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Nom
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Garnier, Paul Jean
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Date de naissance
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16 November 1801
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Date de mort
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14 February 1869
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Lieu de naissance
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Epinal
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Lieu de mort
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Paris
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Couverture temporelle
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1/4 to 3/4 19th century
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Couverture spatiale
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Paris
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Biographie
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Born into a family of musicians, Garnier began his career at the age of ten working in a print-shop. Thence, via locksmithing, he moved into horology which he may partly have learned in Luxeuil. In 1820 or 1821 he moved to Paris where he may have been employed in the Lépine workshops and where he almost certainly frequented Antide Janvier (1).
In 1825 Garnier set up his own business but found time for a series of inventions. His horological work, which revolved primarily around escapements, electrical clocks and systems, and carriage clocks is not be further treated here, but it led him into related fields. In 1829 he invented a sphygmometer with which the arterial movement of blood could be seen with the naked eye, in 1839 a new form of marine chronometer, and in the 1840s a revolution counter and devices for indicating the work output of machines, and the precise moment of passage of a train at a defined place. His work on the distribution of time by electricity led him into work on telegraphic apparatus, in particular improvements to Morse apparatus. In 1854 accusations by Marqfoy that he had plagiarised his work on this led to a public exchange and a law suit. Named Chevalier, then Officier, in the Légion d'Honneur, Garnier was married with Mélanie Abel Duval with whom he had one son, Paul Casimir Garnier who succeeded him (2).
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Notes biographiques
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1. From c. 1805 onwards Janvier gave free courses in horology to one or two pupils in what he grandiloquently called his 'Ecole gratuite d'horlogerie'. That Garnier profited from this seems to be confirmed by the plaque added to a late clock by Janvier remodelled by Garnier in 1863 which describes him as 'Elève de Janvier'. The clock is now in the Musée des Arts & Métiers (Inv. 17490).
2. Sources. Tardy 246; 'Biographie vosgienne' in www.ecrivosges.com; Augarde & Ronfort, 39, 45, 69, 70; patents.
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Bibliographie
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Notice sur les travaux d'horlogerie et instruments de précision de Paul Garnier,... Paris : impr. de Poussielgue, 1844;
Rouleau automatique pour la composition et la transmission des signes télégraphiques de M. Morse inventé par Paul Garnier,... Paris : impr. de Hennuyer, 1855.
'Un mot de réponse de M. Garnier à la note de M. Marqfoy' (Cour Impériale de Paris), 1857/8.
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Adresse ; enseigne ; période ; source
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12, rue des Marmousets, Paris 1821-28 (Almanach du Commerce, 1821-28).
8bis rue Taitbout (1830)
6 & 16 rue Taitbout (1850s, letterheads)
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Exposition année ; ville ; type ; récompense
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1844 ; Paris ; Nationale ; Gold medal
1849 ; Paris ; Nationale ; Gold medal
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Distinction
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Chevalier, officier, Légion d'Honneur
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Brevet
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'un compteur … & son application à toute espèce de moteur ou de machine à vapeur fixe ou mobile…', 29 December1843.
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Identifiant
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ark:/18469/mtgp