"Unusual Americans" or gunsmiths against patent law
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United States patent law is codified in Title 35 of the United States Code and authorized by the US Constitution in Article One, Section 8, Clause 8.
stories about weapons. In the two previous articles in this series, we talked about the unusual European designs of firearms of the late XNUMXth century. And what about the original designs of the same revolvers at the same time in the USA? Everyone knows that the famous Colt revolver appeared there, that there were Smith and Wesson, Remington, but ... there were also enough designs, sometimes quite exotic, and today we will tell you about them.
But first, a few words about American patent law. To obtain a patent in the United States, the patented design must be new and, very importantly, not obvious. Patent law today is valid for 20 years, but in the 1790th century, the term of a patent under the first law of 14 was XNUMX years. In the application, the inventor was required to accurately describe everything new that distinguished his development from the previous ones and, I must say, that it was the American patent law that became the most advanced, thoughtful and effective at that time.
However, any restrictions sometimes only stimulate the activity of citizens to overcome them. So in the US, developed patent legislation has become an important incentive to fight it! Many designers, including designers of new types of weapons, began to strive to obtain patents for one or another of its improvements at any cost, and thus protect their business from encroachment for 17 years, while others just such "encroachments ' and got busy!
Let's start with the Eagle Arms & C° revolver, and if a revolver of this type has black grip plates, then this is a Mervin and Bry revolver, and if with brown plates, then this is an Eagle ”, with the only difference being that Eagle has a drum for six charges, while Mervin and Bria has five. Before us is a typical attempt to circumvent Rollin White's revolutionary patent, which Colt short-sightedly refused to buy, but Smith and Wesson bought ...
Like what did he invent? Revolver drum drilled through. But… it was these drums that eventually went, and when others saw it, they directed all their ingenuity to how to bypass this patent.
The original design of this revolver was that the sleeves are loaded into its drum from the front of the cylinder and ejected by a rod installed behind it. And he shoots with special conical cartridges. That is, the drilling of the drum is not cylindrical, but conical! This is his novelty.
Ethan Allen was born in 1806 and became one of America's preeminent gunsmiths of the 1831th century, and his name is found in the names of a number of companies that produced primer firearms: "I. Allen and Grafton, Massachusetts 1837-1837, Allen and Thurber, Norwich, Connecticut 1847-1847, Allen and Thurber, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1854-1854, Allen, Thurber and Co., Worcester, Massachusetts, 1856 -1856, "Allen and Wheelock", Worcester, Massachusetts, 1865-1865, "I. Allen & Co., Worcester, Massachusetts, 1871-XNUMX
Production began with single-shot primer pistols. Moreover, the new pistols with percussion locks looked almost exactly the same as with flintlocks. Allen then pioneered the double-action mechanism, which did not have the spoke required for manual cocking. Single-barreled pistols replaced double-barreled pistols, and by about 1837, a long line of "pepperpot" revolver models began to be produced.
Although Colt started producing revolvers around the same time that Allen and many other firms were producing their pepperboxes, it took at least 10 years for his revolvers to seriously compete in the US market with Allen's pepperboxes.
Allen's firms continued to manufacture "pepper pots" as long as the main Colt patents were in effect, which is why the earliest Allen and Wheelock revolvers strongly resembled their own "pepper pots", since they were double action, and their trigger did not have a needle.
However, in order to compete with the Colt, Allen and Wheelock introduced this side-triggered single-action pocket revolver in 1858, which is more similar to Colt's 1855 revolver than to any previous design by Ethan Allen. But on the other hand, they had a unique loading system in which the trigger guard leaned forward and served as a lever for tight driving the bullet. Recall that for Colt revolvers this lever was located under the barrel, and for most English revolvers on the barrel on the left.
The revolver of Charles R. Alsop of Middletown, Connecticut, ca. 1860–1863 Caliber .31, six-shot, 4-inch nickel-plated octagonal barrel. It does not seem to differ in any features, except that it has a purely European, but not an American design. But this is only at first glance. In fact, what he has inside is protected by a number of patents: patent dated 17.7.1860 No. 29213; dated 7.08.1860/29538/14.05.1861 No. 32333; dated May 21.01.1862, 34266 No. 25.04.1862; dated January 34803, XNUMX No. XNUMX; and dated April XNUMX, XNUMX No. XNUMX.
It turns out that his drum consists of not one, but two parts. And why this is necessary, it is not clear at all. But a patent is a patent!
Brooklyn Firearms C° of Brooklyn, New York, also attempted to circumvent Rollin White's patent between 1863 and 1864. As a result, a Slocum revolver appeared chambered for .32 side-fire cartridges with side (!) Loading of cartridges into the drum.
There are through channels in the drum, but at the same time there are side channels, which is precisely the hallmark of the patented design.
The design feature of the revolver is separate drum chambers, thanks to which the loading and unloading of the weapon occurs bypassing the Rollin White patent owned by the Smith and Wesson company. The revolver has a "Mexican" trigger, brass body and grip. The patent for this original device was received on April 14, 1863. The volume of production is estimated at 10 copies.
"That's lovely!" Lucius V. Pond must have thought, looking at this revolver, and went even further in his design...
The revolver had a through cylinder, but the rear holes were smaller than the front ones, so it can only be loaded from the front. A total of 2 in .000 and about 22 in .5 were produced.
Another attempt to circumvent White's patent was the de Moore revolver, chambered in so-called "nipple cartridges," so named because they really did look a lot like baby nipples. The sleeves of the nipple cartridges had a rounded back and a welt in front. The bullet inside was surrounded by a "putty" of "cannon fat". Such cartridges were loaded into the drum from the front, and since the front hole was larger than the rear, for the “nipple-primer”, this allowed Rollin White's patent to be bypassed.
So there are battles on the battlefield, and there are battles on the patent field. And here people strain their mind with all their might, just to defeat the enemy. And the battles among the American gunsmiths of the XNUMXth century, on this field, as we can see, were very cruel ...
PS
Photos used: littlegun.be
To be continued ...
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