Adolphe Alexandre Chaillet

Adolphe Alexandre Chaillet
205 × 275 pixels Adolphe Alexandre Chaillet
Born	Paris, France
Occupation(s)	Worked in the design department of General Electric of Bryan-Marsh Company (1892-1897),Technical Manager and a part of board in Shelby Electric Company (1897-1902)
Spouse	Maude L. Bickmore (1877-?)
Children	3, Alexander B. Chaillet (November 1896), Arnold Chaillet Son (August 1898), Catherine Chaillet Daughter (January 1899).
Parent	Samuel Alexander Chaillet - Eugénie Eva Wendawowicz

Adolphe Alexandre Chaillet (born Paris, July 15, 1867 - died after 1914) was an inventor in the field of Electrical engineering. Chaillet is known for creating the Centennial Light lamp that has been lighting up the days of a fire station in Livermore, California for well over a century.

In addition to knowledge in electrical engineering, Adolphe Chaillet had knowledge in the areas of chemistry and mineralogy.

Biography

Adolphe A. Chaillet was born in Paris district on July 15, 1867. He was the son of Samuel Alexander Chaillet, a Swedish watchmaker, and Eugénie Eva Wendawowicz, born in Russia.

He married Maude L. Bickmore (born 1877) Maine, Massachusetts. Maude's parents were also of Maine. Maude had 3 children with Adolphe Chaillet. They are: Alexander B. Chaillet, November 1896; Arnold Chaillet Son, August 1898; Catherine Chaillet Daughter, January 1899; all born in Shelby, Ohio .

Career

According to a newspaper article, Chaillet a post graduate degree in electrical engineering in universities in Germany and France. He started his business with incandescent light bulb next to his father who operated a factory near Paris. Chaillet also worked by the Company Schaefer in Germany to help build filament lamp.

In 1892 he moved to the United States going to work in manufacturing lamps in Marlboro, Massachusetts (probably in Bryan-Marsh Company). After the period in Marlboro, Adolphe went to Lynn, Massachusetts to work in the design department of General Electric. In 1896 he completed a project of an electric locomotive for the company in Jeffreys Columbus, Ohio.

In Columbus Chaillet met John Chamberlain Fish (1864–1909) a businessman in Shelby, Ohio. Fish knew Chaillet had ideas about a light bulb that was 20% more efficient and 30% more life. So Fish and other stakeholders formed the Shelby Electric Company and for the manufacture of light bulbs they hired Adolphe Chaillet as technical manager and also as part of the board.

In the latter part of July, 1896 John Cooper Whiteside mentioned to John Chamberlin Fish, a resident of Shelby, Ohio, the claims Adolphe A. Chaillet made about his idea for an improved incandescent lamp. This aroused the interest of Mr. Fish as it sounded like it would be a good business venture to manufacture such a lamp. John C. Fish was an enthusiastic individual who was always looking for a new outlet for his energy. John Whiteside had been the superintendent at the Cooper Engine Works in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. On 7 August 1896 a newspaper article announced1 that a contract had been negotiated with Chaillet (of Columbus, Ohio) and Whiteside and some Shelby venture capitalists. These individuals were: W. W. Skiles, G. M. Skiles, M. H. Davis, Jonas Feighner and John Fish. Chaillet and Whiteside were hired as permanent employees of the new company.

"A. A. Chaillet, the technical manager of the company, and upon whom it chiefly depends for its advice regarding all points pertaining to the manufacturing of its product, was engaged in the factory operated by his father near Paris, France, when the incandescent lamp was made by them in Europe. The professor has been engaged as a manufacturer of incandescent lamps since 1878, having had charge of the laboratory of the largest factory in Germany. Mr. Chaillet came to this country in 1892 to manufacture lamps at Marlboro, Mass. He had been engaged in Germany by the Schaefer company to assist it in making filaments and remodeling its plant. This factory was closed by the Edison company shortly after Professor Chaillet had completed his work of remodeling. The professor was then engaged in the designing department of the General Electric company at Lynn, Mass., and has recently completed the design of an electric locomotive for the Jeffreys Manufacturing company of Columbus, Ohio. Professor Chaillet is not only an electrician of extensive experience and knowledge, but is a thorough chemist and mineralogist." Of especial interest, as it regards lamps manufactured by The Shelby Electric Company, is A. A. Chaillet. It appears little has been written about him and what has appeared should be put in proper perspective. The reason why Chaillet was brought to Shelby was mentioned above1. In the following some additional information is presented.

