Not getting much help on the "analyzing UK Patent Use #'s line so let me put this post into a separate line.
To reiterate in this virus shut down period - with everyone bored - I am trying to find a 19th century UK patent holder who chronologically numbered his patent uses for royalty payments, which might help date certain hitherto undateable guns. Scott patents seem to be out apparently, since they sold whole blocks of patent use numbers to gun makers.
But the Henry rifling patent of Dec 1860 as sold on Adams & Tait made barrels usually marked "Henry's Patent A&T XXXX" (XXXX=use number) looks to be one possibility. Here's an example from Reilly SxS SN 18794 (dated mid-1874 by my chart)
Repost:
Need help from Alexander Henry experts: Here's another Henry Rifling Adams & Tait Patent use number/date graph, concentrating on known guns with established dates of delivery. (It Assumes that A&T began to make Henry rifling patent barrels in Birmingham in 1862 as reported on the internet - and not taking into account the lead time to select a couple of barrel blanks from the A&T stock, buy them, serial number them, then mate them, file them, etc).
Data from extant guns with the Henry Rifling A&T use number:
. . .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? )
. .33 - SN 459 Alexr Henry .451 single barrel rifle M-L
c1860. Not A&T
. .80 - SN 494 Alexr Henry .451 single barrel rifle M-L
c1860 Not A&T
. 349 - SN 783, Alexr Henry .451 single barrel rifle M-L Not A&T
. 350 - SN 985, Alexr Henry .451 single barrel rifle M-L Not A&T
. 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
1874. 555, .556 - Durs Egg .500/.450 BPE dated per rib address between
1869-80 (probably 1874). 601 - SN 1075, Alexr Henry .451 single barrel rifle M-L Not A&T
. 611 - Alexr Henry long range match rifle M-L, single barrel .451
18661355, 1356** - SN 3210 - Alexr Henry double rifle made for Queen Victoria, completed
Dec 1873 - presented to her bodyguard John Brown.
1454 - SN 2134 - Alexr Henry single .450 BPE. U-L
18691844, 1845 - SN 3585 - Alexr Henry double rifle made for Prince of Wales,
1874-52459, 2460 - Alexr Henry ,450 BPE SxS Rifle given by Prince of Wales in India. Completed on
7 Sep 18753369, 3370 - Alexr 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 gun. 12 ga/.577. delivered
19 Aug 18844606 - Alexr Henry .450 single barrel U-L rifle. completed on the
7th July 18795046, 5047 - SN 6122 - Alexr Henry, Rifle SxS, BPE 20/.577. Completed
Jan 1888.
5304, 5305 - SN? - Alexr Henry, Rifle SxS. BPE dated
1888.
5695, 5696 - SN 6408 Alexr Henry .450 BPE SxS rifle. Prince or Wales gift to W.Winans.
1888Note that the 3 Reilly gun use numbers fall significantly outside the curve... But their dates of manufacture are very solid and those three guns indeed had those patent use numbers - photos don't lie.
Original Questions from above:
-- 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?More questions (Donald Dallas wrote a great book about Alexander Henry; surely someplace there is info on Henry's relationship with Adams and Tait and their use of his patent on their barrels.)
1. Were the barrels stamped with the Henry Patent use # when finished individually, or when they were paired with a gun?
2. Who stamped the barrels with the patent use number and when? A&T or the gun maker?
3. When are barrels for a gun delivered to the gun maker? If a gun has a "delivery date" recorded for giving the gun to a customer....how much earlier than this date would the barrels have been stamped with the patent use number or delivered to the gunmaker?
4. Could a gunmaker order 50 individual tubes from A&T and join them together later as necessary in house? i.e. could a gunmaker stockpile the use numbered barrel blanks for several years?
5. If a gun maker...Alexander Henry say...ordered barrels from A&T would A&T make the barrels to certain Henry specifications, or would Henry make the action to fit the barrels and lumps on the barrels once they were in hand?
Oh and by the way, "what is a Henry Patent A&T use #" anyway? Is it a Hentry Patent on an A&T barrel? Did Henry use other barrel makers and is his patent stamped on their barrels?Talking to David Trevallion today answered some of the questions. The barrels originally would have been tubes with roughed-in flats and lumps. The barrel maker will choose two tubes. At that point the pat use number will be stamped on them. The barrel maker then shapes them, joins them, the filer then goes to work on the lumps. So the Pat use number could well be stamped on the barrels six months before the gun is completed. The gun serial number, however is assigned when the gun is ordered which could be 3 years before the gun is delivered.