Eugene Ducretet (1844 -1915) was a scientific instrument maker, opening his first shop in 1864. He made galvonometers, Wimshurst machines, Tesla apparatus, Crookes tubes, etc. Ducretet also made telegraph instruments including keys and Morse registers. The Ducretet name is associated with the early development of wireless in France; he was an early experimenter and maker of wireless apparatus. Descriptions of his experimental transmitters and receivers are shown in Electrical World and Engineer in 1899. Ducretet wrote a wireless telegraphy guide in 1901, declaring himself a "constructeur" or builder. Ernst Roger was a collaborator in the Ducretet experiments as early as 1898. Ducretet died in 1915, leaving the company in the hands of his son Fernand and partner Ernst Roger. During World War One, the Ducretet and Roger shops were devoted entirely to the manufacture of military communications apparatus and special equpment for the Navy such as periscopes and microphones. In 1931 the company was sold to Thomson-Houston.