Manufacture Of Klingenthal

Place: Klingenthal

Born: 1730

Death: 1962

Biography:

The Manufacture of Klingenthal was a French weapons manufacturer founded in 1730 in Klingenthal, Bas-Rhin, France. It was the first Royal Weapons Manufactory in France, and was largely inspired by methods pioneered in Solingen, another major sword-producing town in western Germany. The manufactory was named the 'Manufacture Royale d'Armes Blanches d'Alsace' and was opened in 1730, under the direction of Henri Anthès. It was renamed the 'National Manufactory' (Manufacture Nationale d'Armes Blanches) in 1792, following the French Revolution, and then renamed the 'Imperial Manufactory' (Manufacture Impériale d'Armes Blanches) under Napoleon I in 1804. The manufactory was finally returned to its original title of 'Royal Manufactory' upon the Bourbon Restoration in 1815. After the Restoration, French officials started considering the fact that the manufactory was too close to the German border for such a strategic asset, and so Weapons production was gradually resettled to Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault, founded in 1819 in the Western Center of France. In 1838 Klingenthal ended weapons manufacturing, lost the Royal Manufactory status, and became a privately owned company producing civilian goods under the 'Coulaux' name. The company continued producing agricultural tools, notably scythes, until production ceased in 1962.