Jean de Hautefeuille

Jean de Hautefeuille ( born March 20, 1647 Orléans, † October 18, 1724 ) was a French abbot, physicist and inventor.

Biography

De Hautefeuille was born in Orléans, the son of a baker. In his youth he came in contact with Maria Anna Mancini, Duchess of Bouillon, whom he accompanied on trips through Italy and England. Because of their efforts, he became a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.

One of the most important inventions de Hautefeuilles was the replacement of the pendulum by a balance as the clock source for watches. Around 1670 he entertained with Christiaan Huygens a correspondence in which de Hautefeuille proposed the spiral spring. While Robert Hooke claimed authorship of this discovery for himself, Huygens built the first clock with a balance wheel.

De Hautefeuille also conducted experiments in the field of acoustics, among other things, he examined the voice and wrote a paper on the Echo, which was in 1718 awarded by the Academy of Bordeaux. He also designed improved optical lenses and proposed a method prior to transport water by the explosive force of gunpowder. He was also interested in the tides and invented the Thalassameter, a device for measuring the tidal range.

In 1678 de Hautefeuille suggested an early form of internal combustion engine with black powder, but did not result from his ideas. However, he suggested in the same year as the first use of a piston in a heat engine before. Huygens then built two years later, such a prototype.

Although de Hautefeuille was intelligent, he led only rarely from his inventions, in order to dedicate new can. Although the Paris Academy of Sciences attested him the value and benefits of several of his inventions, but never consulted about its inclusion.

Works

• Problème d' acoustique curieux et intéressant, dont la solution proposée est aux savans, d'après les idées qu'en a laissées
• Au Roi [ Supplique de l' abbé de Hautefeuille au sujet de deux moyens qu'il a trouvé de les connaître Longitudes sur la mer et les savants ne lui pour lesquels ont pas rendu justice ]
• L'art de l' eau sous respirer. Et le moyen d' un temps Considerable entretenir pendant la flamme dans un petit enfermée lieu. Omne principium rude & imperfectum, sed by additamenta artis, tractu temporis res perficiuntur. Seneca. Nulla res consummata est dum incipit. Idem. Seconde edition.
• L'art de l' eau et le sous respirer moyen d' un entretenir pendant system [sic ] Considerable la flamme dans un petit enfermée lieu. Omne principium rude & imperfectum, sed by additamenta artis, tractu temporis, res perficiuntur. Nulla res consummata est, dum incipit.
• Saint Evremond
• Reflexions sur quelques machines a elever les eaux
• Plea sur les magiciens et sur ​​les sorciers
• Inventions nouvelles
• Sentiment de Mr de Hautefeuille ecrit à un de ses amis, sur le different you RP Malebranche Prestre de l' Oratory, & de Mr Regis, touchant l' apparence de la lune vue à l' horison & au meridien, avec quelques particularitez concernant l ' horlogerie.