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French clockmaker and inventor of the detent escapement, the temperature-compensated balance and the isochronous balance spring.
He succeeded his father Julien Le Roy, in his place of watchmaker of Louis XV. In 1748, he invented a pivoted detent type of escapement, or detached escapement, which makes him the inventor of the detent escapement. He was distinguished principally in his mastery and improvement of the chronometer and chronograph, above the entire marine chronometers, in which he carried forward the pioneering work of John Harrison. He took a different approach from that of Harrison, believing that the way to achieve seaworthiness was to detach the escapement from the balance. After having designed plans in 1754, he constructed his first chronometers by 1756, and accomplished his masterpiece in 1766. Pierre Le Roy's chronometer had a performance equivalent to that of the Harrison chronometer. In 1769 he was awarded the double prize offered by the French Academy for the best method of measuring time at sea. He succeeded in giving his instruments the greatest possible regularity by the discovery of the isochronous spiral spring, in which he was in competition with Ferdinand Berthoud, but which he published first. He was the author of several valuable publications on the art and science of clock-making and chronography, among them the Étrennes chronométriques of 1760. He also became Horloger du Roi in 1760. The work of Le Roy was not fully recognized in France however.
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variant spelling:
LE ROY, Pierre
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Curriculum vitae
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* 1717
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Paris
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born
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1737
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Paris
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Maître des horlogers.
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1748
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Invention d'une pendule à sonnerie à une seule roue et d'un échappement à détente.
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1750
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« Mémoire pour les horlogers de Paris».
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1760
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Il publia « les Étrennes chronométriques ».
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1763
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Paris
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Perfectionnement des montres marines, réalisant le premier chronomètre de marine.
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1763
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Paris
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Présentation à l'Académie d'une montre qui a près de 3 pieds (soit environ 1 mètre).
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1766
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Paris
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Construction d'une autre montre deux fois plus petite.
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1766
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Paris
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Construction d'une troisième montre, suspendue dans une boîte d'un pied carré sur 8 pouces de hauteur.
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1769
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Prix double proposé pour la meilleure méthode de mesurer le temps à la mer par l’Académie.
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1773
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Prix double proposé pour la meilleure méthode de mesurer le temps à la mer par l’Académie découverte de l'isochronisme du ressort spiral.
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1773
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Paris
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Découverte de l'isochronisme du ressort spiral.
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† 25.08.1785
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died
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