Your cart is currently empty!
Hart Ostheimer Berg
1865-1941
Hart O. Berg was born in Philadelphia to Joseph and Louisa Berg. After attending private schools in America he completed is education studying engineering in Liege, Belgium between 1884 and 1891. Using his family’s broad connections Berg developed a talent facilitating product sales and connecting investors and manufacturers with inventors.
By 1893 Berg settled in Hartford, CT to work for Colt’s. His position there is unclear but he was likely managing some aspect of development on the M1895 machine gun. During his time at Colt a friendship was struck with John Browning. In late 1895 Berg was appointed General Sales Agent and International Representative of Fabrique Nationale (FN). After leaving Colt in 1896 to reside in Liege, Berg would be promoted to Director of External Affairs at FN. While looking for products to expand FN’s product line Berg asked Browning to offer his designs for European manufacture.
In 1897 Hart O. Berg was cemented in the Browning legacy in one of the most repeated and misremembered events in John Browning’s career. Under Berg’s invitation, Browning traveled to Liege with the four pistols he had earlier offered to Colt. FN did indeed show interest in the simplest of the designs presented and Browning and Berg would travel briefly to Berlin to obtain permission from DWM, then he largest shareholder of FN, to develop the new product. A preliminary agreement was made and Browning returned to Ogden. In only a few months John and Matt Browning would meet Berg in Connecticut to formalize a contract and present a new prototype pistol and ammunition for evaluation by FN. Berg returned to Belgium, beginning the renowned relationship between Browning and FN.
Berg would leave FN in 1898 to ply his talents in the automobile industry, setting up his own company by 1902 to produce electric automobiles.
In 1904 Berg was back in the armament industry. This time brokering manufacturing rights and overseeing production of submarines to the Russian empire.
Berg’s most enduring legacy is perhaps that of his association with the Wright brothers between 1907 and 1912. During their early success Berg oversaw advertising campaigns, contracts, sales, and manufacture of Wright designs in Europe. Edith Berg is well noted as the first woman to fly in a Wright plane.
After a number of associations with failed enterprises Berg got involved with the development of fuel oils. Following successes in the mining and refinery industry he spent the 1920s developing magnesium alloys for the aviation industry. In the late 1920s he would also work to develop paper containers for liquids, notably milk cartons. When the second world war broke out Berg moved to New York. He would remain there and is rumored to have worked as a consultant to the US ordnance department.