Franc,
I did some digging. Here is an 1898 ad for Francotte that says,
"Patentees and Manufacturers of the "Martini Francotte""
I am not sure of how many patents the firm held. I do know for sure that they filed for the following.
1870 extractors
1877 revolvers
1878 mauser
1890 martini variations
The 1870 patent was heavily copied in England. This resulted in Francotte filing all patents in Belgium and England. Francotte was heavily involved in the production of the Martini action. I believe, but can not currently document, that Francotte held patents not only for the mechanism but also the bayonet.
"Societe pour les Armes de Guerre - Society for Arms of War" also known as "Societe des Anglais - English Society". These consisted of the following firms; Ancion, Renkin, Pirlot & Francotte - 150,000 rifles for the British government, 1854-1863. Their maxim was "Let us go boldly along the road opened to us by mechanization" as originally stated by L. Falisse in his 1864 work on mechanization of the Liege arms industry.
Note: It was common for the Belgians to use the word Societe in place of Corporation as we use it today.
In the Museum of Military History in Brussels, there is a huge display of how military barrels were manufactured. The stated out put is staggering. The Liege makers were procurring military contracts from every nation. In 1870, the Pope was sent a shipment of arms, "Donated by the Catholics of Belgium" at the same time on the docks in Antwerp were cases of guns marked "Viva Garibaldi". Like the British ( I have seen the sales records from Birmingham of sales to both sides during the American civil war), their only concern was making a sale.
If we think their primary business was sporting arms, we are mistaken. Their primary business was making fire arms. This is true of Francotte and many others.
Pete
