This illustration is from Vorisek. No info on where he obtained it. The patent 66,913 is a 1867 patent held by D. 0. Thrasher and B. F. Aiken of Bristol, MA. Guns based on the Lefaucheux patent (pin fire) were sold here during the Civil War.
Pete
According to Robert B Roosevelt (Teddy's uncle) in his copyright 1866 book, NO SxS shotguns were manufactured in America up until then, but some gunsmiths cobbled together imported parts--locks, stocks, and barrels--and stamped their own names on them. Civil War surplus .69 cal. muskets were used with bird shot (Annie Oakley's first gun). The Maynard 1863 carbine came with a smooth-bore barrel for shot, using a .55 cal, 28-gauge brass pin-hole shell (externally primed) like the seminal Parker T-Latch (s/n 06) that Hoover sings the praises of in the current DGJ.
The Davis 1867 patent clears up whether N. R. Davis or Charles Parker was the first commercial maker of a SxS breech-loading shotgun in America; the Parker/Miller parent was November 1866, and testimonial letters date first owners as early as Spring 1867. The Miller patent would have required a patent model made and submitted one or more months prior to the November 1866 date on the patent. The Davis gun came the next year according to the 1867 patent cited by PeteM. The Davis ad I have is from an 1868 copyright book about hunting laws in the various states, the last legislative date mentioned in the text being April 7, 1868.
The cut pictured by PeteM is the same as the one in my ad, having a T-Latch lifter-opener inside the trigger guard.
That's all folks... EDM
