Franz von Uchatius (1811–1881) was an Austrian artillery general and inventor. His inventions included both military applications and pioneer work in cinematography. He invented a motion picture projector in 1853, developing it over the years from 1845 from the device then called stroboscope (

Simon von Stampfer Simon Ritter von Stampfer (26 October 1792 (according to other sources 1790)), in Windisch-Mattrai, Archbishopric of Salzburg today called Matrei in Osttirol, Tyrol – 10 November 1864 in Vienna) was an Austrian mathematician, surveyor and in ...

) and

phenakistiscope The phenakistiscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistoscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion. Dubbed and ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known und ...

(

Joseph Plateau Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (14 October 1801 – 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repea ...

). This was the first example of projected animation, demonstrated in 1853; it is also described as the combination of the

zoetrope A zoetrope is one of several pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion. It was basically a cylindrical variation of the phénak ...

with the

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a sin ...

. It was called the kinetoscope, a term later used by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

(see kinetoscope). He applied it to lecture on

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

. He worked also on a

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...

, was produced industrially, by mixing granulated pig iron with

iron oxide Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...

. His balloons, were the earliest recorded use of an unmanned aerial vehicle for warfighting occurred on July 1849, serving as a

balloon carrier A balloon carrier or balloon tender was a ship equipped with a balloon, usually tied to the ship by a rope or cable, and usually used for observation. During the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, these ships were built t ...

(the precursor to the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

)Naval Aviation in the Second World War
Philip Kaplan in the first offensive use of

air power Airpower or air power consists of the application of military aviation, military strategy and strategic theory to the realm of aerial warfare and close air support. Airpower began in the advent of powered flight early in the 20th century. Airpo ...

in naval aviation.Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War
Richard P. Hallion, page 66Naval Aviation in the First World War: Its Impact and Influence
R. D. Layman, page 56Broken Wings: The Hungarian Air Force, 1918-45
Stephen L. Renner, page 2 Austrian forces besieging Venice attempted to float some 200

incendiary balloon An incendiary balloon (or balloon bomb) is a balloon inflated with a lighter-than-air gas such as hot air, hydrogen, or helium, that has a bomb, incendiary device, or Molotov cocktail attached. The balloon is carried by the prevailing winds to ...

s, each carrying a 24- to 30-pound bomb that was to be dropped from the balloon with a time fuse over the besieged city. The balloons were launched mainly from land; however, some were also launched from the Austrian ship SMS ''Vulcano''. The Austrians used smaller pilot balloons to determine the correct fuse settings. At least one bomb fell in the city; however, due to the wind changing after launch, most of the balloons missed their target, and some drifted back over Austrian lines and the launching ship ''Vulcano''.Military Aircraft, Origins to 1918: An Illustrated History of Their Impact
Justin D. Murphy, pages 9–10Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War
The Johns Hopkins University Press, F. Stansbury Haydon, pages 18–20Mikesh, Robert C. "Japan's World War II balloon bomb attacks on North America." (1973).
/ref> The method of strengthening bronze guns by mandrelling, or cold working them from inside with plugs of hardened steel (now known as autofrettage) was invented and patented in 1869 by Samuel B. Dean of the

South Boston Iron Company Cyrus Alger (11 November 1781, in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts – 4 February 1856, in Boston) was a United States arms manufacturer and inventor. Biography Early in life Alger became an iron founder, training in one of his father's three found ...

, but it found no use on the American continent. At the time most European countries were adopting steel guns, and Austrian artillery officers also vouched for adopting foreign Krupp guns in 1873, however Austro-Hungary had no steel industry at the time, so Uchatius copied Dean's technology without a license Around 1874, and his superiors decided to adopt the inferior mandrelled bronze artillery, which Uchatius marketed as "steel bronze", in order not to depend on foreign steel. They directed large investments into the state arsenal directed by Uchatius to start the production, but the result turned out to be an utter failure: more expensive, heavier and less durable than steel. Despite state propaganda trumping the success of the "indigenous" technology, the empire still had to buy heavy artillery from Krupp, and the humiliated general committed suicide in 1881; however the country stuck to the technology until the WWI, and therefore, Austrian artillery was inferior even as late as that. As a side note, Spain also adopted "steel bronze" for the same reasons alongside the Krupp guns, but withdrew them after the introduction of the smokeless powder.

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Biography

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uchatius, Franz von 1811 births 1881 deaths Austrian generals Austrian inventors