View source for William Mason (gunsmith)

{{Short description|American gunsmith (1837–1913)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = William Mason
| image       = William Mason1.jpg
| caption     =
| birth_name  =
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1837|01|30}}
| birth_place = [[Oswego, New York]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1913|07|17|1837|01|30}}
| death_place = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| occupation  = Inventor, machinist, gunsmith
| spouse      =
| children    =
| relatives   =
}}
'''William Mason''' (January 30, 1837 – July 17, 1913) was a patternmaker, [[engineer]] and [[inventor]] who worked for [[Remington Arms]], [[Colt's Manufacturing Company|Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company]], and [[Winchester Repeating Arms Company]] in the 19th century.<ref name=flay310/>
==Remington==
Mason began his career as an apprentice patternmaker, eventually working in the [[arms industry]] for [[Remington Arms]]. While at Remington, on November 21, 1865, he received U.S. patent 51,117, for a swing-out cylinder for easy loading and the star ejector mechanism to eject spent cartridge cases, a design used in 1896 by S&W for the .38 Hand Ejector (M&P and S&W Model 10).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSYu0x8JCRoC&pg=PA231 |title =Remington army and navy revolvers, 1861-1888 |first= Donald L.|last= Ware |publisher= UNM Press|year= 2007 |isbn = 978-0-8263-4280-5 |page=231 |access-date=April 9, 2020 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
==Colt==
Mason left Remington Arms in 1866 to work for Colt as the superintendent of the armory. Along with [[Charles Richards (Colt)|Charles Richards]], Mason patented designs to convert percussion revolvers into rear-loading metallic cartridge revolvers. Those converted revolvers are identified as the "Richards-Mason conversion".<ref name=classic>{{Cite book|title= Classic Handguns of the 20th Century |first=David W. |last=Arnold |page=16|publisher= Krause Publications |year= 2004 |isbn = 978-0-87349-576-9 }}</ref> After working on these conversions, Mason began work on Colt's first metallic cartridge revolvers in 1871: the [[Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top|Colt Model 1871-72]] "Open Top" revolver was the third such pistol, following the .41 caliber House Pistol and the .22 caliber seven-shot Open Top. The Open Top .44 was a completely new design and the parts would not interchange with the older percussion pistols. Mason moved the rear sight to the rear of the barrel as opposed to the hammer or the breechblock of the earlier efforts. The caliber was [[.44 Henry]] and it was submitted to the [[US Army]] for testing in 1872. The Army rejected the pistol and asked for a more powerful caliber with a stronger frame. Mason redesigned the frame to incorporate a top strap, similar to the Remington revolvers and placed the rear sight on the rear of the frame. The first prototype was chambered in .44 rimfire, but the first model was in the newest caliber known as the [[.45 Colt]].<ref name=Taffin>{{cite book|last=Taffin|first=John|title=Single Action Sixguns |author-link= John Taffin|edition= 2|location=Iola, Wisconsin|publisher =Krause Publications|year=2005 |isbn= 978-0-87349-953-8 |pages=38–39}}</ref>
[[file:Colt Navy 1861 Conversion.JPG|thumb|Colt Navy Model 1861 Richards Mason Conversion .38 cal]]
The revolver was chosen by the Army in 1872, with the first order shipping in the summer of 1873 for 8,000 revolvers.<ref name=Taffin/> After the success of the Colt Single Action Army and Colt's conversion of existing percussion revolvers to Richards-Mason conversions, Mason went on to design Colt's smallest revolver, "The New Line" in 1874. There were five variants, each differing in size and caliber, but all using a breechblock designed by Mason.<ref name=walter171>{{cite book|title=The Guns That Won the West: Firearms on the American Frontier, 1848-1898 |first=John|last= Walter |page=171|publisher= MBI Publishing Company|year= 2006 |isbn = 978-1-85367-692-5 }}</ref>
