Stopler, Daft, Collier revolvers. How did it all begin?
The very first revolver in the world. Year of manufacture 1597. The stamp belongs to the German blacksmith and gunsmith from Nuremberg Hans Stopler. Eight-shot revolver with snaphons lock. Meichgen Museum in Lillehammer, Norway
… And quickly the lightning of His judgment flashes.
Sirach 43: 14
Sirach 43: 14
History firearms weapons. Needless to say, the firing of the first fire-fighting guns was not only quite effective, but at the same time extremely slow, which, of course, could not but irritate all those who used them. The archer managed to fire 12 arrows or more, while the arquebusier, fiddling with gunpowder, a bullet, soda and a wick, was just finishing preparations for a shot.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the reloading of hand-held firearms was immediately tried and accelerated - they came up with multi-barrel wick systems. They fired really quickly, but the presence of several barrels at once significantly increased their weight and metal consumption. Therefore, already at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, people thought of pistols and guns with store food, in which the charges were placed in cylindrical drums.
And this is his drum and flintlock. The sliding covers above the ignition holes on the drum are clearly visible ...
Revolver by John Daft. Right view. Royal Arsenal, Tower
A feature of the Daft revolver was a drum that rotated inside the casing, which was undoubtedly done in order to protect the covers of the ignition holes from possible displacement. Thanks to the casing, it was only possible to open the cover that was at the top under the lock!
And already in 1530, an arquebus with a wick lock and a drum for ten charges appeared in Germany. The same system, of course, with manual rotation of the drum, was used in pistols.
Drum device
The same revolver, left side. The metal brace with which he was attached to the waist belt or harness is clearly visible ...
But such a system was very inconvenient and did not find widespread use.
People all the time tried to speed up not only the reloading process itself, but also the firing process, and over time it succeeded. Instead of a primitive and extremely dependent on weather conditions, a wick lock was invented first a wheel lock, and then a snaphons or schnaphan lock, that is, a “striking trigger”, in which a trigger with flint or pyrite struck an L-shaped flint, located above the firing hole on the barrel flange.
And with this castle, John Daft, a London gunsmith, around 1680 created a six-shot revolver with a rotating drum, which is considered the very first revolving pistol of this type.
Revolver Daft. Front view
The surviving example, which is in the Royal Arsenal, does not have the name of the manufacturer, but it is nevertheless believed to be the work of John Daft, a "free man" of the London Arms Company. In 1683, Daft was accused of supplying weapons to the alleged assassins of King Charles II, who were involved in the Rye House conspiracy. He was acquitted and, despite this episode, received the title of "master gunsmith" in 1694, three years before his death.
Revolver Daft. Front view. The drum was fixed with a plate with protrusions, under which recesses were made on the drum
There is another flintlock revolver in the Tower Arsenal, but the exact time of its manufacture is unknown. It could have been made in 1600-1699. Not earlier, but not later ...
Revolver 1600-1699 Royal Arsenal, Tower
Around 1700 (or about 1710), the Snaphons revolver, designed by Master Anneli, appeared.
This is a very early example of a "real" revolver with a fixed barrel in front of a rotating cylinder and a side flintlock. On top is a flat spring with an end pin, which, with its help, held the drum in the correct position for the shot (through the corresponding holes on the drum).
The barrel is typical for British pistols "cannon shape", with the exception of the breech, which is somewhat enlarged and has a cutout, which could be seen on later revolvers of the Colt type, which served to facilitate drum loading. The barrel also features light hardwood engraving.
Revolver Anneli
The drum contains eight chambers with matching recesses that are closed by sliding covers, each with a small handle and controlled by a flat spring to keep it open or closed (not halfway).
The L-shaped flint is specially curved to center it above the drum. Accordingly, a spring is screwed to it, which holds it either in a combat (that is, vertical) position, or in a folded position.
Revolver Anneli. Overall dimensions of the revolver: total length 325 mm, barrel length 137 mm, total weight 1,29 kg, caliber 0,398 inches
In addition to revolvers with an impact lock, there were also revolvers with wheel locks.
In particular, in the collection of the Royal Arsenal there is such a six-shot revolver with such a lock. True, it is arranged rather primitively. So, for each shot, the drum had to be turned manually. But it was still better than nothing. The ignition holes were located at the end of the drum. When it rotated, what was opposite the lock opened and a stream of sparks rushed there when the wheel of the flint was turned.
