S&W helps out Remington?

D

DasBoot

Moderator
So Roland White(was that his name?) had the patent for the center fire cartridge, good until 1869...I think.
S&W bought him out.
Forgive me if my details are incorrect, but why, in 1868, would S&W allow Remington to produce 4000+ Army conversion pistols using the center fire cartridge.
Why would S&W "help" a competitor?:confused:
I found it rather curious.
I read this in a book I bought last year..."Guns" by David Weber.
It's a beautiful hardcover book with over 2000 guns of every type firearm imaginable, right up to machine guns.
Anyone familiar with this book?
I read a page or 2 most mornings over breakfast.
 
S&W held the patent for bored through cylinders devised by Rollin White. Remington paid them royalties for the use of the patent because I believe they were completly busy producing #3's. Thats all from bad memory however.
 
Ironically Rollin White was also an employee of Colt prior and ran the idea past them but they werent intrested.
 
Nice move on Colt's part!!!!:eek:
Kinda like the first drummer for the Beatles that quit the group!
But why would S&W help Rem out?
 
S&W helped Remington because Remington paid them MONEY. It was a business decision, licensing a patent. Happens all the time.

As for the logic behind the decision, I'd just be speculating. I'd guess that a big part of it might be that the patent was nearing its end, and they'd soon have to compete with other manufacturers anyway; why not make some money first? They might also have thought that since Remington wasn't as big a player as Colt, licensing their patent to Remington wouldn't create a competitor S&W couldn't handle. As turned out to be the case, whether or not they intended it that way.
 
Actually Remington paid Smith and Wesson to Convert Remington pistols.
New Army's and New Model Navy's were converted in S&W factory because of the Rollin White patent.

Most of the factory conversions with extractors(the round rod with the bent and flattened and knurled end) and those without extractor and with Rollin White patent found on the cylinders, are S&W factory conversions of Remington pistols.

Bruce McDowell's book on Colt Conversions and Other Metallic Cartridge Conversions covers this extensively.
A good read and good for your library, though now out of print and expensive. Glad I was able to get mine in 1998 at regular price.
 
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