doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com W.H. Davenport Hammerless SxS?

Gentlemen,
I am inquiring whether any of the readers here have every owned or seen a W.H. Davenport Hammerless SxS. I am somewhat convinced that Davenport designed the sideplated hammerless boxlocks(110) that were mfg and sold by Hopkins & Allen and maybe even the near identical model from Iver Johnson. But, did W.H. Davenport build any similar guns with his name?

Awaiting your replies,

John

I just recently ran across the connection between Davenport, Forehand, and Iver Johnson within the last couple of days. Evidently there was an employee who designed the action that was in common with all of them. I remember thinking at the time how similar he was to Frank Hollenbeck, as far as influencing the products of several companies. I can't remember his name, and I haven't been able to find what I read when searching my browser history. Hopefully someone will know.

Ken,
I believe Reinhard Torkelson may be the employee you are referencing, but I don't think he had any patent input with the hammerless sideplated boxlocks. Hopefully, one of our resident experts will join in and lend some clarification.

John

John,
I don't think it was Torkelson, I was familiar with Torkelson and the "New Worcester" shotgun, another one of those "on my list" of small double makers. It was a name I'd not seen before. The guy's name was not associated with the actual name of any company I'd heard of. Now, this is really driving me crazy....Or, it could have been Torkelson and I am, in fact, crazy..

Regards
Ken

The Baltimore show was a hotbed of Davenport guns. Oh, well.

Yes eightbore, but any hammerless sxs's?

Maybe I can stir some interest?

Who else has one of these?

IGC has this on Davenport:

William H Davenport
City/Town Providence
County
State/Region/Province Rhode Island
Country USA
Trade Unknown
Other Address
Dates 1880-1892
Notes
Active 1800-1902, he designed and was a patentee of rifles and shotguns. He received the following patents; breech loading firearm, patent no. 237432 1881, breech loading firearms, patent no. 243223 1881, assigned to Davenport Arms Co., breech loading firearm, patent no. 251099 1881, assigned to Davenport Arms Co., breech loading firearms, patent no. 290751 1883, breech loading firearm, patent nos. 300851 1884 and 300752 1884, firearm, patent no. 320637 1885, firearm, patent no. 326276 1885, cocking mechanism for breech loading guns, patent no. 334570 1886, set trigger, patent no. 390286 1888, breech loading firearm, patent no. 406031 1889, mechanism for fastening barrels to gunstocks, patent no.406032 1889, adjustable extractor for breech loading guns patent no. 442106 1890, breech loading firearm, patent no. 465354 1891, cocking device for breakdown gun, patent no.549706 1895, shell extractor for breakdown guns, patent no. 565605 1896, extractor and ejector for break down guns, patent no. 565606 1896, magazine guns, patent no. 580679 1897, shell ejecting device, patent no. 592239 1897, ejecting device for breakdown guns, patent no. 615958 1898, firearm, patent no. 624187 1899, extractor mechanism for break down guns, patent no. 638322 1899, breakdown gun, patent no. 701158 1902, firearm locking key, patent no. 701159 1902. See also Andrew E Whitmore

Andrew E Whitmore
City/Town Boston
County
State/Region/Province Massachusetts
Country USA
Trade Gunmaker & Designer
Other Address
Dates 1871-1890
Notes
Granted the following patents; breech loading firearms, patent nos. 117843 1871, 122775 1872, revolving firearm, patent no. 185881 1877, breech loading firearms, patent nos. 153509 1874 and 238821 1881, assigned to William H Davenport, breech loading firearms, patent no. 262521 1882, firearm lock, patent no. 266245 1882, breech loading firearm, patent no. 282941 1883, with Joseph Tonks patented breech loading firearms, patent no. 282429 1883, breech loading firearm, patent no. 386174 1888 and breech loading break down guns, patent no. 433262 1890. See Thomas Warner.

Not sure that adds much more to this thread, but may be of some passing interest.

Tim

trw999,

After searching through most of that, I still come up empty on who the designer of the H&A gun is. Neither of my examples have a patent No. or date on them and the Davenport is stamped "patent applied for", nothing more.

Thanks,

John