I've added this to the Reilly SN extant gun list (p.20 of the Reilly line), to sort of help Reilly owners date their guns.
These patent numbers have been found on Reilly's and can be used to help date them - caution however; many guns were modified and updated so presence of a patent by itself does not definitively establish a gun number date:
1859, 07 Sep - Jones patent 2020 - underlever (aka double-grip or screw-grip)(lapsed 1862, 19 Sep)
1860, 15 Nov - Henry patent 2802 - 7 groove shallow rifling
1861 - Daw patent 203 - centerfire from a Pottet’s French patent, broken by Eley in 1865
1862 - Needham patent 1544, rotating single-bolt snap-action side-lever
1862 - Westley Richards patent xxxcx - doll’s head fastener
1863, 01 May - J. Purdey patent no. 1104 - action bolt (see below re Scott Spindle)
1863, 10 Sep - Greener patent 2231 - pinfire snap underlever - see 1873
1865, 25 Oct - Scott patent 2752 - spindle. (top lever)(purdey-scott incest for 14 years)
1866 - Webley patent 3022 - snap action underlever
1866 - William Pape patent 1501 - choke tubes (American invention; perfected by Greener in 1874)
1866 - Hodges patent xxxx - action
1867, 05 Nov - Pape patent 70463 - wing thumb lever w/single bite
1867, 09 Feb - Stanton patent 367 - rebounding hammers
1869, 30 Dec - Stanton patent 3774 - rebounding hammer modification
1870 - Lang patent xxxxx- top lever sliding bolt action
1872, 12 Feb: H Walker patent 455- barrel bolting and safety for drop-down actions
1872 - Anson patent 3791 - fore-end fasteners
1873 - Deeley patent 1422 - fore-end fastener
1873 - Scott patent 615 - “key” fore-end fastener
1873 - Greener cross-bolt treble wedge fast locking system
1874 - Needham patent xxxx - ejector system
1874, Dec - First mention of Greener's development of the modern choke.
1875 - Scott patent 1902 - top extension
1875, 11 May - Anson & Deeley patent 1152 or 1756 - Boxlock hammerless action
1875, 11 Oct - “Not for ball “added and or “choke” (for recessed/jug chokes).
1875, 15 Sep - Scott patent 3223 - crystal cocking indicator (back action)
1876 - Thomas Woodword patent 651 - hammerless push-forward under-lever snap action.
1878 - W.C. Scott & sons patent 761 - coil spring back action hammerless lock
1878 - Mills patent 4980 - 3rd bite
1879 - Needham & Hinton patent 706 - intercepting sears on back action (bought by Scott)
1880, 16 Nov - Beesley patent 31 - Hammerless action marketed by Purdey
1883, 11 Apr - Anson & “Deeley patent, Boxlock hammerless improvement
1886 - Deeley patent 4289 - ejector system
1887 - “not for ball” dropped
1889 - Southgate patent 12314 - ejector and intercepter sear
1893 - Southgate patent 8239 - ejector trip (Holland & Holland)
