Origin story
The earliest lever weapon cannot be verified. It is said that an Italian inventor named Cesar Rosario invented a lever revolver in 1826. The story was recorded in a magazine, Science, Literature and Art.
Colt's lever rifle is famous. Colt developed the first pistol, Colt Patterson, and the lever revolver.
It is a built-in hammer, which is realized by swinging the lever with a circle in front of the trigger back and forth to turn the gun chamber and hammer.
However, this rifle was not very successful. The purchase volume of the US military is very limited, with a total output of about 2,800 aircraft.
Because the wheel is not suitable for rifles, on the one hand, there is a gap between the bullet wheel and the barrel, which will spray fire sideways when launching. It's okay to use it on a pistol, but it's easy to burn your left hoof on a rifle. On the other hand, rifles pay attention to range, and this air leakage will definitely weaken the thrust of gunpowder gas on bullets. During this period, both the runner and the lever are great designs, and plagiarism is certain. 1849, Shipes company introduced a rifle with lever to open and close the breech and automatically fill the fire cap, but it is not a lever renju rifle in the standard sense.
In addition, an inventor named Walter Hunt designed a weapon with a tubular magazine, a lever-type ammunition supply and its own shell-less ammunition (the warhead was filled with gunpowder), but later he could not find a suitable manufacturer, so he sold the patent. Finally, the patent was purchased by Jennings Weapons Company, and later became Jennings rifle, which was launched on 185 1.
The early lever rifle was like a curse. Colt didn't sell well in the early days. The company went bankrupt and was shot.
Walter Hunt didn't find a suitable manufacturer either, and Jennings went out of business less than a year after launching a new lever rifle.
By 1854, Smith and Wei Sen purchased Jennings' patent and developed the famous volcano pistol and rifle. Please remember this name-Volcano Firearms Company.
However, the curse of leverage continues. Due to the poor reliability of the shell-less bullets fired by this weapon, the company will face bankruptcy in just one year.
At this time, Winchester came, and he bought a large number of shares in the Volcano Repeater Weapons Company. 1856, Volcano Repeater Weapons Company closed down and Winchester took over as the largest shareholder.
At this time, Smith started his career again. Wei Sen returned to Smith after working under Winchester for a period of time and founded Smith Wei Sen Company.
At that time, Winchester also poached Henry, the big boss of Volcano Company, and established the New Haven Weapons Company.
Later, Henry became the director here. On the basis of volcanic lever rifle, he designed a new all-metal magazine, and the final product was Henry lever rifle.
Henry's rifle was very successful, and it just happened to catch up with the American Civil War, so the New Haven Company made a fortune.
1866, Henry felt that he had reached the peak of his life. He attributed the success of New Haven to him, so he tried to get the Connecticut court to transfer the New Haven Company to him.
The boss Winchester worships Henry very much. He was very moved to see his full love for the company. Then he emptied Henry's shares and fired him. After reorganization, the company changed its name to Winchester Lianfa Weapons Company, which we are familiar with.
During the American Civil War, Henry rifle also had a competitor, called Spencer lever rifle.
Spencer himself works for Colt. The principle of the gun he designed is different from Winchester's lever rifle. It is more similar to the lever of the early Sharps rifle. Of course it has a magazine, but the magazine is designed in the butt of the gun instead of under the Winchester barrel. Spencer rifle was also famous in the American Civil War.