Pkmatrix
Monthly Donor
While we generally associate revolvers with the mid-19th Century or later, there were attempts at revolving guns going back to the 1500s.
The immediate predecessor of the famed Colt Paterson in the 1830s was the Collier Revolver invented about 15 to 20 years earlier:
These weapons had an interesting mechanic where pulling back the hammer would automatically deposit gunpowder from a little powder box so the user wouldn't have to add powder for every shot manually. Its cylinder needed to be manually rotated, though, which is where Samuel Colt's innovation to have pulling back the hammer also turn the cylinder came into play. Colt's idea, though, was based on the ratchet and pawl system of a ship's capstan, something which certainly predated Collier's gun. What I've read and seen of Collier's gun doesn't seem like it couldn't have been built earlier had someone else had the same idea.
So, my question is, assuming someone has a sudden burst of inspiration, how much earlier could something like a single-action flintlock revolver have been built? Not to any sort of widespread use (as I imagine they'd be expensive and difficult to build), just built and demonstrated?
The immediate predecessor of the famed Colt Paterson in the 1830s was the Collier Revolver invented about 15 to 20 years earlier:
These weapons had an interesting mechanic where pulling back the hammer would automatically deposit gunpowder from a little powder box so the user wouldn't have to add powder for every shot manually. Its cylinder needed to be manually rotated, though, which is where Samuel Colt's innovation to have pulling back the hammer also turn the cylinder came into play. Colt's idea, though, was based on the ratchet and pawl system of a ship's capstan, something which certainly predated Collier's gun. What I've read and seen of Collier's gun doesn't seem like it couldn't have been built earlier had someone else had the same idea.
So, my question is, assuming someone has a sudden burst of inspiration, how much earlier could something like a single-action flintlock revolver have been built? Not to any sort of widespread use (as I imagine they'd be expensive and difficult to build), just built and demonstrated?
