Who invented the backaction lock?

[Shreckmeister]

Anyone have thoughts on this question?

[JTR]

No clue who invented it, but gunsmith made back action locks as used on swivel breech guns have been around for probably 300 years.

The machine made 1840/50/60 etc locks are suppose to be an improvement on the standard percussion lock.

And right or wrong, that's all I know! 

John

[E.vonAschwege]

The machine made 1840/50/60 etc locks are suppose to be an improvement on the standard percussion lock.

Given how many back action guns I've seen snapped clear through the wrist, I was never sure how much of an improvement the back action was versus the standard lock  .  Either way you're removing a big chunk of wood in a weak structural area, so who knows.  I think you first start seeing them in big numbers in the 1850s or so. 
-Eric

[Bob Roller]

That is why we see the very BEST quality guns with dedicated inletting of the mechanisms.
Not one splinter is removed that doesn't have to be and on double barreled guns,this is a must.I owned a Holland&Holland sxs .303 years ago that had the most exquisite back action locks by Joseph Brazier and the equally stunning inletting by an obvious master gun stocker.To an interested craftsman,this class of workmanship will be an inspiration and the rest won't care.

Bob Roller

[Shreckmeister]

Was the improvement in speed, reliability or both?  I question why on single barreled rifles you begin to see more of them in the mid 1800s with a strong shift in the direction of backaction locks later into the 19th century when they were available for many years before that.  Are they easier/faster to inlet?  My family produced rifles into the 1890s and only put them on their swivel guns.  I don't find them appealing visually.  Was it function or style?

[Hungry Horse]

 The improved speed, is definitely a factor. But, I think reliability also played into it. I have worked on a lot of old front action locks, with major internal problems, but very few back action locks suffering such maladies. The wrist breakage is very common in guns with bask action locks. A lot of this is due to the lock not being properly fit to the snail, or drum. Any movement of the lock when the hammer falls, puts a lot of strain on the already weakened wrist.

                   Hungry Horse

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Perhaps back action locks were able to be made more inexpensively.  Often, for example, the mainspring actuates both the tumbler and the sear.

[stuart cee dub]

I have no idea who invented it but it does have another advantage over the standard side lock .
These can be used on a much wider variety of barrel diameters as the mainspring will never intrude into the ramrod channel nor will the spring ever touch a really big barrel .
Remote from capflash they stay a little cleaner as well
The lovely higher end British made versions are perfectly inlet .Another member here on the board has had occasion to show me some fine exapmles.

Having made one back action rifle I will not do so again never being comfortable with taking material out of the wrist.
The drum really does need to be fully supported which was just one one thing to make unless you are using a patent breech .

[Feltwad]

The back -action lock has we no today is the 1830 Lovell's pattern  although different types of the back action lock go back the flintlock and early percussion period .James Rowntree the provincial English gunmaker pattern a back -action  patch lock dated 1810 see image , he also build the first sxs percussion gun  for Joshua Shaw using the steel top hat  caps  this was before Shaw emigrated to America  in 1817
Feltwad

Rowntrees back action lock

[Hungry Horse]

 Back action flintlocks are known. I think they were French, and the pan, and frizzen, were a separate piece. They were on a military musket, but similar locks were used on African trade as well. Turner Kirkland had some of the locks he got from a warehouse full of old musket parts he bought in Belgium for sale years ago.

                       Hungry Horse

[FlintFan]

I think every wheellock I have seen is a back action lock, that is, the mainspring is positioned at the rear of the lock plate.  I know it is not the exact layout of the locks we are talking about in this post, but the idea of putting the mainspring at the rear of the plate is a very old, going back to the earliest self igniting locks.