Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver

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Mershon and Hollingsworth Self -Cocking Revolver 4/25/13 | by David Higginbotham

Lets go back a bit. In the nineteenth century, the revolver was the go-to handgun for military, law enforcement, and self defense. But

the old black powder beasts (and the cartridge conversions that would follow) required some manual manipulation. In order to fire, thehammer had to be cocked. This mechanical process usually required that a shooter physically pull the hammer back before pulling thetrigger on the next round.
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We call this single action, and it is still with us. In revolvers, though, single action guns are mostly nostalgic reminders of the glory daysfollowing the Civil War. Single action pistols are a different story.

As soon as the single action revolver was perfected, detractors began looking for a way to revolve the cylinder and cock the hammerthat didnt require use of the thumb or free hand. Enter the double action. Pull the trigger and the cylinder turns, locks, and thehammer falls. Problem solved?

Mershon and HollingsworthMaybe not. The British worked out the double action. The Adams Revolver worked decently well and was double action only. Pullthe trigger and the gun coked and fired. But it wasnt exactly smooth.
http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/revolver-double-action-revolver.htmlhttp://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/revolver-double-action-revolver.htmlhttp://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/revolver-double-action-revolver.htmlhttp://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/07/revolver-double-action-revolver.html


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But here are the basics. The reservoir is wo und like a clock. The enclosed spring applies the power needed to rotate the cylinder andcock the hammer. After firing, the shooter releases the trigger which starts the process. The gun readies itself to fire again. The guncan be fired very quickly.

Again from the patent application, which spent a good bit of its energy justifying the need for the new action:

Sportsmen greatly prefer an ordinary double -barreled gun to one of the repeating or revolving kind that requires cocking by handbefore each discharge, for the reason that the hammers of both barrels may be cocked and ready to discharged s rapidly as twotriggers can be pulled, which insures them two shots without removing the piece from the shoulder or disturbing the general l ine ofsight, while with an ordinary repeating gun they could have but one, because after each discharge the piece must come down fromposition, be cocked, and releveled before it can be again fired. But an arm that possesses the ability to perform the office of cockingthe hammer, liberate, rotate, and lock the chambered cylinder without requiring any other manipulation than the simple one of l etting gothe trigger after it has been pulled to discharge the arm must be vastly superior to all arms that require the working to be done by hand.

Ahead of its time

The Mershon and Hollingsworth clearly was a sign of things to come. And it wasnt the last attempt at an automatic revolver. The Britswere at it again around the turn of the century with the Webley Fosbery , which used recoil energy to slide the barrel and cylinder back(which in turn, cocked the hammer).
http://www.guns.com/review/2011/12/20/dear-santa-i-want-webley-fosbery-automatic-revolver/http://www.guns.com/review/2011/12/20/dear-santa-i-want-webley-fosbery-automatic-revolver/http://www.guns.com/review/2011/12/20/dear-santa-i-want-webley-fosbery-automatic-revolver/http://www.guns.com/review/2011/12/20/dear-santa-i-want-webley-fosbery-automatic-revolver/


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But the problem the Self- Cocking Revolver was meant to solve simply wasnt much of a problem. It takes very little effort to operate asingle action revolver. It takes more effort to wind the springs of the Mershon and Hollingsworth.

Behind the timesThe effort put into the Mershon and Hollingsworth might just as well have been spent elsewhere. Though few could forecast the adventof the automatic pistol, the very design of the Colt 1860 was being made obsolete by the growing use of brass cartridges.

But the invention itself had nothing to do with the design of the gun. Mershon and Hollingsworths choice of the 1860 seems almostarbitrary in hindsight. Their action could be retrofitted on any revolving firearm. And that was the point, however misguided.

In 1863, the world was ready for a revolution in firearms design, but it came in the form of brass cartridges, lever action rifles, andGatling guns. The bastard offspring of a revolver and a pocket-watch received very little attention.

Instead, Colt pushed on with the Peacemaker and further refined the double action/single action in guns like the Colt Lightning andThunderer .

And so the Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver became little more than a historical footnote. It went the way of so manyodd inventions. It is still in existence, and is rumored to still work (though the spring has lost some of its snap).

Here are the Patent drawings.
http://www.guns.com/reviews/colt-single-action-army-175th-anniversary/http://www.guns.com/reviews/colt-single-action-army-175th-anniversary/http://www.guns.com/reviews/colt-single-action-army-175th-anniversary/http://www.guns.com/2013/01/03/five-out-of-the-ordinary-defense-guns/http://www.guns.com/2013/01/03/five-out-of-the-ordinary-defense-guns/http://www.guns.com/2013/01/03/five-out-of-the-ordinary-defense-guns/http://www.guns.com/reviews/colt-single-action-army-175th-anniversary/


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From US Patent #39,825 Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver
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Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver, page 2
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Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver, page 3

Categories: Collectibles & Novelties
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Mershon and Hollingsworth Self-Cocking Revolver

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