La Mécanisation de l’Armurerie Militaire (1855-1869)

In the nineteenth century, the manufacture of military small arms (rifles and pistols) cannotstay out of the progress of the Industrial Revolution. It is therefore, quite logically, to be a process ofmechanization, which is also a human adventure. In fact, from 1850 to 1870, is almost the SecondEmpire, which actually marks the entry of France into the modern era, the military and politicalleaders face a double challenge: to equip the army of a modern rifle, as we were in a period of intensetechnological innovation, and move from a largely manual production, provided by qualifiedgunsmiths, a mechanized production, in which the systematic use of machine tools enable realinterchangeability of parts. This is the mark of a modern industrial manufacturing.