Maker

With the magic of our MAKE Wayback Machine, we were able to interview the man whose contributions to society were rivaled only by those of Edison. You may come away thinking Trouvé deserves a brighter place in the spotlight of history.

Monsieur Trouvé, were you always a maker?

Évidemment! I could happily spend from morning to evening tinkering and constructing little carriages, telegraphs, mills, rabbits, automated birds inflated by air. Although I didn’t partake much in the children’s games of my age, I loved to amaze friends with the toys I made for them.

When I was 6, I made a wind-powered marionette mill of wood, lead, and pewter. The connecting rods and cogwheels made the little figures move like people cavorting in the woods.

At 7, I constructed a steam engine using a gunpowder box and some hairpins. Then, in a sardine tin, I made a tiny fire engine with an air and water pump that apparently was new at the time.

After studying mathematical sciences and mechanical arts, I was fortunate to work in Paris in a premier clockmaker’s shop. My patrons and colleagues seemed impressed with my manual skills, and I learned much from them.

During my leisure time, I studied architecture, mathematics, chemistry, and physics. But with electricity it was like love at first light.

In 1866 I established my workshop in Paris. My flattering biographer, Monsieur Georges Barral, claimed I possessed a gift for turning concepts into action. Perhaps that is why inventors and customers flocked to the workshop.

The electric rifle I invented employed two small batteries. Capable of firing 18 to 20 shots per minute, it eliminated deviations in accuracy caused by the shock of a hammer. It was an object of public curiosity at the international Exposition Universelle in 1867, where it was presented to Emperor Napoleon III. An expert in weapons development, l’empereur admired its simplicity.

If your early inventions attracted such atten-
tion, why do so few people in North America
know about you?
Je ne sais pas! Perhaps they need to study
French! Or maybe it is the nature of invention
that the name of the first — or the most famous

32 Make: Volume 17

CHARGE ME UP: (this page) The very economical Trouvé-Callaud battery, with constant and continuous current optimal for medical use; (facing page) Trouvé’s moist-cell copper-zinc battery in a glass vase with paper disks; his universal automatic battery, shown in use and in repose; a cutaway illustration of Trouvé’s battery-operated electric rifle.

— inventor lives on, while those who contribute modifications go unheralded.

For example, I made valuable improvements to the telephone, boosting sound volume and improving the magnets. Forgotten!

However, when I led the way with inventions, the acclaim was international and gratifying. A scientific journal of London wrote, “If England has Swan, America Edison, France has Trouvé.”

Why spend so much time on batteries? That’s hardly a route to fame and fortune.

Alors, electricity was beginning to transform society, yet batteries were fraught with limitations. For me, they were fundamental building blocks that needed to be improved in order to be truly useful in multiple applications. I developed many types: wet-cell, dry-cell, moist-cell, sealed, portable, pocket, automatic, reversible, and more.

I was one of the first who combated the opinion that wet-cell potassium bichromate batteries would be very inconstant and inapplicable to