page_title: Merwin Hulbert
section_title: Common and innovative features
hierarchical_section_title: Merwin Hulbert / History / Common and innovative features
caption_attribution_description: English: Barrel assembly removed for cleaning
context_page_description: Merwin, Hulbert, and Co. or Merwin Hulbert was an American firearms designer and marketer based in New York City which produced revolvers and rifles from 1874 to 1896. The firearms were manufactured by a subsidiary company, Hopkins & Allen of Norwich, Connecticut. Merwin Hulbert's designs had influenced other gunmakers of the time, such as Meriden Firearms Co., Harrington & Richardson, Forehand & Wadsworth, and Iver Johnson.
  During the late 19th century, Merwin Hulbert revolvers were used by police departments of many cities in the eastern United States.
context_section_description: The company developed a nickel plating process superior to their competitors, which was even less expensive than providing bluing. The nickel acted to protect the metal surfaces from corrosion. Because nickel-plated Merwin and Hulbert pistols had the same cost as those without, it is rare to find Merwin and Hulbert revolvers with a blued finish.
  A key innovation was a rotating barrel design which allowed the user to rotate the barrel 90 degrees in order to pull the barrel and cylinder forward to remove the fired cartridge cases.  During the twisting motion, the empty case could be extracted. Any intact cartridge would remain in the chamber due to the additional length of the bullet. The tight machining tolerances would create a vacuum when the barrel and cylinder were pulled forward, literally causing the assembly to 'snap back' closed when released.  In addition to this unique case extraction system, pressing an additional lever control when the frame was 'open' for extraction allowed the owner to completely remove the barrel. Note: early models also required pushing out a barrel wedge similar in function to Colt percussion revolvers. This not only facilitated cleaning, but allowed the owner to swap barrels, allowing for a shorter 'concealed carry' and longer 'field' weapon in one. The combination of extraction and barrel removal required very precise manufacturing tolerances—incredible considering the tools of the day.
  The Merwin Hulbert revolvers were considered to be the strongest revolvers during the time period in which they were made by Arthur Corbin Gould.
caption: Barrel assembly removed for cleaning
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 6", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2019:02:03 09:14:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2304", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5874", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3920", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:08:08 11:48:51", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:08:08 11:48:51", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "40517/9374", "EXIF ApertureValue": "7983/3509", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "4466/3295", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "83/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1631, 1223, 1795, 1077]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "385", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "385", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "29", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[83/20, 83/20, 11/5, 11/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4202"}