Baranovsky V. S. (1846-1879), entrepreneur

Categories / Economy/Personalia
BARANOVSKY Vladimir Stepanovich (1846-1879, St. Petersburg), inventor, designer, and entrepreneur. Educated at home, he attended lectures in one of institutes in Paris and studied on and off at St. Petersburg University. Baranovsky worked as a foreman at M. E. Carr and M. L. Makferson's Shipbuilding Plant from 1865, which was renamed into Baltiisky Shipbuilding Plant in 1895 and at A. I. Shpakovsky's Plant in St. Petersburg afterwards. An engineer at L. Nobel's Mechanical Plant in 1867-75, he upgraded the rapid-fire gun invented by American R. J. Gatling by increasing the rate of fire from 300 to 600 shots per minute. It was Baranovsky who designed the first ever 1.5, 2, and 2.5-inch field quick-firing gun for unitary cartridges and created a unitary cartridge assembling machine. Baranovsky's 2.5-inch gun was purchased to be used in the Russian Army in 1877. He founded a plant for manufacture of detonating fuses, cartridge cases, and other artillery equipment in 1878. The plant belonged to the Society of Mechanical Case and Tube Plants from 1912. Baranovsky also invented a dewatering machine for gold mines and fire-fighting water cannon, to mention a few of his inventions only. He was mortally wounded during test shooting in Volkovo Pole. Since smokeless gunpowder appeared in the 1880s, Baranovsky's inventions have been used widely in many countries.

Reference: Миксон И. Л. Владимир Барановский: Ист. повесть. Саратов, 1965.

V. S. Solomko. Baranovsky Vladimir Stepanovich
Миксон И. Л. Владимир Барановский: Ист. повесть. Саратов, 1965 State University, St. Petersburg
Baltic Shipyard and Machine-Building Plant