Monac
Member
The cylinder latch on the crane is bizarre. Did they do it that way to avoid a patent infringement? (I can think of no other reason.)
They made the cylinder crane this way because this kind of Spanish revolver started out as a copy of a Belgian Pieper swing-out cylinder revolver. Also, I imagine, because as West Kentuck (the OP, not the region) says, this kind of latch is fairly easy to make.
Not all Piepers had this kind of latch. Some had a more S&W arrangement. You can do Google Image Searches for Pieper Revolver, or Pieper 8mm revolver, or Crucero revolver if you want to see more examples.
The Spanish never did anything during this period to avoid patent infringement. Spain had some kind of strange patent law that allowed Spanish manufacturers to commit what we now call "intellectual property theft" with impunity. That is why there are so many Spanish copies of so many different pistols that were still under patent in other countries.
Romania received a batch of Crucero Pieper-style revolver in the First World War, and a special ornamented one was given to the King. Decades later, it was put on a Romanian postage stamp: http://wopa-stamps.com/index.php?co...RelatedIssue&id=23969&ref=localThematic&tid=4
It seems to be broken in that picture, because the trigger is in the wrong position, and the cylinder latch does not show.
PS - if someone would like to explain to our readers under 60 what a "postage stamp" is, please do so. I do not feel up to the task.