Toussaint-Henry-Joseph Fafchamps (1783-1868), sometimes spelled Fafschamps, was a Belgian Army captain. In 1851, with the Belgian gunsmith Joseph Montigny and the Fusnot company, [1] he developed what is sometimes considered the first machine gun in history, [2] 10 years before the advent of the Gatling gun. [3]
Fafchamps made a prototype of his machine, as well as drawings, which were remitted to Montigny. [4] The Fafschamps gun was a manually fired 50-barrels volley gun using needle fire and paper cartridges, and was only intended as a stationary artillery piece for defensive fortifications. Fafchamps named it the "carabine multiple". [5]
Joseph Montigny further improved the weapon, completing the transportable 37-barrels Montigny mitrailleuse (also known as the "Fafschamps-Montigny mitrailleuse") in 1863. From 1859, Joseph Montigny proposed his design to Napoleon III, which led to the development of the French Reffye mitrailleuse, designed by Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye with the collaboration of Montigny, and which was adopted by the French Army in 1865. The invention of Fafschamps thus became the basis of the " mitrailleuse", which was used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Initially kept under wraps as a secret weapon, it became widely used in battle by French artillery during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).
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^ Hutchison, Graham Seton (1938).
Machine Guns: Their History and Tactical Employment (being Also a History of the Machine Gun Corps, 1916–1922). Macmillan. p. 9. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
In 1851, some twenty years before the outbreak of the Franco- German War, Captain Fafschamps, a Belgian officer, offered drawings of an invention to a fellow countryman, Monsieur Montigny
- ^ McNeil, Ian (1990). An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology. Taylor & Francis. p. 985. ISBN 0-415-01306-2. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
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^ Wahl, Paul; Toppel, Donald R (1965).
The Gatling Gun. New York: Arco. p. 43. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
Subject of all this secrecy was the twenty-five-year-old Fafschamps-Montigny Mitrailleuse, warmed over by De Reffye. This weapon was invented in 1851.
- ^ Willbanks, James H (2004). Machine Guns: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO. p. 35. ISBN 1-85109-480-6. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Hunt, Robert (1862). Handbook to the Industrial Department of the International Exhibition, 1862. E. Stanford. p. 140. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
Toussaint-Henry-Joseph Fafchamps (1783-1868), sometimes spelled Fafschamps, was a Belgian Army captain. In 1851, with the Belgian gunsmith Joseph Montigny and the Fusnot company, [1] he developed what is sometimes considered the first machine gun in history, [2] 10 years before the advent of the Gatling gun. [3]
Fafchamps made a prototype of his machine, as well as drawings, which were remitted to Montigny. [4] The Fafschamps gun was a manually fired 50-barrels volley gun using needle fire and paper cartridges, and was only intended as a stationary artillery piece for defensive fortifications. Fafchamps named it the "carabine multiple". [5]
Joseph Montigny further improved the weapon, completing the transportable 37-barrels Montigny mitrailleuse (also known as the "Fafschamps-Montigny mitrailleuse") in 1863. From 1859, Joseph Montigny proposed his design to Napoleon III, which led to the development of the French Reffye mitrailleuse, designed by Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye with the collaboration of Montigny, and which was adopted by the French Army in 1865. The invention of Fafschamps thus became the basis of the " mitrailleuse", which was used by the French in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Initially kept under wraps as a secret weapon, it became widely used in battle by French artillery during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).
-
^ Hutchison, Graham Seton (1938).
Machine Guns: Their History and Tactical Employment (being Also a History of the Machine Gun Corps, 1916–1922). Macmillan. p. 9. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
In 1851, some twenty years before the outbreak of the Franco- German War, Captain Fafschamps, a Belgian officer, offered drawings of an invention to a fellow countryman, Monsieur Montigny
- ^ McNeil, Ian (1990). An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology. Taylor & Francis. p. 985. ISBN 0-415-01306-2. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
-
^ Wahl, Paul; Toppel, Donald R (1965).
The Gatling Gun. New York: Arco. p. 43. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
Subject of all this secrecy was the twenty-five-year-old Fafschamps-Montigny Mitrailleuse, warmed over by De Reffye. This weapon was invented in 1851.
- ^ Willbanks, James H (2004). Machine Guns: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO. p. 35. ISBN 1-85109-480-6. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Hunt, Robert (1862). Handbook to the Industrial Department of the International Exhibition, 1862. E. Stanford. p. 140. Retrieved 2008-12-08.