Abel Foullon (1513–1563 or 1565, in France) was a writer, director of the

Mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

for

Henry II of France Henry II (; 31 March 1519 – 10 July 1559) was List of French monarchs#House of Valois-Angoulême (1515–1589), King of France from 1547 until his death in 1559. The second son of Francis I of France, Francis I and Claude of France, Claude, Du ...

and also an engineer to the king of France after

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

. In 1545 he married Catherine Clouet, the daughter of the portrait painter

Jean Clouet Jean (or Janet or Jehannot) Clouet (c. 1485 – 1540/1) was a Painting, painter, draughtsman and Portrait miniature, miniaturist from the Burgundian Netherlands whose known active work period took place in France. He was court painter to French ki ...

and sister of the portrait painter

François Clouet François Clouet ( – 22 December 1572), son of Jean Clouet, was a French Renaissance miniaturist and painter, particularly known for his detailed portraits of the French ruling family. Historical references François Clouet was born in Tou ...

. Their son Benjamin Foullon or Foulon also became a portrait painter and miniaturist.

Invention and patenting of the holometer

Foullon invented a holometre, an instrument for making of angular measurements for surveying. In 1551, Henry II granted Foullon a 10-year exclusive

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

monopoly on the holometer in exchange for publishing a description of it. A description of an invention in a patent is called a patent “specification”. This first patent specification was entitled "Usage & Description de l'holomètre". Publication was delayed until after the patent expired in 1561.M. Frumkin, "The Origin of Patents", Journal of the Patent Office Society, March 1945, Vol. XXVII, No. 3, pp 143 et Seq.

Bibliography

* Abel Foullon, ''Usage et description de l'holomètre'', Paris: P. Béguin, 1567. * Chevalier de Brunet-Varennes: Holometer, oder neues sehr genaues Instrument, um Zeichnungen in der Geometrie, so wie alle Zeichnungen nach der Perspectiv-Kunst zu erleichtern. 15 S. Mit 1 Taf. In: Polytechnisches Journal. Hrsg. J. G. Dingler. Bd. 34.; Erschienen: Stuttgart, Cotta, 1829.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foullon, Abel 1513 births 1560s deaths French engineers