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Aimé Argand

Aimé Argand (July 5, 1750 - October 14, 1803) was Swiss physicist and chemist. He greatly improved the oil lamp.

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Francois-Pierre-Ami Argand was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the ninth of ten children. His father was a watchmaker, who intended for him to enter the clergy. However, he had an aptitude more for science, and became a pupil of the noted botanist and meteorologist Horace-Benedict de Saussure. He published several scientific papers on meteorological subjects while in Paris in his late twenties. He took a teaching post in chemistry and developed some ideas for improving the distillation of wine into brandy, and, with his brother, successfully built a large distillery.

During this period, in 1780, he started to invent improvements on the conventional oil lamp. The basic idea was to have a cylindrical wick through which air could flow through and around, increasing the intensity of the light produced. A cylindrical chimney enhanced the air flow and a series of experiments gave the proportions for optimum operation. A mechanism for raising and lowering the wick allowed some adjustment and optimization as well. Experimenting with oils, he found that purified spermaceti oil was optimal, though a good grade of olive oil could serve as well. The light was much brighter than a candle (by a factor of five to ten), burned cleanly, and was cheaper than using candles.

In 1783 Argand met Etienne Montgolfier and became closely involved with his sensational experiments to devise a hot air balloon.

In October of the same year, he determined to manufacture his lamp, and decided that the best place to find the required skilled workmen and materials was in England. He eventually formed a partnership with William Parker and Matthew Boulton to manufacture the lamp. In 1784, he received a patent for his design but many imitations and variations were devised. In France, his acquaintance Antoine-Aroult Quinqet, to whom he had shown the lamp, began to manufacture the lamps himself, and successfully fought a protracted legal battle for patent infringement.

Argand also formed a close relationship with James Watt who performed some experiments on the lamps efficiency and advised him on waging his court battles.

The demand for the lamps was high, and the partners had many difficulties at first in manufacturing them, but they eventually became the standard source of illumination in homes and shops until displaced by the kerosene lamp in about 1850.