While Colt had first developed the concept of a "[[double-action]]" revolver as early as 1857 and a patent was filed, it was never built by Colt. With increased competition from their British rival, [[Webley & Scott]], Colt had Mason design a double-action revolver for them in 1877, the [[Colt M1877]]. Following this, Mason once again teamed up with Richards to produce a larger framed version, the [[Colt M1878]] Frontier in 1878.<ref name=kin>{{cite book|title =Pistols: an illustrated history of their impact|first= Jeff|last= Kinard |pages=163–164|publisher =ABC-CLIO|year= 2004 |isbn = 978-1-85109-470-7 }}</ref>
His final design for Colt was the [[Colt M1889]], a collaboration with Carl J. Ehbets for a revolver with a swing-out cylinder. Ehbets continued to perfect the idea for 7 years after Mason left Colt for Winchester.<ref name=kin/>
==Winchester==
Mason left Colt to work for the [[Winchester Repeating Arms Company]] in 1882.<ref>{{cite book|title= History of Winchester Firearms |first= Dean K. |last=Boorman |publisher =Globe Pequot|year= 2001 |isbn=978-1-58574-307-0 |pages=52–54}}</ref> While he was originally hired to design a revolver to compete with Colt's revolvers, Mason eventually made working prototypes of many of [[John Moses Browning]]'s designs.<ref name=rlw>{{cite book|publisher=Chartwell|year=2007 |last =Wilson|first=RL|title=Winchester: An American Legend|isbn =978-0-7858-1893-9  |pages=76–77}}</ref><ref name=ignoffo>{{cite book|title= Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune |first= Mary Jo |last=Ignoffo |page=54|edition= 3|publisher= University of Missouri Press|year= 2010 |isbn = 978-0-8262-1905-3 }}</ref> One of his more notable design improvements was the [[Winchester Model 1886]] rifle.<ref name=flay310>{{cite book|title= Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values|first= Norm |last=Flayderman |edition= 9|page=310|publisher= F+W Media|location=Iola, Wisconsin|year= 2007 |isbn =978-0-89689-455-6 }}</ref> In 1885 he became the Master Mechanic at Winchester and held that position until his death in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]] on July 17, 1913.<ref name=Roe>{{cite book|first=Joseph Wickham |last=Roe | author-link = Joseph Wickham Roe | title= English and American Tool Builders |url=https://archive.org/details/englishandameri00roegoog | location= New Haven|publisher =Yale university press|year= 1916 |chapter=The Colt Workmen - Pratt & Whitney|pages=[https://archive.org/details/englishandameri00roegoog/page/n237 173]–174}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48356402/william-mason/ |title=William Mason |newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]] |page=9 |date=July 21, 1913 |access-date=April 9, 2020 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Mason was an inaugural member of the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]]<ref>{{cite journal|journal= Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers|volume= 2 |publisher =American Society of Mechanical Engineers|title=Proceedings of the Hartford, Conn Meeting May 1881|year= 1881 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3rSLvrXTOQC&q=wolloam+mason&pg=PR15|access-date=November 19, 2011}}</ref> and over the course of his life he patented 125 inventions for firearms, ammunition, firearm [[manufacturing machinery]], [[steam pump]]s and [[power loom]]s.<ref name="Roe"/> Winchester historian Mary Jo Ignoffo called Mason, "one of the most significant designers of the nineteenth century".<ref name=ignoffo/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{US patent|00051117}}
*{{US patent|00247379}}
*{{US patent|00250375}}
*{{US patent|00437442}}
*{{US patent|00499464}}
*{{US patent|00545708}}
*{{US patent|00511632}}
*{{US patent|00625581}}
*{{Find a Grave|92808672}}
{{Colt's Manufacturing Company}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, William}}
[[Category:1837 births]]
[[Category:1913 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:Gunsmiths]]
[[Category:Machinists]]
[[Category:Patternmakers (industrial)]]