François Prélat was a Frenchman involved in gunmaking in the early part of the nineteenth century.
[1] In association with the Swiss gunsmith Jean Samuel Pauly, François Prélat patented from 1808 to 1812 the first totally contained cartridge, incorporating in one package a fulminate primer, black powder and a round bullet.
[2] This was a marked improvement over the invention of Jean Lepage, in which the fulminate was simply poured into a pan near the breech.
The new cartridge was particularly considered useful for cavalry firearms, as the motion of the horse and the difficulty of movement rendered conventional loading extremely difficult.
However the failure to secure a gas-tight seal meant this important innovation would need much more development before it was adopted widely.