A type of blowpipe (chalumeau) invented by the French chemist Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil (1856-1913), with which he first made synthetic rubies. Hisresults were published in 1904. The apparatus is used today (sometimes in banks of several hundred units) to make synthetic varieties of corundumand other synthetic gemstones; but other processes have been developed that are used less frequently, e.g. hydrothermal, flux fusion, andCzochralski processes. The verneuil process is sometimes referred to as 'flame fusion'.