Eugène Farcot

Henri-Eugène-Adrien Farcot was a French clockmaker, industrialist, inventor, mechanical engineer, aeronaut, writer, and one of the most celebrated makers of conical pendulum clocks.

Career

In 1853, he established the Manufacture d'horlogerie E. Farcot with headquarters, from 1855, on, 39, Paris, wherein he worked until his retirement in the late 1880s, succeeded by his son-in-law the Belgian Henri-Charles Wandenberg, or Vandenberg, until December 1903 and Paul Grenon until 1914. Between October 1855 and March 1856 the company's name changed to Farcot et Cie, and in 1887 it was renamed Farcot et Wandenberg, although the partnership was officially constituted in April 1890.
Throughout his career, Farcot earned an honorable mention and four medals at the following expositions: Besançon 1860, London 1862, Paris, as well as did Henri Wandenberg, both with a silver medal in Paris 1889 and a gold medal in Paris 1900.
In addition to clockmaking, Farcot was a member of the Société aérostatique et météorologique de France and the defunct Chambre syndicale d'horlogerie de Paris. The Musée Farcot in Sainville showcases his life, travels, and work.

Patents

Of the nineteen patents registered to his name between 1855 and 1886, sixteen are linked to horology. In chronological order, they are:

22637, 03/03/1855 – Mouvement de pendule
37159, 23/06/1858 – Perfectionnements apportés à l'horlogerie
41812, 11/08/1859 – Perfectionnements apportés à l'horlogerie
44007, 23/02/1860 – Perfectionnements apportés à l'horlogerie
50962, 24/08/1861 – Réveille-matin avertisseur
53502, 25/03/1862 – Perfectionnements apportés à l'horlogerie
65992, 26/01/1865 – Perfectionnements aux réveille-matin
84057, 20/01/1869 – Timbre d'appel, avertisseur mobile de porte, et sonnerie télégraphique simplifiée
89384, 31/03/1870 – Réveil horizontal à marche rotative et silencieuse
89455, 26/03/1870 – Perfectionnements apportés et appliqués spécialement dans la fabrication des réveille-matin
92460, 14/08/1871 – Pendule de nuit
101995, 29/01/1874 – Perfectionnement et transformation dans la fermeture des porte-monnaie à cadre, pouvant s'appliquer à tous objets de fantaisie, tels que porte-cigares, cigarettes, carnets, bonbonnières, etc.
102593, 14/03/1874 – Perfectionnements apportés aux pendules de nuit lumineuses
107030, 01/03/1875 – Système de pendule-écusson applique, à remontoir auxiliaire et à tirage rentrant
166518, 10/08/1875 – Device for winding clocks
167502, 07/03/1885 – Système de pendule à indications diurnes et nocturnes
176982, 24/06/1886 – Pendule courtoise
177703, 31/07/1886 – Réveil courtois
252398, 12/12/1895 – Application du phonographe aux pièces d'horlogerie

Files for each patent, including a description and drawings, can be consulted in the archives of the Institut national de la propriété industrielle.

Monumental conical pendulum clock series

A class of its own among the conical pendulum clocks are the monumental timepieces commercialized between 1862 and 1878. When this model debuted at the London International Exhibition of 1862, it was presented as the first application of the conical pendulum to statuary. In addition to the British capital, this clock was also displayed at the Paris Exposition des beaux-arts appliqués à l'industrie, as well as in the major world's fairs held in Paris and Philadelphia.
In his own words, Eugène Farcot explained the origins of his idea during the 1867 Paris universal exposition :
Each mystery clock of this one-of-a-kind series was individually made, and therefore no two are alike. They are known for their artistic/horological excellence where eminent, award-winning people, from various arts, crafts, and sciences, created masterpieces of Second Empire decorative arts.
Besides a remarkable precision in timekeeping, one of their most distinctive characteristics is the slow continual circular motion at a constant speed of the noiseless pendulum, tracing a conical trajectory in space, hence its name.

List of clocks

The total number of clocks crafted is unknown; so far 13 have been found. It is unclear if the company used a separate serial number for its large-scale conical pendulum clocks, although probably no more than twenty were ever made. Those known are:

No. 0 – Lambert Castle, New Jersey, USA. Purchased in 1869 for $10,000
No. 8 – The Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, USA
No. 9 – Private collection, USA
No. 16 – Drexel University, Pennsylvania, USA. Acquired in 1867 for $6,000
No. 19 – National Watch and Clock Museum, Pennsylvania, USA
No. 23 – Private collection, USA
No. 25 – Cliffe Castle Museum, Yorkshire, UK
No. 28 – Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA
No. 30 – Private collection, USA
No. 44195 – Private collection, USA
No serial number, Museo Cerralbo, Spain
No serial number, The Dolder Grand Hotel, Switzerland
The one depicted in the drawing by Lamy with two dials in the pedestal front, whereabouts unknown

The largest conical pendulum clock

In 1878, the largest conical pendulum clock ever built was erected in the since-demolished Palais du Champ-de-Mars on the occasion of the Paris Exposition universelle internationale. It was Farcot's ultimate contribution to the conical pendulum clock, a type of timepiece not invented by the French, but that he brought to a new level of sophistication and engineering. Not to mention that he also helped to popularize it by offering affordable mantel models, some with a patent of invention.
The mechanical marvel was reviewed in several publications, next are included three of them:

During the Siege of Paris

While Farcot worked with a light engine built for him for aerostats, he caught his right thumb in the gears, and it had to be amputated, expressing later during the Franco-Prussian War :
This, however, did not impede him, during the Siege of Paris (1870–71), from leaving the city on 12 October 1870, piloting the ballon monté Louis Blanc, overflying the siege and the Prussians shooting at it, in order to transport the mail, government dispatches, and eight carrier pigeons. He, and Auguste Traclet from the Association Colombophile de Paris, arrived in Béclers three hours later, becoming the first French aeronauts in Belgium.
Despite the balloon bearing his name, the politician Louis Blanc, who was present at the departure, refused to fly in the balloon when Wilfrid de Fonvielle asked him.

Funereal discourse

Discourse pronounced before the tomb of the horologist by Paul Garnier, vice-president of the Chambre syndicale d'horlogerie de Paris :

Publications

La navigation atmosphérique, 1859.Un voyage aérien dans cinquante ans, 1864.Invention et contrefaçon. A mes juges et à mes confrères, 1865.De Paris à Tournay en 3 heures. Histoire du ballon le Louis Blanc, 1873.Voyage du ballon le Louis-Blanc, 1874.