Well, Miller, his ultimate success was such that, he did not renew his original patents of 1894, etc, in 1909, leaving anyone who wanted to build a copy of the Darne gun from that era able to do so, including his son. Many did. The monoblock is pretty much what differentiated his sliding breech guns from others and he did renew that patent at least once. How many Darne copies have you seen with a monoblock? There is a reason for that.
Pete, that Francisque Darne patent illustrated above is an improvement to a patent that was allowed to lapse-Regis Darne's patent of 1894. Would that patent had been granted to Francisque, had Regis not allowed the original to lapse, is a good guess, from this juncture. Can you say for sure, one way or the other? I can't.
Didn't I say (which, you seem to have repeated, Miller) that there must have been something different between Pieper's and Darne's patents, that allowed them both to have one on a similar invention? Use your eye's, Miller.
The last Pieper I got to see, a 28 gauge hammer gun, wasn't a monoblock gun. That makes three Pieper guns, and I can't honestly say any of them were monoblock designs. I know he built them, but, I haven't seen any.
Joe must not know who Granger is. Or Bernard.
Best,
Ted
