Theres never anything written or any pictures of SXS,s with the Infallible trigger. Lots of pictures of guns with Miller trigger but never a mention of Infal. Do know they were from Lancaster, Pa and cost $25 in 1914.
Just wondered how long they were in business.

Nothing too identifiable about the trigger blade, but the selector is a sliding button mounted at the junction of the wood and metal of the top tang on the left side. It resembles a miniature safety slide. Don't know much more about the company, but the ones I have work OK, so far. There have been discussions about this trigger on this site and/or on the PGCA site. One of the PGCA members owns a gun that is pictured in the 1914 Lancaster brochure and another member owns a gun that was mentioned in a testimonial in the same brochure. What are the chances?

I have a very high SN'd H grade Lefever with an Infallible trigger. This gun was probably one of the Ithaca finished guns & I have no idea if the trigger was installed at Ithaca or if an after-market installation, but I suspect at Ithaca. It is just as 8-Bore mentioned with the little selector slide set into a notch in left of tang. One feature of these triggers is they simply alternate bbls unless the selector is manually changed & do not re-set to a given bbl on opening the gun. The selector itself slides with each pull of the trigger.

Yup, Miller, they will keep you guessing about which barrel is going to fire next. In the field or the blind, you can fire once, quickly open the gun and reload the fired barrel, and the tight barrel will be ready to fire. Not a bad idea for a goose gun.

There used to be a gentleman who posted on here who seemed to be an authority on early single triggers and was well informed on the Infallible trigger . I remember saying that Miller was the best and he was very unhappy. Perhaps he will jump in.
bill

The Lancaster trigger was offered on Charles Daly guns in the pre WW1 era, maybe later. I don't think we know where this was done.

I have an LC Smith 00 grade with the infallible trigger. I also was given a catalog from the early teens from Lancaster. I'll try to find the catalog and take some pictures if anyone is interested.

The Schoverling, Daly, and Gales (SD&G) catalog has a full page advertisement devoted to the Infallible trigger. (I can't recall if this was the 1912 or 1914 catalog. but I will check tonight.) The cost was $25 if I recall correctly. I'll see if I can dig out the ad out and post it tonight.

Ken

Just purely a guess and a similar facsimile, but this cat Alfred H. Worrest looks to be the designer of the Infallible(Oct. 16, 1911): http://www.google.com/patents?id=fd1jAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4 . Here is an earlier version submitted in July 1910: http://www.google.com/patents?id=1ap9AAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4 . Hopefully some can set me straight and confirm or deny.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Worrest did indeed invent the trigger and owned the company that made them. Ithaca offered the Infallible single circa 1915 ish. I think James Tyson did a bit on this trigger in a DGJ article. A notch has to be cut in the top tang and I would think any engraving on a factory job would accommodate this notch. I had an Ithaca Lewis with after market installation as the engraving pattern was cut through.

Here is my canned Infallible reply --

Alfred Harvey Worrest – Infallible Single Trigger – Lancaster Arms Co

From researching and studying Alfred’s patents it appears that Alfred took an interest in, and began designing his Single Trigger mechanism around 1900 to 1904. His first patent no. 829,453 was issued on Aug. 28, 1906. His application for that patent was filed on May 3, 1904. It is a complex mechanism built into an L. C. Smith shotgun. It shows that he probably had some experience working professionally as a gunsmith because he completely redesigned the L. C. Smith locks, and his trigger mechanism was built as part of the receiver and locks, and not just an added unit. This design had a problem in that it required a large amount of wood to be removed between and at the back of the locks, weakening an already heavily inletted stock head. The gun with this trigger was also probably very difficult and tricky to assemble. This design shows his concept of the switching block which was the foundation of all of his patents that followed, and was a major feature of the highly dependable and successful “Infallible” trigger. Alfred’s second patent no. 871,550 was applied for on Aug. 10, 1906, just 18 days before his previous patent was issued. That patent was issued on Nov. 19, 1907 and the design was built around a “Minier” model Ithaca Gun Co. double. This triggers design had been changed drastically from the previous one removing many of its faults and problems, and the unit was built onto the guns trigger plate. All of the elements of the “Infallible” trigger are found in this design, but it was not a self contained unit. With this refined design it appears that Alfred began planning on making it’s production a commercial venture. The 1912 edition of the History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania states that the Lancaster Arms Co. who were the manufacturers of the Infallible Single Trigger, had been established two years earlier and was owned and operated by A. H. Worrest. The business was located at 126 E. King St. and the article goes on to state that it was a “well known and prosperous enterprise, his plant is perfectly appointed throughout, and the finest and best class of work is executed”. This not only included the manufacture of the trigger units, but also all kinds of fire arms repairs, and some complete doubles appear with the Lancaster Arms Co. name, but it is unknown if these were made by them, or imported by them and their name added to them prior to their sale. The article goes on to state that Mr. A. H. Worrest “is a gentleman of large experience in this line of industry and thoroughly understands its every detail”.
Following this patent with the next two can be a bit confusing. On June 25, 1909 he applied for another patent which was issued on June 18, 1912 as no. 1,029,781. Then on July 23, 1910 he applied for his fourth patent which was issued on Jan. 2, 1912 as no. 1,013,254. Patent no. 1,013,254 covered improvements to no. 1,029,781 which had not even been issued yet. Looking back you could say that this is a case of the “chicken preceding the egg”. Both of these patents developed the trigger mechanism into a self contained unit.
On Oct. 16, 1911 Alfred applied for his last trigger patent no. 1,029,782 which was also issued on June 18, 1912 and covers additional improvements which brought it to its final form as it was produced. (the above from Larry B Schuknect's book on double gun patents)

I have seen a 1913-vintage Parker Bros. Walter King letter to a customer where he says "As to your request we have removed our infallible single trigger, and installed the double trigger system."

Worrest had several Sngl trigger patents. Mine has two dates from 1912 stamped on the housing, Jan 2 & June 18. These would be #'s 1,013,254 & 1,029,781/82 (two successive patents issued June 18, 1912).
Walt, I had heard that Ithaca installed some of these triggers around that time frame, which led me to think mine may have been installed there. There is no engraving on the top tang of an H Lefever so no clue there.

1911 Schoverling, Daly, and Gales catalog





1912 SD&G Catalog

I've still never heard anyone explain how the Infallible trigger could have had improvements made to it. It seems to be a contradiction of the highest order.

This may have already been covered or posted but in DGJ Volume 6 Issue 4(Winter 1995) there's an article by Tom C. Kidd on an A.H. Fox with an Infallible. But the interesting part is a pic of a 1912 Lancaster Arms Company catalogue with a "Foreign Office: Suhl, Prussia" I wonder if Jaeger had some input on the design or who was on the board of directors of the Lancaster Arms Company.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Many thanks for all the information. I asked cause I have a 20ga VH Parker with the infallible trigger. Gun was made in 1909. If it was installed by Parker the info is not in the letter.
It still works fine.

Gordon, I have a 1908 Parker VH 12 with Infallible. No letter on this gun but the trigger works fine. My trigger is in the rear position, so I added a pad for a little extra LOP.