Transfer bar safties

[Capt. Montgomery Little]

I know this isn't a repair question but it does involve action types and parts. Does anyone here know when the transfer bar safety/ fireing mechanism was first used in a handgun?  I have a pre-1900 DA revolver that appears to have one.  It also has a frame mounted firing pin.

[Fox Creek Kid]

http://www.armorysupply.com/Iver.html

[Christopher Carson]

Yep, just recently saw one of B. Goforth's posts on another forum where he said Iver Johnson patented the transfer bar ("Hammer the Hammer") action in 1896.  FWIW, there's a Safety Hammer version, too, and a couple different frame sizes in each Hammer/Hammerless series.

The 1896 date doesn't perfectly align with dates listed in FCK's link, but may well mate up with one of the evolutionary model changes IJ made along the way (i.e., maybe the 2nd Model was introduced approx 1896-ish and also was the first to use the H-t-H action, although that's just off-the-cuff speculation). 

Bill Goforth is the IJ expert, and you can find him on thefirearmsforum.com for further info.

-Chris

[Capt. Montgomery Little]

Thanks for all the info. It was interesting and lines up with the gun I have which is a First Model Iver Johnson Safety Hammer model with patent dates of June and August 1896. Would be nice to have info on manufacturing date from serial# and hope to get this from B. Goforth if he has that. 

[Christopher Carson]

Thanks for all the info. It was interesting and lines up with the gun I have which is a First Model Iver Johnson Safety Hammer model with patent dates of June and August 1896. Would be nice to have info on manufacturing date from serial# and hope to get this from B. Goforth if he has that. 

He's pretty generous with authoritative info.  In addition -- or maybe even prior to -- to specific questions relative to yours, I suggest you do a IJ search and a Goforth search and you'll find rafts of stuff he's already answered... and that should give you some additional perspective on the marque.

Assume you know to remove the grips for the full serial number with prefix if that applies.

Regards, -Chris

[Capt. Montgomery Little]

CC, Thanks for the additional info. Have already posted this on the Firearmsforum.com site and just awaiting a reply. May need to Google IJ and Goforth to read up on what else he has posted. Should make for a good read.