Henry Nock

Henry Nock (* 1741 in Tipton ; † 1804 in London ) was a British gunsmith .

From 1771 to 1804 Nock was an arms supplier to the Board of Ordnance , the agency for arms and equipment of the British armed forces, from 1777 to 1803 he also supplied the East India Company . He manufactured weapon parts and complete handguns , from small pistols to heavy wall rifles . Nock is considered a pioneer in industrial mass production . His workshops also repaired many weapons. In addition to military weapons, he manufactured civilian weapons such as hunting rifles and dueling pistols . Nock's company was carried on by his successors and developed into Wilkinson Sword .

Life

Nock was born in Tipton in 1741 and baptized on May 17th. He was the firstborn son of Ann and Thomas Nock, a grocer . Nock had eleven siblings, his brother Richard, born in 1754, later also became a gunsmith. Little is known about Nock's early years. It is believed that he trained as a gunsmith in or around Tipton and worked in Birmingham .

In 1768 Nock rented a workshop on Elm Street in the London borough of Holborn . Nock proposed an improved musket lock to the Board of Ordnance , but in November 1770 the agency rejected the proposal. Next, it is known that in 1772 Nock opened an armory lock shop in Mount Pleasant in the London Borough of Islington .

In April 1775 he entered into a partnership with William Jover and John Green. Since Nock was not yet established in the Company of Gunmakers , the professional association of gunsmiths, he hoped for better opportunities through Jover, who was a master there. The partnership Nock, Jover & Co. distributed weapons with the Nock patented (English Patent No. 1095) lock, located in the City of Westminster borough at 83 Long Acre Street. That year the American War of Independence began and the opportunity for arms manufacturers was favorable. The company manufactured weapons with both wrapped and conventional locks. In 1776 a contract was concluded with the East India Company for 60 breech loaders based on the Ferguson rifle model . The partnership with Jover lasted until 1777, after which the two gunsmiths went their separate ways again. Possibly due to the failed venture, Nock turned to the military market. In 1777 he signed a contract with the Board of Ordnance for the supply of bayonets .

In 1778 there was a short-lived partnership with the Birmingham gunsmiths Samuel John Galton , Benjamin Willets and Thomas Blakemore for the production of gun locks. Although the company was unsuccessful, it was the nucleus of the Birmingham Small Arms Company, founded decades later .

Around 1779 Nock moved to Whitechapel and in 1784 to Ludgate Hill. Over time, he built several production facilities and a shooting range in the city of London.

In 1783 Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, became general field master and promoted Nock. The two men worked on innovative concepts for handguns. In 1789 Nock became the gunsmith of King George III. appointed.

Nock was active in the Gunmakers Company, the professional association of gunsmiths. In 1781 Nock made a set of gauges for the Gunmakers Company's fire department . In 1784 he was elected member of the rank of Freeman , in 1795 full member of the rank of Live Ryman appointed . Nock rose in the hierarchy and became a master in 1802 .

Around 1800 Nock's nephew Samuel Nock trained with his uncle and later also became a gunsmith . The gunsmith Ezekiel Baker , known for the Baker Rifle , once worked for Nock.

When Nock died at the height of his career at the age of 63 , he was financially better off than many of his contemporaries. He decreed that the company should run for 6 months in favor of the employees. James Wilkinson, his closest associate, kept the business running. James Wilkinson married Ann Jones in 1792, who was likely Nock's stepdaughter . When James' son Henry Wilkinson joined the company in 1819, it was renamed James Wilkinson & Son . The focus of the company shifted more and more in the direction of blades and therefore in 1889 the name was again changed to Wilkinson Sword .

Well-known inventions and developments

Nock rifle

→ Main article : Nock rifle

In July 1779, James Willson introduced a seven-barrel volley rifle to the Bord of Ordnance. Since it was Henry Nock who got the order for the next two rifles, it is believed that Nock also made the prototype. Willson was paid off and was no longer involved in further development; the rifle therefore became known as the nock rifle . By 1788 he had delivered over 600 pieces to the Board of Ordnance.

After the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the military business stagnated and Nock sold an unknown number of the guns to civilians as sporting rifles.

Based on the Nock rifle, Nock built a carbine with a rotating 6-barrel barrel, practically a large bundle revolver . Nock was also known for its regular size bundle revolvers.

Concealed and screwless lock

In 1775, Noch and his partners Jover and Green obtained a patent for a concealed lock (English Patent No. 1095). The lock was encased in such a way that it was insensitive to rain and wind and the ignition spark was not visible. Some civil weapons were built with this lock, but the hoped-for success did not materialize.

In May 1781 the gunsmith Jonathan Hennem developed a flintlock in which the moving parts were held in place by spring clips and pins instead of screws . Nock also worked on a new lock, taking on the mathematician George Bolton's screwless design; possibly Nock also worked with Hennem. Nock's Castle was selected by the military in 1786. The lock incorporated elements of the earlier concealed lock, but was closer to the conventional lock. The lock was covered with a plate so that the usual mechanism was not attached outside. There was only one spring that activated both the tap and the battery. This also meant a reduction in parts. With this lock, a large part of the mechanism was protected in the shaft behind the lock plate. The fact that no screws were used made it easy to open and clean. Although technically mature and hard-wearing, this lock did not catch on because it was more complicated and therefore more expensive to manufacture than conventional locks. Production of the castle took place after the principles of the exchange building of industrial mass production .

Breech loader

In 1787, based on the Crespi system , Nock developed an experimental breech loader with a hinged breech lock and secured patent no. 1598. The weapon was tested by the British military, but not introduced.

