peashooter85:The Whitney Hooded Cylinder Revolver,Another design created by the Whitney Company to c
peashooter85:The Whitney Hooded Cylinder Revolver,Another design created by the Whitney Company to compete with the Colt revolver was the Whitney hooded cylinder revolver. The Whitney hooded cylinder was a six shot percussion revolver made in the style of European transitional revolvers. Chambered for .36 caliber, the unique feature of this revolver was a brass shroud that surrounded the top of the cylinder and chamber. The purpose of this was to create a gas seal which prevented gas from escaping from the chamber, thus creating more pressure with each shot. While a novel idea, the Whitney hooded revolver was a bad combination of new innovation with outdated technology. The invention of the colt made transitional revolver obsolete, as they were larger and heavier than Colt revolvers. Worse yet, to get around Colts patents, the cylinder did not rotate when the hammer was cocked. Rather the cylinder had to be rotated in place with each shot. The Whitney hooded revolver was a complete flop, and only 200 were produced between 1850 and 1853. -- source link