Welcome to at the moment’s Photo of the Day! World War One was the beginning of innovation on an expedited and colossal scale. As we’ve seen, nevertheless, this innovation will not be all the time appreciated or all the time helpful. This explicit revolver bayonet in all probability falls into the latter class. Here we’ve certainly one of many unusual innovations of World War One. This is a Pritchard-Greener Revolver Bayonet meant for the Enfield/Webley sample of revolver utilized by troopers of the UK. It was designed by a former British officer by the identify of Arthur Pritchard. He thought that if a soldier is already resorting to utilizing a revolver on the battlefield they usually run out of ammunition they in all probability wouldn’t not be capable of reload quick sufficient. For apparent causes this was not logistical or sensible for the navy however nonetheless Pritchard enlisted the companies of the Greener firm to fabricate a projected 200 items of this revolver bayonet.
“Measuring 12 1/2 inches overall, this bayonet was designed by one Arthur Pritchard, a British officer and Western Front veteran, who had a prototype fabricated by Wilkinson Sword and successfully sold gunmaking firm W.W. Greener on the concept. While the bayonet and the Enfield double action revolver made an impressive combination, Pritchard’s design failed to take off, with less than 200 made and fewer sold. The blade is 8 1/8 inches long, bright steel with a “T” cross-section and a flat backbone, mounted to the brass grip through a threaded and staked “rat tail” tang and a hexagonal nut. The hilt is one-piece brass development, with a spring-loaded metal bar to lock the bayonet in place, and the cross guard marked “PATENT/No. 17143/16” subsequent to an oval round “W. W. G” over an “elephant” (Greener trademark). These bayonets have been numbered to the revolvers that they have been hand fitted to. With a blued metal sheath. Notes from the consignor attribute this bayonet as an early instance to be used in weapons trials, and an accompanying letter of provenance signifies that it was bought in 1961 from the director of W.W. Greener after they closed the corporate and offered off the remaining gadgets of their stock.”
Lot 2595: Pritchard-Greener Revolver Bayonet with Sheath – Rare Prototype Pritchard-Greener Bayonet for an Enfield Mark Vi Revolver with Sheath. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. {photograph}. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/72/2595/pritchardgreener-revolver-bayonet-with-sheath.
