Dreyse was born in Sömmerda (then ruled by the Archbishopric of Mainz), the son of a locksmith. Dreyse worked from 1809 to 1814 in the Parisian gun factory of Jean-Samuel Pauly, a Swiss who designed several experimental breech-loading military rifles. After returning to Sömmerda in 1824, he founded a company to manufacture percussion caps. It was there that he designed the needle rifle.
