he was ‘a consistent self-advertiser’. He describes himself in the Avis… (c. 1796/7) as ‘demonstrator to the Lycée des Arts for the construction of barometers’ and here he had a ‘dépôt’ for mathematical instruments as well as for those of physics. In 1798he became a member of the Société des Inventions et Découvertes (9). His wife, then aged 82 was still alive in 1814.
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Notes biographiques
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1 Daumas 382 although the evidence is apparently no more than the two makers having the same address and having jointly signed a thermometer and barometer bow in the Lusée des Arts & Métiers., Paris.
2 Daumas 132.
3 Middleton 262.
4 Chimie expérimentale et raisonnée, 1773.
5 See works cited in the bibliography.
6 For a report on this, and on a portable barometer by Assier -Pericat see Rozier, Observations, ii July-December 1773, 473-4 & 512-3. For a 'baromètre à surface plane' b y Assier-Perricat see Ibid 1780, ii 391.
7 Whether this was included in, or was in addition to, the first 500 livres is not clear from the source, Archives duu CNAM P.9, although Daumas assumed that the second was the case.
8 Middleton 117 n.112.
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Bibliographie
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Avis aux amateurs des arts et sciences contenant un exposé des travaux et différentes inventions, découvertes et expériences du Cn Antoine Assier Perricat père…, Paris, nd [c. 1796/7]
Observations sur les baromètres, et autres instrumens de physique expérimentale, et découvertes faites par Assier -Perricat, père, ingénieur, ci-devant breveté par le roi, membre de la Socité libre du Point Central des Arts et métiers; de celle des Inventions, Découvertes et Perfectionnemens; de la Société de l’Encouragement pour l’INdustrie Nationale, etc. Suivie d’un Mémoire sur la construction des nouveaux baromètres et des rapports de diverses Académies et Sociétés qui ont été chargées d’en faire l’examen, Paris, An X [1802].
Nouveau traité sur la construction et invention des nouveaux baromètres, thermomètres, hygromètres, aréomètres et autres découvertes de physique expérimentale… suivi des observations météorologiques faites sur les montagnes par divers savans et par l’auteur lui-même; avec des tables de comparaison.. Paris, 1802
(Apart from a preface ‘Aux amateurs des sciences et des Arts…’, this work is identical in pagination, composition and contents with the preceding).
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Adresse ; enseigne ; période ; source
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St Antoine, au coin du celle de Fourcy Rozier, Obs
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30, r Geoffroy Lasnier au coin de celle St Antoine Paris (1798)
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rue des Pr�tres St Germain l'Auxerrois, 14 Paris Almanch du Commerce
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48, quai de la M Paris Almanach du Commerce
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26, rue Montmartre Paris Almanach du Commerce
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129, rue S. Antoine Paris Almanach du Commerce
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26, rue des Ecouffes Paris Almanach du Commerce
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Exposition année ; ville ; type ; récompense
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1806 Paris Industrie Nationale
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Identifiant
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668
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ark:/18469/1qbpd