Jules Carpentier (30 August 1851 – 30 June 1921) was a French engineer and inventor.
Jules Carpentier was a student at the French
École polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
.
He bought the
Ruhmkorff workshops in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
when
Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff died and made it a successful business for building electrical and magnetical devices. From 1890, he started to build photographic and cinematographic cameras. He is the designer of the submarine
periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position.
In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
, and worked at the adjustment of trichromic process of colour photography.
He patented the "
Cinématographe", which serves as a film projector and developer in the late 1890s, and built devices from the
Lumière Brothers
Lumière is French for 'light'.
Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to:
Buildings
* Lumière, a building used by the Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris, France
* Lumiere (skyscraper), a cancelled skyscraper development in Leeds, ...
.
Another of his patents, filed in England, was a primary reference of
Theodor Scheimpflug
Theodor Scheimpflug (7 October 1865 - 22 August 1911) was an Austrian army Captain who elaborated a systematic method and apparatus for correcting perspective distortion in aerial photographs, now known as the eponymous Scheimpflug principle. ...
, who disclaimed inventing the falsely eponymous
Scheimpflug principle
The Scheimpflug principle is a description of the geometric relationship between the orientation of the plane of Focus (optics), focus, the lens plane, and the image plane of an optical system (such as a camera) when the lens plane is not para ...
.
He died in 1921 in a car accident in
Joigny, France.
Electrical measurements

Jules Carpentier was one of the first manufacturers of various models of
Galvanometer that had been designed by
Marcel Deprez and
Arsène d'Arsonval. In addition, Carpentier developed with other people like
Éleuthère Mascart, Pellat, Broca, André Blondel, Abraham, Louis Le Chatelier and Callender a series of derivatives of
Galvanometer to measure and record intensity, potential tensions and other amounts derived from them.
The French engineer and inventor has also contributed to various electrical measurements and the establishment of the necessary rules. Furthermore, for nearly half a century, many electrical measuring instruments took the "Carpentier" mark.
Telegraphy
Jules Carpentier took care of the settings of the French engineer Emile Baudot's telegraph system of Posts and Telecommunications. Some devices regulators, translators and printers completed the system thanks to his work and his main collaborators. Thousands of installations "Baudot" were guided workshops to equip Jules Carpentier telegraph networks in France and many foreign countries.
After the invention of the telegraph and the first tests of Marconi,
Gustave Ferrie, then captain of Engineering at the service of military telegraph, was commissioned by the Minister of War, Freycinet, to continue to experience more and do more studies to implementation in France of a material that would make a first class military importance. To achieve these successes, Gustave Ferrie sought the collaboration of Carpentier as builder. They studied about building new bases induction coils and mercury switches specially designed for the
wireless telegraph, and soon established a complete electrical equipment for production of radio waves for downloads powerful capacitors by the age.
Jules Carpentier, always in collaboration with Gustave Ferrie, also created the special thermal wavemeters, frequency meters,
ammeter
An ammeter (abbreviation of ''ampere meter'') is an measuring instrument, instrument used to measure the electric current, current in a Electrical circuit, circuit. Electric currents are measured in amperes (A), hence the name. For direct measure ...
s and
ohmmeters necessary for the introduction of measurements and calculations in the various parts of the wireless telegraph. In 1921, the invention of the three-light electrode lamp by American manufacturer
DeForest revolutionized the technique of wireless telegraphy and Carpentier was in the process of introducing its use in electrical and radio measuring instruments when his sudden death interrupted the course of his work.
Photography
Jules Carpentier worked closely with Charles Cros in a process he had invented in 1869 by color photography. In 1885, informed the Academy of Sciences of project definition, classification and annotation color.
Carpentier approached the construction of a photographic apparatus in 1890, creating a handheld photographic camera, the "photo-mate" repeatedly shrunk to 12 plates. This camera allowed taking pictures by eye, pointing through an aligned auxiliary lens, positioned adjacent to the main lens that exposed the film. It was a small portable device, so Jules Carpentier created new models of enlargers with an autofocus mechanism. The "photo-mate" was a huge commercial success and several models were made.
Cinematography
Between late 1894 and early 1895 designed the
Louis Lumière Film and Jules Carpentier was responsible for its construction. It was an ingenious combination of light and camera, projector and "
truka". To achieve progress intermittently he used a hook mechanism which allowed the film to stop perfectly. The time was still two thirds of the total was between one and the next frame while the shutter, a sector of a circular rotating disk, letting light for 1/25 of a second. After the premiere public screening held at the
Salon Indien del Grand Café on 28 December 1895, was carried out immediately making the first 200 Cinematography demanded by the
Lumière brothers
Lumière is French for 'light'.
Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to:
Buildings
* Lumière, a building used by the Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris, France
* Lumiere (skyscraper), a cancelled skyscraper development in Leeds, ...
. To perform this device, Carpentier was deposited in March 1896 a patent for a "mechanism Maltese cross with five branches," and at the end of the month of March, also provided for an "apparatus for photographing animated scenes" of filmic bars called Phototrope.
In 1897, Jules Carpentier made a special Cinematograph projection that was built in two models: Model A, for moving the films Lumière to perforations (Round claws) and Model B for films to Edison perforations (flat claws). In total, 700 to 800 Lumière Cinematograph factories were built by Carpentier. In 1909, Jules Carpentier workshops, in collaboration with the Lumière brothers, also launched a 35mm camera called "Cinématolabe" but achieved very little success in a market that was already dominated by productions from
Pathé
Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe.
It is the name of a network of Fren ...
and
Gaumont.
Optical
During 1900, the Department of Shipbuilding asked the help of Jules Carpentier to make
periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position.
In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
s for submarines. This was to provide a "vision tube" under water, "the walrus" in maritime engineering projects in Cherbourg. In 1906, the number of periscopes made by him in service exceeded 80. He also devised trench periscopes that were widely used during the First World War.
References
External links
*
Biographyby the French
École Polytechnique
(, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpentier, Jules
1851 births
1921 deaths
Engineers from Paris
19th-century French engineers
19th-century French inventors
Road incident deaths in France
Commanders of the Legion of Honour
Officers of the French Academy of Sciences
École Polytechnique alumni