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ET alors ? Verney Carron? et bien lui il a simplement modifi ce gnial systme HELICE a triple verrou de Webley en systme encore plus fiable a quadruple verrou dit Hlicobloc de Verney Carron en dposant un brevet en 1896 ! Jamais le systme Hlice n'a t brevet , mais largement frapp et voqu sur les boitiers en y accolant parfois les initiales du constructeur de l'arme !
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! The actual Helice system was never patented, but for the most part the (generic) word was engraved and raised up on the breech of the gun, often including the initials of the builder of the gun.
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Interesting. What V-C did was indeed "simply" enough to secure a French patent on an improved version of the Scott spindle, as even M. Neltir grudgingly admits. No, V-C didn't patent the word "Helice", although they did get trademark protection ("marque deposee") on several names using some version of the name, as mentioned in M. Verney-Carron's letter. The question then becomes whether guns bearing the name Helice (or some version of it not bearing "marque deposee" protection) use the same quadruple lock system as V-C used (after the patent expired), or if they are simply using the Scott spindle while lacking the 4th lock that V-C added. That's a question I can't answer.
