Nationality Swiss Role Gunsmith Name Jean Pauly | Occupation gunsmith Other names Samuel Johann Pauli Died 1824 | |
Born April 13, 1766 ( 1766-04-13 ) Vechigen | ||
Jean Samuel Pauly (April 13, 1766 – 1821), born Samuel Johann Pauli, was a famous gunsmith of the early 19th century. Pauly was born at Vechigen near Bern, Switzerland on 13 April 1766.
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Career
In 1798, at 32, Pauly became an artillery sergeant. He fought as a member of the Swiss Army, together with the French, under Masséna. During his campaigns, in 1799, Pauly wrote a manual about the usage of firearms.
Pauly moved to Paris in 1802 where he worked on designing an airship and maintained contact with the weapon manufacturer of Saint-Étienne. In 1804 he designed an automatic bridge. Pauly used for himself the title "Colonel Jean Samuel Pauly". He established a gunsmith worshop where he developed mercury fulminate platina. In 1809 he employed the German Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse who would later become the inventor of the famous Dreyse rifle.
Self-contained cartridge
In Paris in 1808, in association with French gunsmith François Prélat, Pauly created the first fully self-contained cartridges: The cartridges incorporated a copper base with integrated potassium chlorate primer powder (the major innovation of Pauly), a round bullet and either brass or paper casing. Unlike later cartridges the case walls didn't provide obturation. The cartridge was loaded through the breech and fired with a needle or a pin. The needle-activated central-fire breech-loading gun would become a major feature of firearms thereafter. The corresponding firearm was also developed by Pauly. Pauly made an improved version which was protected by a patent on 29 September 1812. The cartridge was further improved by the French gunsmith Casimir Lefaucheux in 1836.
Upon the fall of Paris to the allies on 5 April 1814, von Dreyse left for Prussia and Pauly left for London, where he continued developing various weapons under the sponsorship of Durs Egg.