Per above I started a cursory look at Henry Rifling Adams & Tait Patent. Several posters maintain that A&T patent use numbers were always chronological. Couple of observations:
-- First, it looks like that Henry Patent 2802 of 15 Nov 1860 should have expired in 1874. Somehow patent use numbers for Henry rifling A&T extend up to 1888. So I assume that the Patent was extended for 14 years for some reason (I'm wondering if the formal adoption of the Martini Hentry for issue to all troops in 1874 had anything to do with this).
-- And did they start numbering anew when the patent was extended?
Here are the few Henry rifling A&T use # guns I've found from a pretty quick search of the internet.
Added several more guns with Henry Patent A&T use numbers:
. . .3,. . . 4** - A Samul & C,Smith muzzle loader with the crest of a fellow who died in 1868, converted to center break gun by G.E. Lewis of Birmingham (date not stated but one of the first A&T guns
1862? )
. 399, .400 - SN 18797 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street London & rue Scribe, Paris. .500 BPE, U-L, hammer gun dated mid
1874. 448, .449 - SN 18856 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street London & Rue Scribe. Paris. Sxs .500 BPE. U-L, hammer gun. dated
18741355, 1356** - SN 3210 - Alexander Henry double rifle made for Queen Victoria, completed
Dec 1873 - presented to her bodyguard John Brown.
1844, 1855 - SN 3585 - Alexander Henry double rifle made for Prince of Wales,
1874-52459, 2460 - Alexander Henry ,450 BPE SxS Rifle given by Prince of Wales in India. Completed on
7 Sep 18753369, 3370 - Alexander Henry .500x3” BPE SxS Rifle.
3524, 3525 - SN 21361 - E.M. Reilly & Co., Oxford Street, London & Rue Scribe, Paris. .450BPE. Rifle SxS. U-L, hammer gun.
mid-18783756 - T.Bland cape rifle. 12 ga/.577. delivered
19 Aug 18845046, 5047 - SN 6122 - Alexander Henry, Rifle SxS, BPE 20/.577. Completed
Jan 1888.
5304, 5305 - SN? - Alexander Henry, Rifle SxS. BPE dated
1888.
** I'm going to assume that the above A&T use #;s 3, 4 on the Smith muzzle loader were stamped as early as 1862 when A&T started building barrels.
** The Queen Victoria/John Brown A&T use #'s 1355, 1356 don't fit the pattern. (unless you eliminate the two Reilly 1874 guns) Which is why I wondered if the SN's started again in 1874.
Anyway here is a preliminary graph based on the 5 datapoints above excluding the Smith and John Brown guns.
Here is an alternative graph plotting in the Smith (3,4) and John Brown (1355,56)k guns if the numbering system was not restarted in 1874, isolating the two Reilly guns. It looks like A&T were stamping about 130 a year from 1862 to mid 1873; 250 use numbers a year from mid 1873 when the John Brown barrel was probably numbered to 1888.
I checked my Reilly library - those SN's actually appear on the guns - I have photographs. 400 would have been numbered about 1865 if all A&T use numbers were chronological. The 1878 Reilly should have had a number around 2524 but the 3524/25 are indeed on the barrels. There must be an explanation.
Here is a sample of Alexander Henry's original records, showing the John Brown gun - from Donald Dallas' excellent book on Henry. (if there are copyright objections, I'll delete). It has the Henry patent number mentioned in the records....I don't seen the use number for A&T barrels though. (It looks like the Henry guns were serial numbered when ordered per usual UK practice as I understand it - I don't know when the barrels were marked with the patent use #'s...whether when completed at the A&T workshop before being mated to the gun or afterwards).
Questions:
-- Do patent records for Henry still exist? Who might have them?
-- What is the difference between a straight forward Henry rifling patent use # and a Henry rifling A&T use # - if any?
-- How did Henry extend his patent for another 14 years in 1874?
-- Did the use #'s start anew in 1874?(I considered the possibility that Reilly bought a block of numbers in the early 1860's which might account for those two 1874 guns in the use #400 range...but Reilly built a lot of rifles...can't make them fit unless the SN's restarted at some point)