![Carcano Salvatore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Carcano_Salvatore.png)
Salvatore Carcano (
Robbiate, 11 October 1827 -
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
, 1903) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
inventor renowned for designing the
Carcano bolt-action rifle, adopted by the Italian
Regio Esercito
The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfr ...
throughout
World War II
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Biography
He was born near the industrialized city of
Varese
Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559.
It is the c ...
in the then-
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
Lombardo-Veneto, in a family of modest income. He enlisted as a volunteer in the Lombard artillery in April 1848 during the
First Italian War of Independence, after the Austrian victory he fled to
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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and was admitted into the Sardinian artillery as "Cadet gunsmith". When his enlistment expired in 1852 he was immediately employed by the Royal Arms Factory in Turin, quickly rising through the ranks. His work (including machinery designed by him for precision working of rifle parts), contributing to Piedmontese effort to prepare for the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, earned him a medal and a diploma in 1858.
After travelling in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and
Switzerland from 1862 to 1863 to acquire and inspect machinery, in 1868 he was involved in the design of a new
breech-loading rifle for the Regio Esercito, who was looking to convert its existing stocks of the muzzle-loader
Fucile Mod. 1860 into a
needle gun
A needle gun (or needle rifle for varieties with rifling) is a firearm that has a needle-like firing pin, which can pass through the paper cartridge case to strike a percussion cap at the bullet base.
Types Pauly
A diagram of a needle-gun ...
, being unable to design and build from scratch a new gun due to financial reasons; Carcano applied to the Doersch-Baumgarten bolt the security of the
Dreyse, with satisfying results. The resulting
Fucile Mod. 1867 was thus adopted by the Italian army, till its substitution with the
M1870 Italian Vetterli
The M1870 Vetterli was the Italian service rifle from 1870-1891. In 1887, it would be modified into the repeating M1870/87 Italian Vetterli-Vitali variant. The Vetterli rifle used the 10.4mm Vetterli centrefire cartridge, at first loaded with b ...
.
Most notably, he gave the decisive contribution for the realization of the Fucile Modello 1891 ("the ninety-one", as commonly known in Italy); he coupled his own bolt design, derived from that of the ''Mod. 1867'', to the
Mannlicher-type charger clip. His accomplishment earned him a sum of money and the title of
knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.
He retired in 1896, and died in Turin in 1903.
Bibliography
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External links
Biography of Salvatore CarcanoSalvatore Carcano in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carcano, Salvatore
19th-century Italian inventors
1827 births
1903 deaths
People from Varese