Some of the most beautiful work of this craftsman, and many others, are in this book “Liège Gunmakers through their Work. 1800 - 1950”.
For more detail see: LIEGE GUNMAKERS
Léonard Soleil
Here a revolver
Abadie
system like marked left side of the weapon of manufacturing of Liège. It should
be a question of a model 1878 civilian.
Markings
ELG in an
oval: acceptance between 1846 and 1893
X under
star: countermark of the controller since 1877.
Number
4010 under the barrel, and 942 on the left side of the barrel: no explanation…
Patented
Abadie
system: one will consult with interest the link according to appear on the site
who will allow to know some a little more about the saga of certain
Abadie Ismaël
Issac, civil engineer Carlier street 1 in
Liege, which deposited four patents between 1874 and 1877; it sold them in
Gustave Prévost
which resells them in Léonard Soleil
who passes them to her son Leon who
yields them to his son Louis.
One will consult also the n° 387 of the "Gazette des
armes" of the article of Henri Vuillemin on the revolvers of the
Abadie
system and his many versions.
The main feature of the
Abadie
system lies in the door of loading which, once lowered, disconnects the hammer,
so that while supporting on the trigger, the cylinder turns without the hammer
not moving, which allows the fast and sure ejection casings by the rod of
ejection.
This
system evolved and was taken again by other manufacturers.
To the
reading of all this literature and what one can find on the web, I concluded
that it is a civil specimen the model 1878 (the stem attached inside the left
plate in any case refer to the patent of February 11th, 1877). It would be also
interesting to know if the back part of the trigger guard is squared so as to
facilitate the catch of it to lower the aforementioned trigger guard (see the
article of Gazette des Armes).
I am not explained the absence of marking of a
manufacturer and L. Soleil
in particular. There are perhaps (undoubtedly) marks under the plates of grips.
GP
Léonard Soleil
It is the arms manufacturer of Liège Gustave PREVOST, manufacturer of weapons street of the Gold Pot, 27 in Liege which is in the beginning the purchaser of the patents of Ismaël Isaac ABADIE.
It would have then resold its patents with Léonard SOLEIL, arms manufacturer of Liège also and there remaining street St Léonard, 477.
June 13, 1889, Léonard SOLEIL with the day before to withdraw itself, reassigns his property of patents ABADIE to his son Leon who will continue the exploitation until 1897 of it.
TAYLERSON presents system ABADIE like a simple modification while specifying:
“Modification ABADIE was simplification even, because it was only limited to involve the placement of a suitable cam on the internal part of the axis of door of loading. When this door was lowered, the axis swivelled and the cam which was built-in there pushed back backwards the cam, thus breaking the connection between the hammer and the trigger. The trigger did nothing but raise the pawl in order to cause the rotation of the cylinder without for that arming the hammer.
When the door of loading was opened, and the hammer was put at rest, the trigger could be in a hurry with blows repeated without it having there a setting with armed with the hammer!
For this reason it was not possible to make fire with the weapon while it was charged or discharged.
The rooms were aligned quickly and automatically, without stopping no, during unloading or when it was necessary to be useful of the stem to remove the casings contained in the cylinder.
After 1887, one put an additional system of safety into practice. If the door of loading were in position of opening, the revolver could not be put at the notch of armed. Another case of figure, the hammer was before armed, if one actuated then the door, it could fall down but without arriving in race end to strike.
This type of safety was not an extraordinary innovation in the construction of the cylinder weapons; a similar idea of Michael KAUFMANN also of origin of Liège, having already preceded it, and the English lawful revolver with automatic extraction Enfield also for its part included/understood a safety of door.
In addition this revolver was adopted about 1875 by the Portuguese army and produced by Leon SOLEIL in Liege. In this case the weapon carried the hallmark and reception FA (Fabrica de Armas) of the Portuguese authorities.
This specimen is a weapon with civil vocation since it is engraved name of the tradesman salesman of the weapon to the detail is CHarles BERNTHEISEL FILS (SON) A NANCY.
The weapon carries the punches of the proofhouse of Liege, that is to say:
ELG on star in an oval: final acceptance, of use of 1846 to 1893.
X under star: countermark of the controller post 1877.
This weapon was thus manufactured between 1877 and 1893.
The manufacturer is SOLEIL, Léonard, street St Léonard, 477 in Liege. He is known for three patents arms manufacturers.
The inventor is ABADIE Ismaël French engineer.
Mark LH with the reverse of a plate of stick is unknown but should probably belong to the assembler with wood having manufactured these grips.
I could not too advise you the reading of the excellent article of Henri Vuillemin in the “Gazette des Armes” n° 387 of May 2007.
GG
