"Hill's Patent" Stanley Bull-Dog Revolver: Blatant Patent Theft in 1878
Revolvers
•
9m 42s
The Stanley Bull-Dog revolver is an English-production revolver which is marked as being "Hill's Patent". The gun uses an interesting simultaneous ejection system similar to the Fagnus - which one would assume was the subject of Hill's aforementioned patent. The guns were made in a variety of configurations (blue, nickeled, various barrel lengths and calibers, etc).
Hill's actual patent (number 3645 of 1878) is actually a provisional patent relating to the lockwork that turns the cylinder. In fact, the ejection system used on the guns was invented by a Belgian named Jean Mathieu Deprez-Joassart five years earlier in 1873. Deprez-Joassart did patent the mechanism, and Hill appears to have simply claimed the system as his own and convinced a British gunmaker to pay him royalties for guns made with it.
Thanks to Select Fire Weaponry of Waukesha, Wisconsin for loaning me this revolver to film.
Thanks also to Littleton.Be for use of photos of Deprez-Joassart revolvers - you can see their whole page on the man here:
https://littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20den/a%20deprez%20joassart%20gb.htm
Up Next in Revolvers
-
Fake or frontline firearm? The Webley...
Followers may be familiar with the shoulder stock on the No.1 Mark I Signal Pistol but we would be seriously impressed if you've seen the same stock mounted on the classic British early 20th-century sidearm, the Webley Mark.VI. Jonathan investigates whether this was a unique experiment or intende...
-
Why are there two different Webley Ma...
Jonathan Ferguson answers a fan's question as to a quirk of timing and happenstance why there are two different Webley revolvers with the designation 'Mark IV'.
-
Why make a revolver so smol? The tiny...
This week Jonathan's joined by the dinky little brother of the Webley Mark IV family, the 'pocket model. Designed for ease of concealment and personal defence, this compact design is seeing a new lease of life as the Webley brand is reborn in the 21st century.