Westley Richards thought they had the barrel-cocking principle covered by their Anson&Deeley patent of 1875, which included the concept of the cocking rod. In the late 1870s they sued everyone who tried to offer a barrel-cocking design - Greener with Facile Princeps, Scott and Baker, Rogers - appealing all the way up to the House of Lords. Westley Richards lost in every instance (God knows how much it cost them) but most other gunmakers preferred not to mess with them, and so offered lever-cocking designs. Of course, they never said "We're offering you, dear customer, a gun built on a flawed principle only because we don't want to pay royalty for a good design". They advertised increased strenth of action. Ivaschentsev, apparently was taken in by this - I don't know how else to exlain his love for lever-cocking devices.
Last edited by Humpty Dumpty; 10/11/15 10:47 PM.