A. A. Chaillet was living in Shelby in the year 1900 when the U. S. Census was taken. It follows, therefore, that some new information could be obtained by looking at those records. That was done. The census information regarding Chaillet was taken on June 18, 190022. It is stated that Adolphe Chaillet was 32 years of age at that time, having been born in France in November, 1867. In 1900 he lived on Grand Boulevard, Shelby, Sharon Township, Richland County. The place of birth of Adolphe's mother was in Russia and his father's place of birth was in Sweden. It is stated that he had been married for five years.

The wife of Adolphe was listed as Maud L., who, at that time, was 23 years of age, having been born in April, 1877. Her birthplace was in Massachusetts. Maud's mother and father were also born in Massachusetts. The Chaillet's three children were: Alexander B., born in November, 1896; Arnold, born in August, 1898; and, Catherine, five months old and born in January, 1899. The three children were born in Ohio. In actuality a check at the Richland County Vital Records Office in Mansfield, Ohio indicated that Catharine M. was born on December 28, 1899 ; her mother's maiden name was given as Maud Bickmore.

The original Chaillet lamp, appeared in Electrical World on February 6, 1897. The complete details of the lamp design were not revealed in that article. It was a tipless lamp with a carbon filament that was manufactured using a secret process. Quoting directly from the article: "The lamp possesses a number of peculiar features which it is claimed give to it certain elements of superiority above all others. The filament is square cut by means of automatic machinery from sheets of material produced by a secret chemical process. The cut filament, after being formed, is attached to platinum terminals which are sealed into the sides at the lower end of the lamp bulb. The filament is of such high resistance that in the Shelby lamps it is shorter than that of most other commercial lamps of equal rating. The bulb is not exhausted from the top, which in connection with the exceedingly small filament used makes the completed lamp one of the smallest, also one of the neatest, lamps on the market." Chaillet had as assistants, Joseph Hardwick, who had worked in the lamp department of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company and Charles F. Stilwell, the younger brother of Thomas Alva Edison's first wife, Mary. Hardwick also worked for the Universal Electric Company in Cleveland, Ohio, which dissolved in 1896. In reality it would have been difficult to prove conclusively that a new lamp design would perform in a superior manner to a competitive lamp that had a different filament configuration. The reason for making such a statement here is that while power input into a lamp could be easily measured, the light output had to have been measured in a spherical photometer. In the 1880s and 1890s light output measurements were usually measured with a horizontal photometer. A horizontal measurement determines light output in only one direction rather than a total integrated value. Thus, while the Chaillet design might have been a better one relative to the competitive lamps it is not easy to conclude that now.

Jas. Wormley & Co. had sole agency for the Shelby tipless lamp in Cook County, IL and Minnesota from the first day of manufacture8. In 1902 Wormley became a director of Shelby Electric.

This writer finds some mystery in Chaillet's actual role at Shelby Electric. The Company was started based on ideas Chaillet had regarding an improved incandescent lamp. The details of Chaillet's new lamp were never completely revealed however, apparently being considered proprietary in nature. The Chaillet lamp, with a new filament, was tested with others in January, 18975, 6. Manufacturing of the lamp started about February 1, 1897. The lamp was put on the market in March, 1897.Manufacturing of the lamp started about 1 February 1897. The lamp was put on the market in March of 1897. An article titled "The Shelby Electric Company's Lamp Filaments" appeared in Electrical Review, Vol 30, No 10, March 10, 1897, pg 111, in which some confusion regarding the origin of Shelby lamp filaments was discussed. Some manufacturers apparently thought that Shelby filaments were purchased in Europe. The ER telegraphed the Shelby Electric Company for the purpose of determining the truth about Shelby filaments. The following are excerpts from Shelby's response:

"The question of taking licenses to manufacture under the Westinghouse patents is one which we have not definitely decided....We have secured copies of the entire number of patents, which they claim to own or control, and we know positively that we do not want to infringe on any of them. We think that we are the only company manufacturing lamps in the United States to-day who can make such a statement. With reference to the filament which we use, we would say that we are using a square filament, not a cellulose filament. Our filament is not imported from Germany. We are manufacturing it here in Shelby, but it is the same filament which our Professor Chaillet discovered in Germany, and one that is most successfully being used by two of the most prominent lamp factories of Europe, by a special arrangement with our Professor Chaillet. The filament is much nearer pure carbon than anything on the market, it being so hard after being carbonized that it will scratch glass very readily....We could ourselves secure patents on over a hundred different devices, which we use in our manufacture, but prefer to keep them secret....We are not selling lamps on prices, but on quality..." Adolphe Chaillet was named technical Manager of the Company and was also on the Board of Directors until their annual meeting on August 29, 1902 when he was not re-elected. The design that was perhaps most recognized to be a "Shelby" lamp was patented by Chaillet on June 2, 190226. The application for that patent (No. 701,295) was filed on October 22, 1900. The basic idea behind the filament and lamp design was to radiate a large portion of the light in a downward direction when the lamp was burned base-up. The first page of the patent follows.

If one refers to the article in Western Electrician it can be seen that Chaillet's early lamp experience in Europe is in some doubt. For example, it's difficult to conclude that Adolphe Chaillet was involved in lamp manufacture in the year 1878 when he was only eleven years of age.

It is of interest to note that Adolphe Chaillet was granted only two U. S. Patents during the time period from 1896 through 1922; both were applied for while he was associated with Shelby Electric.

The activities of A. A. Chaillet after about 1902 are not known to this writer. A look was taken at "The American Family Immigration History Center" website and the name of Chaillet did appear. If one simply inserts the surname "Chaillet" without a first name initial, nineteen matches appear. One can then determine that Maud Chaillet and her daughter, Catharine, arrived at Ellis Island on July 15, 1904 aboard the ship "Monterey", the port of departure being Veracruz Llave, Veracruz, Mexico. On that same list one finds that A. A. Chaillet arrived at Ellis Island on July 5, 1914 on the ship "Antonio Lopez", the port of departure being Puerto Mexico, Veracruz, Mexico. It was stated that A. A. Chaillet's place of residence was Mexico City. It might be tentatively assumed, therefore, that Chaillet worked in Mexico City from about 1904 to 1914. Corroboration of that conclusion follows from the text card that accompanies one of William J. Hammer's lamps that is now stored in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Lamp No. 1905-798 is a Chaillet lamp that was manufactured in Mexico. Chaillet was also granted U. S. Patent No. 625,321 for a lamp socket.

At first they did not patent the new lamp design, not its details, preferred to keep as a trade secret. The first lamp was produced in February 1897, the lamp had a carbon filament that provided more brightness than conventional bulbs. Later Chaillet made a patent application on October 22, 1900, and granted on July 2, 1902.

Its activities in Shelby lasted until 1902 when he left the company board of directors. After this period Adolphe Chaillet moved to Mexico City with his family. According to reports, Chaillet worked on lamps branch in Mexico City in the period from 1904 to 1914. In 1914 Mexico City was a very dangerous to live in that place the Mexican Revolution, forcing Chaillet go to Ellis Island.

Of the place, date and cause of his death nothing is unknown. His grandson, Alexander B. Chaillet Jr. and Alex grandson seek connections with the family to the present day.