Next to the revolver designs of the Colt’s Patent Firearms Company, few were as widely copied as those of Robert Adams. Like Colt, Adams had actively sought to license his designs to foreign makers, particularly in continental Europe and America. The two best known agreements of these types were with the large gunmaking firm of Auguste Francotte in Liège Belgium and with the Massachusetts Arms Company in America. While Francotte primarily produced Adams’ Model 1851 design, the “self-cocking” or double action only percussion revolver, the Massachusetts Arms Company produced only Model 1854 Beaumont Adams revolver, a traditional double action design. Like Colt, Adams also found his designs being used by continental makers without any licensing agreement. In some cases, these guns were made in direct violation of Adams’ patent protections, and some case they were simply taking advantage of the styling and appearance of his revolvers in order to more easily market their own designs. 

During the 1850s and 1860s, numerous variations of Adams pattern percussion revolvers were produced in the Prussian gunmaking center of Suhl. Some were simply inspired by Adams’ designs, while others directly infringed upon his patents. Some of those Suhl-made Adams-style guns closely resemble Adams’ designs and have their profile but are actually produced with a two-piece frame and barrel. Adams’ primary patent covered the production of the revolver from a single forging with the barrel, frame and gripstrap all made from a single piece of metal. Thus, guns that  looked like an Adams, but were produced with multi-part frames, were not actual patent infringement guns. While some of the M1854 style revolvers may have infringed on Lt. Frederick Beaumont’s lock work patents, they did not actually infringe on patents held by Adams. Such a patent infringement would be much harder to prove in court, as a minor change in the size or orientation of an internal part was usually sufficient  to evade any potential prosecution. Most of these Adams-inspired revolvers were unmarked as to their makers, making any chance of bringing a successful patent infringement case more unlikely, as proving the gun was produced  by a specific maker was quite difficult.

Offered here is what many would call a German or Suhl Adams Patent Infringement Percussion Revolver, but which is better known by the marking on the topstrap, as an Imperial Patent Revolver. The gun has the overall appearance of a Model 1851Adams percussion revolver. In true patent infringement style, the gun does appear to violate the most important of Adams’ patent protections, the use of a one-piece barrel and frame made from a single forging. Like the original M1851 design, the revolver has no loading lever. It also uses Adams’ frame mounted safety spring that allowed the hammer to be place in a blocked position, which also freed the cylinder to rotate freely. Pulling the trigger automatically released the safety. Adams’ arbor retention spring design is incorporated into the gun as well. 

Like most of the Suhl produced Adams style revolvers, the gun has practically no markings, with only external marking being the engraved legend on the topstrap:

IMPERIAL PATENT REVOLVER

The revolver is 8 ½” in overall length with a 4 ¼” octagonal barrel that is rifled with six grooves that are roughly the same width as the lands. The gun is about .334” caliber, nominally 120-Bore in the English system, the typical caliber for an English or European pocket revolver. Like most Adams type designs, the unfluted cylinder has five chambers and there is no frame mounted bolt stop as found in Colt style guns, with the action achieving lock up via a pivoting arm that engages the rear of the cylinder. Although classically “Adams”  in appearance the silhouette of the gun is clearly continental with a longer grip, with a more exaggerated curve towards the perpendicular, than found on English guns. The arbor pin is retained with an Adams style catch spring on the forward right-hand portion of the frame. The left rear of frame has the Adams M1851 patent style spring safety. The revolver is deeply blued and has a deeply fluted European walnut grip with a blued steel butt cap with an elongated finial in the place of the more commonly encountered European lanyard ring. The hammer, trigger and cylinder arbor pin are polished bright, the arbor retention spring and spring safety are both fire blued and the screws and percussion cones (nipples) are strawed.

The revolver remains in about EXCELLENT condition. It retains the large majority of its original bright blued finish, certainly 90%+ overall. The frame and barrel retain nearly all of the bright blue with only some minor thinning and some minor high edge wear. The cylinder shows more wear and loss, which is found primarily along the front and rear edges of the cylinder. Some of the loss along the rear appears to be from flaking, with the balance is just honest wear, with the front edge of the cylinder’s loss possibly being holster wear. The exposed areas of metal have a medium pewter patina. The frame of the revolver is engraved with well executed, if basic flowing vines and foliate themes. Some even simpler engraved decorations are found around the muzzle and around the periphery of the topstrap. The topstrap is engraved

 IMPERIAL PATENT REVOLVER

with the words surrounded by the simple foliate designs. The words and engraving are highlighted with gold gilt. About 70% of the gilt decoration remains intact on the topstrap. The engraved decorations around the muzzle were originally decorated with gilt as well, but only minute traces of the gold remaining in that location. The bright components remain mostly bright with only some freckled discoloration and oxidation on the surfaces. Some of the screws, as well as the nipples, retain traces of their strawed finish.

The revolver action functions very well with the gun timing, indexing and locking up exactly as it should. All of the chambers of the cylinder retain their original cones (nipples) which are also in very good, completely useable condition. The bore of the revolver is in FINE condition. The bore is mostly bright with some scattered oxidation and a few small dark spots. The bore retains strong, crisp rifling along its entire length. The original front sight blade is dovetailed into the top of the barrel near the muzzle and the original rear sight notch is in place on the rear of the topstrap. The one-piece deeply fluted walnut grip remains is about VERY FINE condition. The grip is solid and free from any  breaks, cracks or repairs. The grip shows lightly scattered bumps, dings and marks from handling and use, but no abuse. The light grip wear is commensurate with the condition of the balance of the  revolver.

Overall, this is a really outstanding condition example of a “German” made Adams patent infringement revolver. As there was no unified Germany when  this gun was made, “Prussian” would be the most appropriate label as the gun was almost certainly made in the Prussian city of Suhl. These Imperial Patent Revolver marked guns do not appear on the American market very often, especially in this condition. This would be a nice addition to any percussion revolver collection, particularly one that has English made Adams revolvers in it.

SOLD