Rollin White

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Drawing of Rollin White's reloading system
Rollin White's U.S. Patent No. 12648, dated April 3, 1855

Rollin White (born January 6, 1817 in Williamstown, Vermont, USA, † March 22, 1892 ) was an American gunsmith . As an employee of Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company , he developed a revolver that had a cylindrically pierced drum.

Employment at Colt

Rollin White learned the gunsmithing trade from his brother and worked in his workshop until 1839. In 1849 he found a job as a lathe operator with Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company . In his free time he tinkered with committee revolvers to come up with new ideas. He showed Samuel Colt one of his developments - a repeating turret with a cylindrically drilled drum and an additional magazine . Since he had no interest in this system, White had his development patented in 1855.

The Rollin-White patent

The drawing showing White's reloading system shows that the mechanism was based on a Colt percussion revolver. To the right of the barrel in front of the drum was an upstanding magazine for cartridges. The cartridges were fed by gravity. The bottom cartridge was pushed into the drum from the front by a pin. This pin was connected to the loading lever and to the trigger by a rack. Also visible on the drawing of the system is the drum, which is drilled through completely cylindrical.

Colt apparently overlooked this - or had no interest in complicated new developments like the one proposed by White, which Colt did not believe would have any sales potential. In addition, Colt's company was busy making percussion revolvers.

Smith & Wesson

At the end of October 1853, Daniel B. Wesson wrote to White that he was interested in a detail of the patent, the cylindrically pierced chambers in the drum, and that he would like to reach an agreement to use this in the manufacture of firearms. As early as November 17, Wesson and White agreed that Smith & Wesson would receive an exclusive license to manufacture revolvers with a pierced drum. Smith & Wesson paid 25 cents per revolver produced during the patent period. The patent of April 3, 1855 was extended once according to the law of the time and ran until April 2, 1869. Smith & Wesson was also allowed to have the weapons manufactured by subcontractors.

Since around 200,000 S&W breech-loading revolvers had been manufactured during this period and a large number of percussion revolvers had been converted to rear-loading at Remington Arms , Rollin White would have received about $ 70,000 in royalties.

The contract with S&W stated that White would bear all costs of litigation for license infringement. So White had to use a large part of his earnings for this purpose. In 1869, White applied for the extension of the patent and obtained it before the United States Congress . However, in 1870 put in January President Grant a veto one against the patent extension. Grant was of Alexander Brydie Dyer , a General of the US Army of the ladder and Ordnance Corps convinced that White had already been paid enough and that the patent the use of the invention in the American Civil War had hindered.

The Rollin White Revolver and Other Developments

Rollin White founded Rollin White Arms Co, Lowell, Mass in 1861 , which was renamed to Lowell Arms Co after it left, in these companies around 10,000 Rollin White revolvers were manufactured.

Construction details in the drop block bolt of early Sharps rifles manufactured by Christian Sharps at Robbins & Lawrence of Windsor, Vermont are attributed to Rollin White. The mechanism that cocked the Maynard ignition device when the loading lever was moved can also be traced back to him. However, the US Navy showed no interest in the system, after tests with the model 1855 carbine, no major orders were placed.

In 1869, Rollin White also patented a cartridge ejection system for drop barrel revolvers (US Patent No. 93653 of August 10, 1869).

  • Smith & Wesson No. 1 First model, caliber .22 Short, 1857–1860

  • Rollin White revolver

  • Rollin-White revolver, scrolling inscription

  • Remington Conversion

  • Remington Conversion, patent inscription "Rollin White Patent April 3rd 1855"

literature

  • Norm Flayderman: Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms . Krause Publications, Iola, WI 1971, ISBN 0-87349-313-3 .
  • Roy G. Jinks: Smith & Wesson. A company with a history . Stocker Schmid, Dietikon Zurich 1979, ISBN 3-7276-7025-8 .
  • Frank Sellers: Sharp's Firearms . Beinfeld Publishing Inc., North Hollywood, CA 1978, ISBN 0-917714-12-1 .
  • R. Bruce McDowell: A Study of Colt Conversions and Other Percussion Revolvers . Krause Publications, Iola, WI 1997, ISBN 0-87341-446-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ethan Allen : Deposition of Rollin White . In: Circuit court of the United States, Massachusetts district: In equity. For complainants: EW Stoughton, CM Keller, EF Hodges. For respondents: BR Curtis, Caustin Browne 1863, pp. 187-193.
  2. ↑ Grant Cunningham: Shooter's Guide to Handguns. Gun Digest Books, 2012, ISBN 9781440232725 , p. 26 [1]
  3. ^ Veto by Ulysses S. Grant from January 11, 1870 and letter from Alexander Brydie Dyer from December 11, 1869 [2]
personal data
SURNAME White, Rollin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American gunsmith
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Williamstown, Vermont, USA
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1892