Martin von Wahrendorff (1789 – 1861) was a
Swedish diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
and
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
.
His father Anders von Wahrendorff was the owner of the gun foundry at
Ã…ker. Wahrendorff was
Grand Master of Ceremonies at the
Royal Court of Sweden
The Royal Court () is the official name for the organisation ( royal households) that supports the monarch and the royal house. The incumbent monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf, is head of the Royal Court.
Organizational structure
The Royal Court is d ...
from 1828 to 1831
In 1837 Wahrendorff applied for patent on a new breech mechanism, later known as the Wahrendorff breech. The first
breech loaded Wahrendorff gun was manufactured at Ã…ker in 1840. In the 1840s the
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
n major
Giovanni Cavalli was sent to the Ã…ker foundry to inspect guns that the Sardinian government had ordered. The two then started experimenting with pointed elongated lead-coated
projectile
A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found ...
s fired from rifled, breech loading, guns of Wahrendorff's design. In 1854 the Swedish Army adopted three different types of smooth bored breech loaded Wahrendorff guns, in calibers from 155 to 226 mm.
Wahrendorff died in 1861.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahrendorff, Martin Von
1789 births
1861 deaths
Weapon designers
19th-century Swedish businesspeople
Diplomats for Sweden
19th-century Swedish inventors
19th-century Swedish nobility