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Hugo Borchardt
1844-1924
Hugo Borchardt was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States about 1858. Little is known about his early career. His first known position was in 1892 as Superintendent of Works in the Pioneer Breech-Loading Arms company. Between 1874 and 1876 he would move to Singer Sewing Machine Company, then briefly to Colt’s and later to Winchester in various managerial capacities. At Winchester Borchardt would submit his first patent application, relating to cartridge manufacture. In 1876 he would leave Winchester to become Superintendent and Treasurer of the Sharps Rifle Company. While at Sharps Borchardt would oversee development and production of his own rifle design. Despite the rifle’s advanced features it was a commercial failure and could not buoy the failing Sharps company which dissolved in 1881.
After Sharps, Borchardt would move to Hungary under the employ of the government firearms factory in Budapest, later incorporated as F.E.G. (Fegyver és Gépgyár Részvénytársaság). While in Budapest he would design an auto-loading pistol based on a toggle link action. It was almost certainly inspired by the Maxim machine guns produced at F.E.G..
In 1891 Borchardt returned to the US as a consultant to Remington on the development of the the Lee rifle, then competing in US Army trials. When contracts failed to materialize for the Lee rifle, Borchardt returned to Europe.
By 1893 Borchardt was working in association with Ludwig Loewe & Co to produce his pistol design, designated the C-93. During development and production Borchardt was notoriously hostile to any design changes. The pistol went to market in 1895 with only minor variations. Fearing a looming reorganization and merger with DWM, Borchardt sought out alternative manufactures for his pistol. Most notable is FN, which rejected the design. In 1896 DWM turned over pistol development to Georg Luger. Borchardt, however, would remain with DWM as an engineer.
Although his career was based in the firearms industry, Borchardt would receive patents for a variety of mechanical inventions.