Henri-Gustave Delvigne (April 10, 1800 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

– October 18, 1876 in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

) was a French soldier and inventor. He became a captain in the French infantry service, from which he resigned on the outbreak of the 1830

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (french: révolution de Juillet), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first in 1789. It led to the overthrow of King ...

. Delvigne revolutionized rifle technology and rendered it proper as a weapon.

Chambered magazines

In 1826 Delvigne invented a new method which greatly simplified the use of rifled guns, and created a rifle known by his name. The problem was that the black powder used at that time would quickly produce a thick layer residue of fouling. After only three or four shots, a typical

muzzle-loading A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern (higher tech and harder to make) desi ...

rifle could only be reloaded by using a mallet to force the bullet down the fouled barrel. Delvigne addressed this problem by producing a rifle chamber smaller than the bore, with which it was connected by a

spherical A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...

surface equal in

radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...

to the

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used fo ...

used. The

powder A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to disti ...

was poured from the muzzle into the chamber, upon which the ball rested when dropped into the bore. When forced against the chamber rim by ramming (with three strokes of a heavy ram), the originally undersized bullet would become deformed and flatten, so as to expand in diameter against the inside of the bore, allowing the bullet to press against the rifling grooves. When fired, the bullet would engage the rifling and spin. This improvement preserved accuracy while reducing the time required to reload a fouled barrel.

Wooden sabots

In an evolution to this first method, Delvigne introduced a wooden sabot at the bottom of the bullet which limited undesirable deformation of the lead bullet, but still allowed it to expand radially to fit the rifling grooves. According to the artillery historian John Gibbon: In all these cases the radial deformation of the ball against the rifling grooves would permit a more efficient spinning of the ball, with the drawback that the deformation rendered the bullet aerodynamically less efficient.

Cylindro-conical bullets

From 1830, Delvigne started to develop cylindro-conical bullets. The stability of the bullet was further improved by the introduction of the Tamisier ball groovings. However the introduction of ball groovings hampered the expansion of the bullet against the rifling grooves. Delvigne's invention was further improved by the French officer Thouvenin, who induced the deformation of the bullet by placing a stem inside and at the center of the powder chamber. When hit by the ram, the bullet would expand radially against the rifling grooves and at the same time wrap around the stem, giving it a more efficient and aerodynamic shape.John Gibbon, ''The Artillerist's Manual'' 1860, p.135
/ref> These inventions mark important steps in the improvement of the rifle, and are precursors to the

Minié ball The Minié ball or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the French Minié rifle, for muzzle-loading rifled muskets. It was invented in 1847 and came to prominence in the Crimean War an ...

, to whose development Delvigne contributed. Delvigne also devised some life-saving apparatus, particularly life rockets. His publications include '' Exposé d'un nouveau système d'armement pour l'infanterie'' (1836). The Chamelot-Delvigne was a revolver pistol he developed with the Belgian gunsmith J. Chamelot, which was adopted by the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Forc ...

in 1873.

Works

* '' Exposé d'un nouveau système d'armement pour l'infanterie'' (1836).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delvigne, Henri-Gustave 1800 births 1876 deaths French didactic writers 19th-century French inventors French male non-fiction writers French soldiers Firearm designers