Jean Maritz

Jean Maritz (1680–1743), also Johan Maritz, was a Swiss inventor, born in Burgdorf, Canton of Bern, who moved to France, becoming "Commissaire des Fontes" at Strasbourg (Commissioner of the King's Foundry), and invented the vertical drilling machine, as well as the horizontal drilling machine for cannons in the 18th century. His inventions revolutionized cannon-making and became a key component of the de Vallière system and contributed to the development of the later Gribeauval system.

Signature of Jean Maritz II, son of Jean Maritz, on a cannon (Uranie) he founded in 1745. Jean Maritz first invented a vertical drilling machine for cannons while in France in 1713. The vertical drilling method however, in which a cannon was slowly lowered over a turning drill, was very delicate, very time consuming and rather imprecise.

The Maritz method for horizontal cannon drilling. French 18th century encyclopedia.

He further developed a method for the horizontal drilling of cannons around 1734. These methods involved the drilling of a bore from a solid casting.

The Maritz method would be central in the development of the Gribeauval cannon.