This Day in History: Swing-Out Revolver Cylinder Patented

By Logan Metesh

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- On November 21, 1865, US patent 51,117 was issued to William Mason, who then assigned it to Remington. While the patent document simply lists it as an “IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS,” it is decidedly much more important than the name would indicate.

Mason’s improvement was for a swing-out revolver cylinder. While it is something we’ve come to expect of a revolver today, it was not the case in 1865. At that time, revolver cylinders were removed in a variety of ways: pivoting the barrel up; removing the barrel from the frame; sliding it out of the frame sideways, etc.

They all worked, but all lacked one key feature: retention of the cylinder to the frame of the gun. This is important because until Mason’s invention, the cylinder was a completely separate part of the gun when being reloaded. This meant it could be dropped, misplaced, or damaged in any number of ways. Mason’s design did away with all …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand