The founder of the Remington Arms Company was Eliphalet Remington II, son of the elder Eliphalet, maker of rifle barrels at Ilion NY. The son worked alongside his father from about 1828. The first verifiable instance of Remington manufacturing entire guns is 1848, with Remington purchasing the machinery of the Ames Company of Chicopee Falls, MA, together with an incomplete contract for Jenks breech-loading carbines for the US government. Remington would secure several more US contracts for long arms over the years, and did not enter the handgun market until 1857 (the same year when Colt’s patent for the revolving cylinder expired). Norm Flayderman notes in his last book that:
“Both the founder and his successors were essentially arms makers and manufacturers, not inventors or innovators. They sought and acquired inventions from others. This likely contributed to much of their success, as witnessed by their long history.”
For this reason, we find a variety of Remington arms with hyphenated names, the first being the Remington-Beals pocket revolvers of 1857. Remington soon added other, now famous inventors to their “stable”, with Joseph Rider leading the pack. Remington-Rider pistols and revolver designs dominated production from 1860 to 1888, with one of the earliest double-action cartridge revolvers in US history to his name. Rider was also the patent holder for the first magazine-fed cartridge pistol (1871), a .17 caliber single-shot deringer, and a double-action belt revolver. Remington knew to keep his inventors happy by lavishly bestowing on them money, gifts and real estate in order to keep them loyal to the firm. The Montreal dentist Dr. William Elliot was another of Remington’s star inventors, with a patent for the iconic double deringer, as well as the four-barrel, five-barrel, and “zig-zag” pepperboxes bearing his name. Elliot would at first manage the production and distribution of both his 4- and 5-barrel pepperboxes and his iconic deringer himself, before handing over the entire business to Remington in 1865. In 1873 Remington acquired the patents of one W.S. Smoot, resulting in a line of very successful Remington-Smoot pocket revolvers. Patent assignments were a tricky business, with long-winded contracts stipulating the length and extent of the owner’s willingness to assign the patent to Remington. Other makers had similar arrangements with their inventors, such as Rollin White with Smith & Wesson, and Elija Root with Colt. Some of the patent holders were employees of the maker, and the patent was automatically assigned to the firm, with the holder getting little, if any extra renumeration. In other instances, such as was the case with White and Schofield at S&W, the patentee was paid a fixed amount for each piece sold while under the patent protection. In the case of Rollin White, the contract stipulated that White had to defend the patent on behalf of S&W at his own cost and effort – something which was unique to this arrangement and cost White a considerable amount of money. During the 19th century, Remington Arms navigated a rapidly industrializing, highly litigious firearms market by managing patent infringement risks, most notably regarding revolving cartridge mechanisms and breech-loading actions. Remington proved proactive in this respect by either acquiring the necessary patents before venturing into new design territory, or paying a licensing fee up front to avoid costly litigation later. Others fared considerably worse, as was evident from the legal proceedings of Colt vs. Massachusetts Arms, White (S&W) vs. Lucius Pond, Moore’s Firearms, and others, as well as the long drawn-out case of Daniel Moore vs. S&W which dragged on for over 5 years... Between 1857 and 1888 Remington was in possession of at least 18 different patents relating to the mechanisms in their handguns.
A group of patented Remington designs clockwise from top left: Elliot’s Double Deringer, Rider’s Magazine Pistols and a Remington Vest Pocket Pistol
“Both the founder and his successors were essentially arms makers and manufacturers, not inventors or innovators. They sought and acquired inventions from others. This likely contributed to much of their success, as witnessed by their long history.”
For this reason, we find a variety of Remington arms with hyphenated names, the first being the Remington-Beals pocket revolvers of 1857. Remington soon added other, now famous inventors to their “stable”, with Joseph Rider leading the pack. Remington-Rider pistols and revolver designs dominated production from 1860 to 1888, with one of the earliest double-action cartridge revolvers in US history to his name. Rider was also the patent holder for the first magazine-fed cartridge pistol (1871), a .17 caliber single-shot deringer, and a double-action belt revolver. Remington knew to keep his inventors happy by lavishly bestowing on them money, gifts and real estate in order to keep them loyal to the firm. The Montreal dentist Dr. William Elliot was another of Remington’s star inventors, with a patent for the iconic double deringer, as well as the four-barrel, five-barrel, and “zig-zag” pepperboxes bearing his name. Elliot would at first manage the production and distribution of both his 4- and 5-barrel pepperboxes and his iconic deringer himself, before handing over the entire business to Remington in 1865. In 1873 Remington acquired the patents of one W.S. Smoot, resulting in a line of very successful Remington-Smoot pocket revolvers. Patent assignments were a tricky business, with long-winded contracts stipulating the length and extent of the owner’s willingness to assign the patent to Remington. Other makers had similar arrangements with their inventors, such as Rollin White with Smith & Wesson, and Elija Root with Colt. Some of the patent holders were employees of the maker, and the patent was automatically assigned to the firm, with the holder getting little, if any extra renumeration. In other instances, such as was the case with White and Schofield at S&W, the patentee was paid a fixed amount for each piece sold while under the patent protection. In the case of Rollin White, the contract stipulated that White had to defend the patent on behalf of S&W at his own cost and effort – something which was unique to this arrangement and cost White a considerable amount of money. During the 19th century, Remington Arms navigated a rapidly industrializing, highly litigious firearms market by managing patent infringement risks, most notably regarding revolving cartridge mechanisms and breech-loading actions. Remington proved proactive in this respect by either acquiring the necessary patents before venturing into new design territory, or paying a licensing fee up front to avoid costly litigation later. Others fared considerably worse, as was evident from the legal proceedings of Colt vs. Massachusetts Arms, White (S&W) vs. Lucius Pond, Moore’s Firearms, and others, as well as the long drawn-out case of Daniel Moore vs. S&W which dragged on for over 5 years... Between 1857 and 1888 Remington was in possession of at least 18 different patents relating to the mechanisms in their handguns.
A group of patented Remington designs clockwise from top left: Elliot’s Double Deringer, Rider’s Magazine Pistols and a Remington Vest Pocket Pistol
