Hugo Borchardt (June 6, 1844 – May 8, 1924) was a German firearms inventor and engineer, born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. He is known for his inventions of the Borchardt C-93 pistol and the Sharps-Borchardt Model 1878 rifle. In 1860 he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and by 1872 he was Superintendent of Works for Pioneer Breech-Loading Arms Co. of Trenton, Mass. In 1874 he became a foreman for Singer Sewing Machine Co., then was employed by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Co., later went to Winchester Repeating Arms Co., and then was Superintendent and Treasurer for the Sharps Rifle Co. on June 1, 1876. After the dissolution of the Sharps Rifle Co. in 1881, Borchardt returned to Budapest, where he was employed by Fegyver és Gépgyár Részvénytársaság and by 1890 gained the position of works director. While here, he married Aranka Herczog. His return in Europe was interrupted by a short stay (1890–92) in the United States as a consultant to

Remington Arms Remington Arms Company, LLC, was an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of firearms and ammunition. It was formerly owned by the Remington Outdoor Company, which went bankrupt in 2020 with its lines of business sold to several purchase ...

in relation to the development of the Lee rifle for the U.S. Army trials. By 1893 Borchardt had an association with Ludwig Löwe & Company of

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, Germany, a manufacturer of machine tools, to produce the C-93, a

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

that he had invented based upon the

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toggle-lock principle. He also developed the 7.65x25mm Borchardt cartridge around which the C-93 was built. Hugo Borchardt had many non-firearms patents: a rock drill, a shirt-neck shaper, gas burners, ball-bearings, a wire-straightener, and various electrical apparatus. Borchardt died of pneumonia in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1924.

Firearms Patents

U.S. * #185,721 26 September 1876 * #206,217 23 July 1878 * #273,448 6 March 1883 * #571,260 1896 * #987,543 21 March 1911 Germany * #75,837 9 September 1893 * #77,748 18 March 1894 * #91998 10 October 1896 * #227,078 27 February 1909 British * #18,774 1 November 1893 * #29,622 20 February 1909

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borchardt, Hugo 1844 births 1924 deaths 19th-century American inventors 19th-century German inventors Prussian emigrants to the United States Scientists from Magdeburg Firearm designers Gunsmiths People from the Province of Saxony Deaths from pneumonia in Germany

Firearms Patents

See also

References