Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye
{{Short description|French artillery general}}
File:Jean Baptiste Auguste Verchere de Reffye.jpg
Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ batist vɛʁʃɛʁ də ʁɛfi}}; 30 July 1821 – 6 December 1880) was a French artillery general of the 19th century, and superintendent of the works at Meudon.The United Service Magazine - Page 11 1872 He was a former ordnance officer for Napoleon III. He also established the gun manufacture in Tarbes.
Reffye mitrailleuse
Image:Mitrailleuse front.jpg, 1866]]
Image:Canon de 5 de Reffye 1870 1875 before 1923.jpg]]
Image:Reffye 85mm 1870 breech system.jpg
{{Main|Mitrailleuse}}
De Reffye developed in 1866 the Reffye mitrailleuse (named "Canon à balles"), one of the best early machine guns,Warfare and Armed Conflicts Page 3 by Micheal Clodfelter which was used during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jRQ9AAAAIAAJ&dq=Reffye+cannon&pg=PA307 The New Cambridge Modern History by G. N. Clark p.307] It was based on the earlier Belgian Montigny mitrailleuse of 1863.
Breech-loading cannons
Jean-Baptiste Verchère de Reffye took a key role in introducing rifled breech loading cannons, a marked improvement over the previous La Hitte system which had been in place since 1858. The La Hitte system used rifled weapons, but they were muzzle-loading, which had the advantage of structural strength, but the disadvantage of slowness in loading.
In 1870, de Reffye developed the Reffye 85mm cannon, an 85 mm (3.35-inch) rifled breech-loading cannon, equipped with a breech screw, initially made of bronze. The cannon used shell cartridges for ammunition.Age of Great Guns: Cannon Kings and Cannoneers page 30 by Frank E. Comparato [https://books.google.com/books?id=NptBAAAAIAAJ&q=Reffye+cannon]
De Reffye also developed the Reffye 75mm cannon in 1873. His cannons would be soon superseded by the Lahitolle 95mm cannon and especially the De Bange 90mm cannon.
Notes
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{{Artillery of France}}
{{French weapons of the 19th century}}
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Category:Military personnel from Strasbourg
Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in France
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