Wheeled revolver. Barrel length 356 mm. Overall length 685 mm. Weight 1,616 kg
View, so to speak, in "full growth" ...
Powell's revolver with a flintlock impact lock. A feature of this revolver was the use of a French battery lock. That is, the flint box on it was combined with the flint shelf cover. Total length 291 mm. Barrel length 125 mm. Weight 0,675 kgs
An original Spanish rifle with a Mediterranean-style lock called a michelet, from the early 1th century by the master Rovira. It had an original four-shooter drum, made not only of iron, but also of wood, and decorated with silver notching. Barrel length 077 mm. Total length 1 mm. Weight 543 kg.
Flintlock revolving shotgun with manual drum rotation. Here its creator did not rack his brains over the ignition system, but simply put a flint with a folding shelf and an ignition hole on each chamber of the drum. Gunpowder was poured on them one by one. The shelves were closed, then the drum was turned, and the flint of the trigger hit the flint. True, they stuck out in all directions, but ... apparently, the owner of the gun put up with this inconvenience. It dates back to 1732. From the old collection of the Tower. It was originally the property of the Marquis de Pombal (1699-1782), chief minister of Portugal and ambassador to London 1739-1745.
The characteristic Spanish shape of the stock with ribs and ridges. Gold inlay on the breech. Barrel length 944 mm. Total length 1 mm. Weight 428 kgs
But this more than strange four-shot match gun was made in India sometime between 1801 and 1830.
Needless to say - the design is nowhere simpler! Total length 1 mm. Barrel length 477 mm. Drum length 1 mm. Caliber 013 mm
Well, and this is already a fairly well-known example: Eliisha Hayden Collier (1788-1856) from Boston (Massachusetts), who came with his revolver to England, and received a patent for it
It was a five-shot flint revolver with a hand-rotated barrel. It had an octagonal barrel with a tube for a cleaning rod. But Collier's most important achievement in this case was a special leaf spring with which the drum was pressed against the barrel. The chambers themselves, facing towards the barrel, had a groove, thanks to which they, in turn, as in the revolver of 1895, could approach it, which excluded the breakthrough of gases between the end of the drum and the end of the barrel!
Drum. Side view. The ignition holes of the covers do not have, since the drum is covered with a casing at the rear. Only the uppermost opening of the firing barrel opens, into which every time the flint was lowered, gunpowder was poured from the dispenser
Drum. Front view. The annular grooves of the chambers are visible
A very important improvement was the attachment attached directly to the flint, which was an automatic powder dispenser for seed powder. This made it possible to reload the revolver much faster after each shot, and therefore to shoot faster!
The total length of the revolver is 667 mm. Barrel length 159 mm. More than 1 of them were made, and many were sent to British officers in India ...
It is believed that Samuel Colt, while sailing, saw this revolver there and wanted to improve it, first of all, by putting a ratchet from the capstan on the drum.
Revolving gun Collier or Wheeler (?) 1820
This is a full-length gun. Total length 1 mm. Barrel length 191 mm. Total weight 654 kg
Flintlock revolving rifle designed by L. Kolb. Dated to 1824. Made in Berlin. It has a five-charge drum with pushing on the breech of the barrel and a dispenser for priming powder, similar to the Collier's device. The barrel is octagonal, rifled, with eight grooves and a bayonet mount. A sight with two folding racks. Total length 1 108 mm. Barrel length 645 mm. Total weight 4,73 kg
Such a gun could be fully adopted by the army, but its cost was much higher than ordinary flintlock guns, it was more difficult to take care of it, and the capsule weapon began to appear a little ...
It became obvious that the time of the flintlock weapon, even the most perfect one, was running out.
Only 16 years will pass, and the first Colt capsule revolver in the world will loudly announce its appearance ...
PS
For lovers of everything domestic, I can tell you that there was such a master in Russia, Pervusha Isaev, who in 1625 made a set for Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, consisting of a pistol with a drum for six charges and a squeak with a drum for five, and both the pistol and the squeak were rifled trunks. But this is all that I can write about him, since the format of the material provides for the use of photographs, but they are not. No, because the originals themselves are in ... our Hermitage. And whoever wants to, he himself can try to look for them! Both photographs and originals ...
Information