Originally Posted By: ellenbr

Frantisek/Franz Novak/Nowak kaiserlich - kniglich( Csszri Es Kirlyi Udvari Puskamves ) Hfbchsenmacher of Praze must have hung out his gunmaking shingle in the mid to late 1820s as from 1829 to 1836 he attended Bohemian Exhbitions and received silver and bronze medals, with a bronze medal being at the Vienna Exhibition in 1835. Then in 1844 in Berlin he received a bronze medal for his effort on his wares. He designed and developed some sort of safety, or mechanism with safety features, that led to at least one of his awards. The firm employed around 30 craftsmen, which increased to say 3 dozen by the mid 19th century, and sourced tubes from Bohemia as well as Liege in order to provide upper rung sporting weapons to clients in the Empire, Poland, Russia, France and England. He was known for either sourcing or fabricating some sort of tubes, Brschrohr und Scheibenrohr - 2 terms that have escaped me for now. Either he or a Gabriel Novak, who I guess to be his son, was a source of target pistols with special designed triggers.


Frantisek/Franz Novak/Nowak/Nowack hung out his gunmaking shingle in 1821. By 1835 at the Vienna Industrial Exhibit( Wiener Gewerbe Ausstellung von 1835 ) he was awarded the bronze medal for his wares found in exhibitions. Then in Prag at the 1837 Bohemian Industrial Products Exhibition he obtained a silver medal. In 1840 he skipped the gold medal and was dubbed k.k. Hofbchsenmacher. But this time he empolyed 20 craftsmen and just may have been the Prague source for pattern welded tubes as well as being sourced by Austrian & German craftsmen. If I have my numbers correct as well as the gist of the info, his concern was rolling out some 29,400 tubes annually, in what state for now I cannot say. At the 1844 Berlin Exhibition he received yet another bronze medal. By the mid 1840s he employed some 30 mechanics.

I'm sure Ferdinand Ridler/Riedler of Spital on the Pyhrn(Spital am Pyhrn, Austria) was connected in some manner.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse