The Atelier de Construction de Puteaux (APX) (English translation: "Puteaux Construction Workshops") was a state

arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

belonging to 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 Force ...

. It was located at 8, quai national in

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. In 2016, it had a population of 44,941. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting th ...

History

Atelier de Construction de Puteaux was in charge of making

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

and carrying out tests. The factories also produced small and medium-sized equipment (

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

and

knives A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

), while the so-called “manufacturing” workshops produced larger equipment ( artillery pieces). Atelier de Construction de Puteaux disappeared after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, being transferred to

Satory Satory is an area south of Versailles in France. It is mostly known for its military camp, housing: * Weapon-testing facilities of Nexter Systems * Barracks and facilities for Gendarmerie including the GIGN headquarters and the Mobile Ge ...

and merged with

Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux {{unreferenced, date=May 2017 The Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (English translation: construction workshops of Issy-les-Moulineaux) were born from the nationalization of the Renault factories in Issy-les-Moulineaux in 1936. They w ...

(AMX), which specialized in the construction of

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful en ...

and other armored vehicles. Atelier de Construction de Puteaux had two responsibilities: To design new weapons for the

. It specialized in

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

and medium caliber weapons and their accessories: such as

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...

s, cannon, tank turrets,

Telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a '' reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate ...

s for rifles,

missile In military terminology, a missile is a missile guidance, guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously ...

s etc. And for serial production of those weapons, alone or concurrently with other factories.

Atelier de Construction de Puteaux achievements

Arms

* 1888 : prototype of Berthier rifle. * 1905 : Puteaux modèle 1905 machine gun. Only a few hundred copies were made because of its many defects. It was simplified and mass produced by the

Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne The ''Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', often abbreviated to MAS ("Saint-Étienne Weapons Factory" in English) was a French state-owned weapons manufacturer in the town of Saint-Étienne, Loire. Founded in 1764, it was merged into the ...

(MAS) as the St. Étienne Mle 1907 and used in the two world wars. * 1915 : prototype of the ''Fusil Mitrailleur Modele'' 1915 CSRG, better known as "Chauchat". * 1918 : 37 mm semi-automatic cannon model 1918 (37 mm SA 18) for

light tank A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease o ...

s. * 1935 : 25 mm APX modèle 1937, shortened version of the light

25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on each ...

. * 1938 : 75mm high-velocity APX gun for the ARL V 39, modified from the 75mm 1929 casemate fortress gun. * 1969 : Rapid anti-tank weapon (ACRA).

Weapon accessories

* 1957 : firing scope of the MAS-49 rifle.

Tank turret

* 1934 : APX 3B turret fitted on the Panhard 178. * 1935 : APX 5 turret mounted on the AMR 35 ZT 2 and Gendron-Somua AMR 39. * 1936 : APX standard turret fitted on the prototype of the Hotchkiss H35, prototype of the Renault R35 and the FCM 36. * 1938 : APX-R turret fitted on the H39 variant of the Hotchkiss H35, the Renault R35 and the Renault R40. A APX-R tank turret was planned to be mounted on the AMX 38.

References

{{Reflist Motor vehicle assembly plants in France Weapons manufacturing companies Defence companies of France Manufacturing companies based in Paris