Verney Carron? well, all he did was simply modify the triple lock HELICE system of Webley to a system still more reliable with quadruple locks called HELICOBLOC on which Verney Carron took out a patent in 1896!
Argo, that's a lot of very nice and interesting history. But per the above, from M. Neltir himself, we have verification that V-C did indeed receive a patent on their modification of the Webley system--which, again, M. Neltir admits is "still more reliable with quadruple locks".
From that point, with the name HelicoBloc protected, once the patent expired on the actual locking mechanism, other makers began to use it as well--and often put the word "Helice" (which was not protected) or some variation thereof on the top lever of their guns. The fact that V-C didn't come up with an entirely new locking system from the ground up is neither here nor there. Likely a bazillion patents have been granted on what are only modifications of something that already exists. In this case, the French patent office recognized, by granting a patent, that V-C's locking mechanism differed enough from any then in use that it deserved a patent of its own. A whole lot of words about what V-C did NOT do . . . but the only really important point is the part I quoted.
Last edited by L. Brown; 12/09/17 06:53 PM.
