Evening star., 1939-08-03
Inventors Grandson Treasures
First Breech-Looding Gun
Holland w. jerks
Recalls Struggle to
Sell Ideu to u. S.
By JOHN !. DAILY.

by JOhN ). DALI.
Granddaddy OF all the modern
guns, pistols and other firearms in
the world, the first breech-loader-
a rifle almost 100 years old-has its
resting place in the stove shop Of
w. S. jerks & Son, 723 Seventh
street NV.
Invented by William jerks,
grandfather of the present proprie-
tor of the store, Holland Winfield
jerks, the old breech-loader, in
near-perfect condition, was the
forerunner of all present day mill
tary rifles, and even of the great
guns that destroy humanity in time
of war
AS the story goes-handed down
through generations-William jerks
came to Washington with his
patents during the administration
of Andrew Jackson in 1885. Like
many American inventors, Mr.. jerks
got a cold reception; but the records
show he got his first letters patented
on May 25, 1885, during the admin
istration of Martin Van Buren,.
Number of that patent is TAT. To
give some idea of what that means,
the patent list of July 25 lists the
latest patent as number 2.l67,6l
Though William jerks got his
patent he could do little or no busi-
ness with the War Department. At
that time, the State Department
supervised the Patent Office, and the
original patent for this improve
ment on previous firearms was
signed by John Forsyth, then Sec
retary of State The commissioner
of patents, who also signed the
papers, was Henry L. Ellsworth. The
inventors grandson has these orig
inal papers in his possession.
Decided on Americas Need.
America was just struggling to its
feet when William jerks. an am
bilious young fellow in MasSachu-
sets direct descendant of the
Jenkses who came over from Wales
in 1630-got it in his head that what
this country needed was a good fast
firing rifle. So he went to work on
his idea
Fortune took young jerks south
with Eli Whitney, who was out to
invent the cotton gin. Down in the
Southland the young inventor of the
breech-loader got chance to
demonstrate his rife. He had es-
tablished residence in Columbia, S.
c.; but in order to get direct contact
with the United States Government
he went to Virginia and bought 100
acres of land in what is now Airing
ton County-between Glebe Road
and Columbia pike.
There the first breech-loader had
its real try-out. Gen. Winfield
Scott, just back from Mexico, be-
came interested in the improvement
over other rifles and was frequent
visitor to the jerks home, according
to Holland jerks, who was told the
whole story by his father. Winfield
Scott jerks, named in honor of the
great American army officer.
Even the sympathy of Gen. Scott
availed little, for in the first
demonstration of his rifle. the in
ventor met with sort of mishap
He had to fire it some $4,000 times
in succession without any noticeable
change in its mechanism. At about
the 40,000th shot something went
wrong with the firing pin-and the
Government lost interest
Takes Idea Abroad.
It was then that the inventor had
to do as many others before and
after him-take his invention to
England. There he met with en-
thusiastic reception. From England,
word went over to France that
young American inventor had rifle
that might revolutionize the art of
warfare. So the French, too, wanted
to see the gun.
In the meantime, the American
officials - fearing the American
might let his invention be lost to
them-requested that Mr.. jerks
come back to America. He did. and
eventually the United States Army
adopted the rifle which was first
assembled in lion, N. Y, by the
Remington Fire Arms Co.
Simple in design, the first improve
ment on the old hammerlock rifle
was "a slide used for the purpose of
drawing back the cylindrical plug
used to admit the charge and then
q lever with a converting link-as
described in the papers patent
which locked the powder in the
chamber. Aside from its deadly
work in war, the breech- loading gun
in its infancy proved to be mighty
fowling piece in Arlington County
and vicinity AS Mr. jerks, grandson