von MANNLICHER (1848 - 1904) Inventor of Firearms |
| Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher was born Jan. 30, 1848 in Mainz, Germany and died in Vienna, Jan. 20, 1904. He studied engineering at the Vienna Technical University. He worked at the Southern Railway Co. (Südbahngesellschaft), 1869, as their chief engineer, then with the Kaiser-Ferdinand-Nordbahngesellschaft as senior engineer. In 1886 Josef Werndl hired him as a constructor at the Oesterreichische Waffenfabriks Gesellschaft. His first rifle model was produced in 1879. Between 1875 and 1904 he developed rifles, pistols, and magazine designs, as well as the packet or clip loading system. His first semi-automatic rifle and semi-automatic pistol designs appeared in 1885. At the 1900 World Fair in Paris his small arms were awarded first prize. The pistols were popular and although not issued to the Austrian Army they were purchased privately by Austrian officers and adopted by armies from Argentina to South Africa. In collaboration with Otto Schönauer he developed a rotary system for rifles which was patented in 1900 and became known as Mannlicher/Schönauer System. Mannlicher was awarded the 3rd class of the Order of the Iron Crown in 1887 and ennobled with the predicate of "Ritter von" on the 1st of June 1892. In 1899 he was appointed as lifelong member of the Österreichisches Herrnhaus (Austrian Upper House). |
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