Pond .32 Rimfire Revolver
Forgotten Weapons
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9m 44s
Lucius Pond was one of 4 major manufacturers successfully sued by Rollin White on behalf of Smith & Wesson, for infringing on White's patent (exclusively licensed to S&W) of the bored-through cylinder. Pond had designed a hinged-frame .32 caliber rimfire revolver with some good and bad qualities, and made in excess of 5,000 of them. More than 4,000 of that number had to be turned over to S&W at wholesale cost, however, when he lost the patent suit in 1862. Those guns (including this particular example) were marked "Manufactured for Smith & Wesson", and resold for a nice markup by S&W.
Pond would go on to design a very jerry-rigged alternative design using removable chambers. This did avoid the Rollin White patent, but was quite awkward to use, and predictably failed to catch on commercially.
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