Stargazer65
Member
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.
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.