Dreyse

Dreyse, JOHANN NIKOLAUS VON (1787-1867), inventor of the needle-gun, was born at Sömmerda, near Erfurt, and worked as a locksmith in Germany, and in a musket-factory in Paris 1809-14. He then founded an ironware factory in Sömmerda, and commenced the manufacture of percussion-caps under a patent in 1824. In 1827 he invented a muzzle-loading, and in 1836 a breech-loading needle-gun, which was adopted in the Prussian army in 1840. In 1864 Dreyse was ennobled.