René Grillet

Designer of a mechanical calculating machine in the 17th century, Grillet was a French mechanic and watchmaker who came from Rouen in northwestern France, the capital city of Normandy, and served as watchmaker to King Louis XIV. In 1673 he published a small book, Curiositez mathematiques de l'invention du Sr Grillet horlogeur a Paris, in which he announced the invention of an arithmetical calculating machine. A few years later, in 1678, he wrote a short article in Le Journal des Sçavans describing the machine.

Grillet was inspired by Blaise Pascal's work with calculating machines to combine the Pascaline with Napier's bones, and build a machine that could perform both addition and multiplication. He displayed his machine at fairs in France and the Netherlands between 1673 and 1681. He tried to establish a business of manufacturing and selling calculating machines, with unclear success.

In addition to the calculating machine, Grillet invented a hygrometer (for which he was accused of plagiarism by another inventor), graphometers, a drawing instrument set, and a protractor and set square with plumb-bob. In 1690, the first textile-printing factory in England was established by a Frenchman of the same name, who took out a patent on the process.