Captain Artemas Wheeler

[Stargazer65]

This weekend my wife and I were touring historical places in MA. While we were visiting famous gravesites in Concord, we came across Captain Artemas Wheeler's headstone who was credited with the first satisfactory design of a revolving cylinder for a gun.

Excerpt from "Guns and Ammunition"
The most popular type of handgun used during the 1800's was the revolver. Instead of rotating barrels, the revolver has a rotating cylinder containing five or more firing chambers. As the cylinder rotates, a fresh cartridge is placed in line with the barrel for firing. The cylinder was rotated by hand in early models, but later cocking the hammer or pulling the trigger would automatically rotate it. As far back as the late 1500's, gunmakers had been trying to perfect this design. But it was not until the early 1800's that a satisfactory system was designed. In 1818, Captain Artemas Wheeler (1781–1845) of Concord, Massachusetts, was granted a patent for a revolver that fired seven or more times before reloading.
Rittgers, Sarah J. "Guns and Ammunition." The New Book of Knowledge. Grolier Online, 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

 

[Jim K]

Interesting that the name is usually spelled "Artemus", but I doubt his grave marker is wrong, so the others, including Flayderman, are incorrect.

The Wheeler was a flintlock; the first were multi-barrel "pepperboxes" but then he brought out a true revolver with a single barrel and a seven shot cylinder. Note that while Colt is usually credited with inventing the revolver, his actual invention was the way the cylinder is turned and locked. The Wheeler cylinder was unlocked and turned manually, separate from the cocking.

Jim

 

[rswartsell]

Very cool!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[CajunBass]

You can never learn too much history.

Thanks.

 

[Stargazer65]

Interesting that the name is usually spelled "Artemus", but I doubt his grave marker is wrong, so the others, including Flayderman, are incorrect.

It's very common for name spelling to change over the generations. A lot of times transcription errors in time past became the new spelling of a name. Other times people just changed the spelling themselves. My surname spelling changed three times over the generations that I can trace.

 

[Stargazer65]

The Wheeler cylinder was unlocked and turned manually, separate from the cocking

Thanks, I was wondering about some of details of what he came up with.

 

[beag_nut]

A few years ago we visited VMI in Virginia, which happens to have a fine firearms museum made from the collection of one person. (Check VMI's website for particulars) Besides having many interesting items on display, the museum probably has the greatest collection of revolvers, both handgun and shoulder guns, in existence on this side of the Atlantic. I saw revolvers (mostly long arms) which I could not believe, going WAY back in time. The administrator of said museum was supposedly in the process of compiling a book describing the collection, but I don't think it's complete yet, especially since I left word that I was very interested in buying such a book, but no word yet.

 

[Jim K]

A better known early revolver was the Collier, also a flintlock. Apparently Wheeler worked with or for Collier, but Collier had his guns made in England. I have seen only pictures of the Wheeler, but have seen a Collier and it appears to be much better made than the Wheeler. The first Colliers had the cylinder turned by a clock-type spring, but later ones were turned manually.

Other early revolvers were the Cochran and the Porter, both percussion "turret" rifles; the Cochran turret turned on a vertical axis, the Porter on a horizontal crossways axis. Both arrangements had chambers pointing back toward the shooter, possibly not the best arrangement for peace of mind, but the Porter was moderately successful, some 1250 being made; Cochran made only about 150.

The revolver idea was "in the air" in the 1830's, and there were a goodly number of both long arms and handguns of that general design. Colt was successful not only because he had the better mousetrap, but because he was more skilled at "baiting the trap" for influential buyers.

Probably the best known of early "revolvers" was the famous "Puckle gun", but I don't want to get into detail on that one. A Google search will turn up more info than I can give. But I will note that it was not a "machine gun" and the crank did not revolve the cylinder like the Gatling. After a shot was fired, the crank was turned to loosen the cylinder, which could then be turned to the next chamber. The crank was then turned the other way to tighten the cylinder against the barrel (no barrel-cylinder gap here!) for the next shot.

Jim

 

[beag_nut]

I don't remember its title, but a couple years ago I borrowed a book (giant book written by an Englishman) from an inter-library loan which had the history of handguns. Pretty sure that the first revolvers date from the late 1500's. Probably matchlocks. Collier was one of the first commonly available much more recently. I don't remember how far back the collection at that VMI museum goes, but they could have a really ancient one there.