Patent tail screw

In 1787, Nock developed a new tail screw for which he secured patent no. 1598. This development became known as the so-called patent tail screw .

Until then, the spark was ignited through the ignition hole on the side of the powder chamber. This resulted in uneven and slow combustion. Nock introduced a prechamber, similar to a chamber diesel engine, and thereby got a stronger and faster ignition in the main chamber. Nock's invention became even more relevant when impact-sensitive substances were used for ignition at the beginning of the 19th century.

The barrel was designed as a hook-tail screw and could easily be removed.

Duke of Richmond's Musket (1792)

The General Feldzeugmeister Duke of Richmond tried to modernize the infantry armament. Nock constructed a musket with various European ideas and received 100 pounds for it. Around 1000 pieces were produced and, after a long test phase, were selected as the new standard armament. In December 1792 Great Britain ordered 10,000 pieces. Preparations for the manufacture of the weapon were made by various gunsmiths, but the First Coalition War thwarted these plans a few months later. In order to meet the great demand, the Brown Bess in the India Pattern version was produced instead . Some improvements introduced by Nock, such as the modified shaft or the barrel attachment to the shaft, were incorporated into the later version of the New Land Pattern . In 1804, Nock converted the muskets produced to a conventional lock. Most of these muskets were destroyed in the tower fire of 1841 .

Royal Horse Artillery pistol

In 1793, Nock developed 80 pistols with two side-by-side barrels for the Royal Horse Artillery , the mounted artillery of the British Army. The legs were 45 cm long and drawn; the gun had two triggers. As a pistol, the weapon was hardly controllable, but with the stock it made a very useful carbine .

Web links

• Nocks objects at the Royal Armories : [16] , [17] , [18] , [19]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jaroslav Lugs: handguns . 6th edition. tape I . Military Publishing House of the GDR , 1979, p. 584-585 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Ian Daves, Clive Thomas, Guy Wilson, Stephen Wood: Peter Finer 2007 . Catalog. 2007, p. 184-185 ( [1] ).
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Benjamin Thomas: Henry Nock, Gunmaker, London (1741-1804). collections.museumvictoria.com.au, accessed on August 15, 2019 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Peter S. Wainwright: Henry Nock, Innovator . In: American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin . No. 88 , 2003, p. 1–20 ( [2] [PDF]).
5. ^ ^{A b} Extraordinary Pair of Henry Nock Flintlock Pistols at College Hill Arsenal , summary by Howard L. Blackmore: British Military Firearms, 1650–1850 , chapter 5
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Priya Satia: Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution , Penguin Verlag , 2018, ISBN 9780735221871 pp. 194–195 [3]
7. ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art : Early firearms of Great Britain and Ireland from the collection of Clay P. Bedford Verlag New York Graphic Society, 1971, p. 80 [4]
8. ↑ Jaroslav Lugs: Small arms . Volume I. 6th edition, Military Publishing House of the GDR , 1979, pp. 550–551
9. ^ Nigel Brown: British Gunmakers , Volume 1, Quiller Press, 2004, ISBN 9781904057475, p. 92 "Ann jones" + "henry nock" + Wilkinson
10. ^ History of Wilkinson Sword Ltd. - FundingUniverse. Retrieved August 23, 2019 . 
11. ^ Henry Nock Revolving Flintlock Carbine
12. ↑ Gerald Prenderghast: Repeating and Multi-Fire Weapons: A History from the Zhuge Crossbow Through the AK-47 , McFarland Verlag, 2018, ISBN 9781476666662 p. 54 [5]
13. Jump up ↑ J. Paine: Jonathan Hennem and his Screwless Lock in: The American Society of Arms Collectors , Bulletin Number 107, Spring 2013
14. ^ Robert Wilkinson-Latham: Phaidon Guide to Antique Weapons and Armor , Phaidon Verlag , 1981, ISBN 9780714821733 p. 209 [6]
15. ↑ Philip Haythornthwaite: British Cavalryman 1792-1815 , Verlag Osprey Publishing , 2012, ISBN 9781780966403 pp. 57-58 [7]
16. ^ ^{A b} Jeff Kinard: Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact , Verlag ABC-CLIO, 2003, ISBN 9781851094707 p. 42 [8]
17. ↑ Priya Satia: Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution , Penguin Verlag , 2018, ISBN 9780735221871 p. 442 [9]
18. ↑ Dwight B. Demerritt Jr .: John H. Hall and the Origin of the Breechloader in: The American Society of Arms Collectors , Bulletin Number 42, Spring 1980
19. ↑ Otto Maresch: Weapon theory for officers of all weapons , 1875 section 4 p. 25 [10]
20. ↑ Peter F. Blakeley: Successful Shotgunning: How to Build Skill in the Field and Take More Birds in Competition , Stackpole Books, 2003, ISBN 9780811743709 p. 20 [11]
21. ^ William Wellington Greener: The gun and its development Verlag Cassell and Company, 1910, p. 118 [12]
22. ↑ Gun-Making in: Encyclopædia Britannica , 1856, edition 8, volume 11, p. 97 [13]
23. ↑ August Niemann: Militär-Handlexikon , Verlag Bonz, 1877, p. 417 [14]
24. ^ Roger Knight: Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793-1815 , Penguin UK, 2013 ISBN 9780141977027 p. 60 [15]
25. ↑ Gregory W. Pedlow: The Rise and Fall of the Duke of Richmond's Musket: Britain's Finest but Least Known Flintlock Musket in: Arms & Armor , Volume 13, 2016 Preview