Rollin White's Patent Was Both OBSTRUCTIVE & QUESTIONABLE:

 Happy Holidays everyone .. I'm not a Patent Lawyer .. but I reckon multiple firearms designers and makers got a raw deal in 19th century America. - Nobody seems to care about REALITY and FACT anymore ..

1/- Rollin White patented a design on April 3 1855 that was a laughably inept design - for loading Paper Cartridges from the cylinder's rear, - where the instant the first chamber is fired THEY ALL WENT OFF as the flame front travelled through the soft wrappings. 

- But later two of his patents did include through boring of the cylinder and that held the attention of Smith & Wesson who paid White 25 cents 'license' for every gun they sold using that feature for their Metallic Cartridge guns - these did work.

2/- Now the simple fact is that over in France - Eugine Lefaucheux had already patented his pinfire revolver design in both Paris and London, having a bored through cylinder nearly a full year earlier, on April 15, 1854.

- Lefaucheux did not register his design in America.

This relic Lefaucheux Pinfire Revolver, said to have taken the life of mentally unstable painter Vincent Van Gough in 1890 - sold at auction for 162,000 euros in 2019.

 - This is another 'Rabbit Hole' about Tall Tales, Revolvers and TRUTH; 

https://flicense.blogspot.com/2019/06/van-gogh-revolver-sells-well-at-auction.html

Facts indicate that Gawd botherer Van Gough almost certainly did not shoot himself .. nor likely did he previously cut-off his own ear .. the nutter had lied to excuse "friends".

3/- The fact that this earlier Lefaucheux Patent was not registered in USA, was accepted as to invalidate it there  - BUT in appealing against the U S restriction - that earlier European Registration SHOULD have proven 'PRIOR ART' that invalidates granting Rollin White any legal claim or rights.

Many thousands of these French patented bored-through Pinfire Revolvers were imported into America for use by both sides of the 1862-65 Civil War - despite that American patent limitation.

Belgian Liege built American Model Pinfire Revolver

Rollin White was yet another greedy liar who got lucky after stealing scrap Colt cylinders to develop his design - he made commercial life miserable for Smith & Wesson, - tried to cheat Colt's again by selling them one of his patents for a million bucks THAT WAS WORTHLESS WITHOUT THE SECOND PATENT - then he'd have had a go at getting another million from them .. all for his failed design.

S&W Model 11/2 from 1865 in .32 Rimfire Metallic Cartridge 

... Bored Through Cylinder:

S&W Model 1 from 1857

At least the U S lawyers refused a further patent extension  .. Such is life eh

Nutter without ear,  with pipe, burning vegetation 

 Before slow death from shooting ..

Marty K.