Charles Gabriel Petter (26 March 1880 – 7 July 1953) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

firearms designer. He is best known as the designer of the '' Pistolet automatique modèle 1935A'' (also known as the Modèle 1935A, French Model 1935A, or M1935A). He also designed a submachine gun that was patented and formally adopted into French service in 1939, but never produced.

Biography

Born in

Lavey-Morcles Lavey-Morcles is a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, located in the district of Aigle. The municipality was created in 1852 by a merger of Morcles and Lavey. History Lavey-Morcles is first mentioned in 1016 as ''A Laver''. In ...

, Petter studied mechanical engineering in Bern and was a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

of the

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, r ...

. He became an employee of

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he served in the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...

, where he obtained French citizenship and the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Petter received two French decorations, the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

and membership in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. He was made a French citizen by presidential decree in 1916. Subsequently, he was director of the French branch of the Belgian company ''Armes Automatiques Lewis'' and consultant of the '' Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques'' (SACM) in

Cholet Cholet (, , probably from Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous commune of Maine-et-Loire, after the prefecture Angers. G ...

Private life

Petter was married twice, in 1909 to Louise Marguerite Paule Charavet, and in 1926 to Xenia Schegloff. His second marriage produced two daughters, Elizabeth and Hélène. He died in

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxi ...

in 1953.

Petter-Browning system

The Petter-Browning system (alternately the Browning-Petter or Browning-Petter-SIG system) of

breechblock A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by ...

s is named after

John Browning John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) was an American firearm designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms many of which are still in use around the world. He ...

and Petter. Petter designed the French Model 1935A pistol, which had some of the same design elements as Browning's

M1911 pistol The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for t ...

, such as the grooved slide and barrel which interlocked and recoiled together until a pivoting link lowered the barrel, thus unlocking the assembly and further rearward movement of the barrel and slide together, which after reaching the point of greatest movement would be returned to battery. Along the way, the slide would strip a cartridge from the magazine and push it into the chamber just prior to the under barrel link forcing the barrel up into engagement with the slide, locking the action. Petter eliminated the barrel bushing and used a full length spring guide which had the effect of removing some of the inaccuracy from the M1911 design and increased functional reliability. A unique feature of the system was an integrated fire control system. The trigger, hammer, mainspring, and sear assembly were contained in one unit. His design impressed SIG of Switzerland, who licensed it in order to produce their model 47/8 handgun, which became the

SIG Sauer P210 The SIG P210 (Swiss Army designation Pistole 49, the civilian model was known as SP47/8 prior to 1957) is a locked breech self loading, semi-automatic pistol designed and manufactured in Neuhausen am Rheinfall ( Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzer ...

. Petter's French patent (Swiss: , ) was acquired in 1937 by SIG and used for the P210.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petter, Charles 1880 births 1953 deaths Firearm designers Recipients of the Legion of Honour Officers of the French Foreign Legion People from Aigle District Swiss people of World War I Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Swiss mechanical engineers Swiss military officers French military personnel of World War I