- Ferdinand Mannlicher
Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher (January 30, 1848 in
Mainz ,Germany – January 20, 1904 inVienna ,Austria ) was an engineer and smallarmaments designer. He was famous for inventing the en-bloc clip loading system, and later for patenting theMannlicher-Schönauer rotary magazinerifle with his protégéOtto Schönauer .In 1887 Mannlicher was awarded the 3rd class of the
Order of the Iron Crown . In 1892 he was given the title of "Ritter von" (loosely translated to: 'knight of') due to his earlier ennoblement. In 1899 he was given a lifelong appointment to the Austrian Upper House, theÖsterreichisches Herrenhaus .Mannlicher's successful designs during his lifetime were his bolt-action rifles. As a measure of how far ahead of his time he was, can be seen by looking at the unsuccessful designs of automatic rifles. European military ammunition was not robust enough to work properly in an automatic rifle or machine gun. According to WHB Smith in "Mauser, Walther and Mannlicher Firearms" the Mannlicher 1885 became the inspiration for the
M1 Garand and the Mannlicher 1900 with the 'short-stroke piston' became the inspiration for theM1 Carbine .Patents
US patent|472795 Repeating Firearm
US patent|581295 Automatic Firearm
US patent|728739 Automatic Firearm
External links
* [http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/biog/mannlicher.htm Biography]
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