Benjamin Tyler Henry (March 22, 1821 – June 8, 1898) was an American

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

and

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

. He was the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

of the

Henry rifle The Henry repeating rifle is a lever-action tubular magazine rifle. It is famous for having been used at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and having been the basis for the iconic Winchester rifle of the American Wild West. Designed and introd ...

, the first reliable lever-action

repeating rifle A repeating rifle is a single-barreled rifle capable of repeated discharges between each ammunition reload. This is typically achieved by having multiple cartridges stored in a magazine (within or attached to the rifle) and then fed individually ...

. Henry was born in

Claremont, New Hampshire Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census. Claremont is a core city of the Lebanon–Claremont micropolitan area, a bi-state, four-county region in the upper Connec ...

, in 1821. He apprenticed to a gunsmith as a young man and worked his way up to shop foreman at the Robins & Lawrence Arms Company of

Windsor, Vermont Windsor is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As the "Birthplace of Vermont", the town is where the Constitution of Vermont was adopted in 1777, thus marking the founding of the Vermont Republic, a sovereign state until 1791, when ...

, where he worked with Horace Smith and

Daniel B. Wesson Daniel Baird Wesson (May 18, 1825 – August 4, 1906) was an American inventor and firearms designer. He helped develop several influential firearm designs over the course of his life; he and Horace Smith were the co-founders of two companies n ...

on a rifle known as the "Volitional Repeater". In 1854, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed a new company with Courtlandt Palmer, and further improved the operating mechanism, developing the Smith & Wesson Lever pistol, and a new Volcanic cartridge. Production was in the shop of Horace Smith in

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic River, Yantic, Shetucket River, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River f ...

. Originally using the name "Smith & Wesson Company", the name was changed to "Volcanic Repeating Arms Company" in 1855, with the addition of new investors, one of whom was

Oliver Winchester Oliver Fisher Winchester (November 30, 1810 – December 10, 1880) was an American businessman and politician, best known as being the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Birth and marriage He was the son of Samuel Winchester a ...

. The Volcanic Repeating Arms Company obtained all rights for the Volcanic designs (both rifle and pistol versions were in production by this time) as well as the ammunition, from the Smith & Wesson Company. Wesson remained as plant manager for 8 months before rejoining Smith to found the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" upon obtaining the licensing of the

Rollin White Rollin White (June 6, 1817 – March 22, 1892) was an American gunsmith who invented a single shot bored-through revolver cylinder that allowed paper cartridges to be loaded from the rear of a revolver's cylinder. Because the open breeches wer ...

rear loading cylinder patent. Winchester forced the insolvency of the Volcanic Arms Company in late 1856, took over ownership and moved the plant to

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

, where it was reorganized as the

New Haven Arms Company The U.S. Repeating Arms Company (USRAC) was an American manufacturer of firearms. It was established in April 1857 and operated as an independent company until 1989, when it went bankrupt and was taken over by Fabrique Nationale Herstal. The com ...

in April 1857 and Henry was hired as plant superintendent. On October 16, 1860, he received a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

on the Henry .44 caliber repeating rifle, which soon proved the worth of the lever-action design on the battlefields of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, where Henry rifles were used alongside muzzle-loading

rifled musket A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their Gun barrel, barrels replaced with Ri ...

s such as the

Springfield Model 1861 The Springfield Model 1861 was a Minié-type rifled musket used by the United States Army during the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as the "Springfield" (after its original place of production, Springfield, Massachusetts). It was the ...

. The first Henry rifles were not produced for army use until mid-1862. In 1864, Henry grew angry over what he believed was inadequate compensation and attempted to have the Connecticut legislature award ownership of New Haven Arms to him. Oliver Winchester, hastening back from Europe, forestalled the move and reorganized New Haven Arms yet again as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Winchester had the basic design of the

completely modified and improved to become the first Winchester rifle, the Model 1866, which fired the same .44 caliber rimfire cartridges as the Henry but had an improved magazine with the addition of a loading gate on the right side of the receiver (invented by Winchester employee Nelson King) and, for the first time, a wooden forearm. Henry left the Winchester Repeating Arms Company over this dispute and worked as an individual gunsmith until his death in 1898.

References

External links

The Henry Repeating Arms Company Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Benjamin Tyler 1821 births 1898 deaths 19th-century American inventors Gunsmiths Firearm designers American Civil War industrialists People from Woodstock, Vermont People from Claremont, New Hampshire

See also

References

External links