The method was an improvement of the invention of fellow Frenchman Henri-Gustave Delvigne.
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This development would be a precursor to the invention of the Minié ball by Claude-Étienne Minié, as Thouvenin had already suggested that bullet with a hollowed base would be most efficient.
He invented the Carabine à tige ("Stem rifle", also "Pillar breech rifle"), based on a method by which muzzle-loading rifles could be easily and effectively loaded.