Abstract EN:

The patent of lebon, dated 1799, introduces in france the first gaslighting. Promoters of this technology were more speculators than technicians. Only six companies lasted in paris after few years. Then, process of production and distribution were imported. Empiricism of these first years was responsible for many accidents yet, during the 1830's, appeared a network. Its growth has resulted from two markets: - first, an ostentatious lighting to increase the value of shops and pubblic rooms. - in the second place, to serve as substitute for oil-lamps into public illuminations. General statutes were adopted in the middle of the ninettenth century, after several incomplete laws. During the second empire, one company replaced the six first. It was a monopoly which has common interest with pereire. The "compagnie parisienne du gaz" increased uses of gaz with a connected network, a most important market with an increasing number of consumers and a dynamic policy of sales. It provided progress in everyday life and developed confort and luxury. Besides, it has associated the rise of production with a permanent research to find innovations.