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Alexandre Lion

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Alexandre Lion


Based on “The Forgotten Inventor of Incubator Shows,” by Thijs Gras, MA, RN. Pediatrics 150(3):e2021054576 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-054576)
with further additions based on research by the webmaster@neonatology.net

Alexandre Léon Lion was a French inventor. He was born on the 11th of April 1861 in the village of Solliès-Pont (départment Var), son of the farmer Louis Alfred Anselme Lion (1833-1912) and Marie Claire Lion-Gence (1831-1907). It is not known where he received his education. Although he was often referred to in later press notices with the honorific “Dr.,” he was an engineer and not a physician.

In 1889 Lion invented and patented an egg incubator for 5000 eggs, including a sophisticated system to keep a stable temperature inside. He put it on display in a pavilion in Marseille and for a small entrance fee people could see chicks hatching. In 1890 Lion developed a smaller version of this incubator, especially for infants. In May 1890 he received his first prematurely born baby, thus expanding the exhibit in Marseille with a living human child.

A Baby in an Incubator. — We recently had occasion to discuss a highly interesting application of the incubator: the development of premature infants. The most distinguished medical practitioners in our city—along with all those interested in the advancement of science—are closely following the progress of Mr. Piana’s infant, who has been nurtured in Mr. Lion’s incubator on the Avenue du Prado for approximately ten days. The child’s body has developed gradually, in accordance with the laws of nature. It can therefore be stated, even at this early stage, that the experiment is conclusive and reflects the greatest credit upon Mr. Lion, who took the initiative in undertaking it.

— Le Petit Marseillais, May 21, 1890

The show was a success, and he received quite a bit of coverage in the local press. In 1891, he expanded his business to Nice, where he founded a charity organization called “Oeuvre Maternelle des Couveuses d’Enfants,” and won support from the local civic authorities. In 1892 he filed a patent on his incubator (“couveuse automatique”), and it was subsequently manufactured on a larger scale in France and by Paul Altmann in Germany and by Kny-Scheerer in the United States.

Until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Lion was very active in promoting the “Oeuvre Maternelle des Couveuses d’Enfants,” and his incubator. He founded additional branches of “Oeuvre Maternelle des Couveuses d’Enfants,” in other cities in France, beginning in Lyon in 1892. His most famous branch was located on the Boulevard Poissonnière 26 in Paris, but he opened several outside of France, for example, Brussels, Barcelona, and New York. He also exhibited in incubator pavilions on numerous national and international expositions in France and elsewhere in Europe, linked at the end of this page. The incubator was widely used in hospitals and maternities across Europe.

LIon’s incubator exhibits at expositions were set up according to a fairly standardized format. Via entrance fees, the visiting public paid for the costs made to care for the children. The more people came, the more income and the more went to the exhibitor. Thus, Lion inspired others to do the same. Following his example, numerous entrepreneurs set up incubator institutes and pavilions at expositions. Moritz Ehrlich and Albert Leotardi mostly worked the European circuit, while Martin Couney (1869-1950) in the US became one of the best known and survived the rest by many years. He set up incubator pavilions on exhibitions and amusement parks in the US and was active until 1943.

Lion’s inventive work was not confined to the incubator. His interest in providing a controlled, purified atmosphere for his couveuses carried over into a series of air-treatment patents: a “chambre vivifiante” (1896), a sealed, temperature-regulated enclosure whose stated applications included the care of prematurely-born infants, and then three filtration apparatus (1898–1899) that washed dust and combustion particles from air and flue smoke by passing them through a curtain or spray of water. He marketed the device in Paris in November 1898 as the “Filtre Lion” and “Fumivore,” directing prospective buyers to see it working at his incubator institute on the boulevard Poissonnière.

SourceL L’Autorité, November 13, 1898.

From the stories found in newspapers of that period, it appears that Lion’s financial status was often perilous. There are press mentions of financial crises and bankruptcy proceedings in 1899, 1901, 1902, and 1903. Many of these are during the early months in their respective years, so that it may be that the majority of Lion’s income was from his exhibits in the world expositions, which mostly occur in the fall, and after they closed he ran short of money. His institute on Boulevard Poissonière moved to 23, Avenue Daumesnil in 1903 and later to 5 Rue Cart in Saint-Mandé,. Perhaps the rent on Boulevard Poissonière was eventually more than he could sustain.

Lion’s last known incubator exhibit in a world exposition was at Lyon in 1914, which opened just before the war broke out. Combatant nations abandoned their pavilions in August, and projected ticket sales and vendor fees at the Exposition fell drastically short of covering the massive infrastructure costs for the 184-acre site. It seems likely that Lion had a severe financial loss from his exhibit there as well.

During WW I, Lion fades from public visibility, concentrating on other inventions like a water filter (1928). He was married to Armandine Barrier and, as far as known, the couple had no children. Alexandre Lion died, 73 years old, on the 22nd of August 1934 in a hospital in Marseille. In his death certificate he is referred to as “a wandering salesman” (“marchand ambulant”).

(For more information about Alexandre Lion, see: “Alexandre Lion: The Forgotten Inventor of Incubator Shows,” by Drs. Thijs Gras, MA, RN. Pediatrics 150(3):e2021054576 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-054576)

Above: Five of the Lion Incubators in use, circa 1896, in Lion’s institute for the care of premature babies in Paris, France. Dr. Lion is standing by the end incubator. Image used by permission of Wellcome Library, London.

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Last Updated on 08/17/26