Encyclopedia · People, inventors, and ordnance officers

Sylvanus Sawyer

Sylvanus Sawyer was an American inventor who developed the Sawyer rifle and projectile, a system using a ribbed body sheathed in lead that engaged flanged rifling.

Also known as: Sylvanus Sawyer.

NationalityAmerican
Known forThe Sawyer rifle and projectile
SystemA lead-sheathed, ribbed projectile in flanged rifling

The Sawyer system

Sylvanus Sawyer was an American inventor whose name attaches to the Sawyer rifle and its projectile. The system used a projectile with a ribbed iron body sheathed in lead, shaped to match the flanged rifling of the Sawyer gun.

Sawyer guns and projectiles saw limited service, the soft lead sheath being prone to damage, but they are part of the record of the war's many rifled-ordnance experiments.

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