Baron Auguste de Méritens was a French electrical engineer of the 19th century. He was born in 1834. He is best known his work on magneto generators, particularly those used for arc lighting and lighthouses. Similar magneto generators had been produced earlier by Nollet; de Méritens' innovation was to replace the rotor coils previously wound on individual bobbins, with a 'ring wound' armature. These windings were wound on a segmented iron core, similar to a Gramme ring, so as to form a single continuous hoop. This gave a more even output current, which was advantageous for use with arc lamps.