doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Early Stanton Rebounders marked "Joint Patent"

Below is a photograph of an old English hammer gun (c. 1871) featuring early Stanton rebounding locks. I am guessing the "5638" is the patent use number as the other lock has the next sequential number. If you look closely you will see they are marked "Stanton & Co." and "Joint Patent". Does anyone know to which patent this refers and who is Mr. Stanton's joint patent holder?

[img:center][/img]

/IMG
I am posting one more photo in hopes someone knowledgeable about Stanton rebounding locks can help me know why these particular locks are stamped "joint patent". I have never seen a bridle exactly like this one.

To the best of my knowledge the patent referred to is Stanton's rebounding lock as exhibited in your locks. A very large number of British rebounding locks from this period carry the 'joint patent' stamp.
I have several theories about this (someone may know the facts - I can only guess).
1. Stanton allowed the use of his patent for a reduced fee if the stamp was used. It was common practise to lay claim to a current patent by insisting the component was stamped with the use details, maybe this was Stanton finding a compromise to deter fraudulent use of his patent is an area rarely seen by Joe Public.
2. Perhaps, like Westley Richards with the Deeley ejector box, Stanton insisted on the locks being returned to him for inspection before he would allow the patent use and he then stamped the 'joint patent' mark to authorise the job.
3. The stamp was used when a non-rebounding lock was converted to rebounding (very common practise when the patent was first unveiled) but somehow I doubt it as too many of these 'conversions' are rather too late to have been built as non-re-bounders.

An after thought, your gun is apparently 1871 so may well have been built with non-rebounding locks and perhaps this is an example of suggestion no. 3.

http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/features/reviving-the-trend-for-hammerguns-7921

I'm not sure whether this is any help but there's some info on Stanton's early rebounding lock patent numbers towards the end of the article.

Thank you gentlemen, very helpful information. It is hard to improve upon the simplicity and gracefulness of those components. Even a layman such as myself can see generally how the bits interact. She's out for a restock at the moment, but I can't wait to get her in the field this fall!

I though that there were 2 Stanton patents rather close from each other.
It could be that this one lock design has both embodied.
Food for thought...
WC-

This is an amazing lock by the way...
The spring is perfect and the bridle is fantastic.

I always call them "Mermaid Bridles", as the curve and pins always reminds me of a mermaid holding a pair of coconuts.

El Garro's helpful link references an article speaking to Stanton's three patents (one provisional):

"The first, No. 49 of 8 January 1867, received only provisional protection and used an external spring to lift the hammer to half-cock. Very shortly after this he secured a second patent, No. 367 of 9 February 1867, in which the hammer is returned to half-cock by the mainspring. This he achieved by lengthening one limb of the mainspring the top in a bar-action lock and the bottom in a back-action lock off which the tumbler bounces. And it was this design that was widely adopted, appearing in both new guns and as conversions to existing locks. In his third patent, No. 3774 of 30 December 1869, Stanton reverses the location of the projections on the mainspring limbs for bar-action and back-action locks, adding a characteristic curve to the end of the spring."

I am searching for a photo of patent 3774 to compare with the above photo to see if it is a match. Of course it could have been a conversation, too, as Mr Barclay suggests.