Re: Elizabeth Berdan d/o Hiram Berdan
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In reply to:
Re: Elizabeth Berdan d/o Hiram Berdan
Dawn Crawford 9/10/01
Dear Ms. Crawford,
Actually, as a result of my reading in the two books that I and Bill Skillman mentioned, I don't believe that Hiram Berdan established a firearms company of his own, though he was very prolific in the invention of improvements to firearms in general. The primer used by most current cartridges is the Berdan primer, a design he invented. I will have to look that up to confirm it. He was a prolific inventor in many fields. Prior to the ACW, Hiram invented a gold separation machine and a bread baking machine, and postwar he did much work for Imperial Russia, working for their ordnance department, developing a conversion from muzzle-loader to breech-loader for some of the older rifles and inventing a bolt action cartridge rifle for them later on. He also invented a rangefinder, used by the artillery for some time.He invented a torpedo launching system to protect bays and rivers, though it was never actually built. (The torpedoes were too slow at the time.) I will scan some of the information from the books into MSWord format and forward them to you if you can give me a direct e-mail (or if I can find one on this genealogy site) so that I can attach them and send them along. I can't do the whole thing: that's a lot of info. Bill and I have corresponded frequently, as we are both Berdan Sharpshooters in the reenacting world. He is an excellent source of information. Also available is the Berdan Sharpshooter Preservation Society, headed by Tom Winters of Gettysburg. I don't have his e-mail address available here at work. I will help you as much as possible, as I have been helped by others in my searches. (I still haven't done my OWN family, though I know a lot about others' families.) The book by Roy Marcot is the most detailed book available, though, as you say, hard to come by.
Yr, Obdt. Serv.
Joe Jones
More Replies:
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Re: Elizabeth Berdan d/o Hiram Berdan
Dawn Crawford 9/10/01