Some help with Grandfather's LE belt/holster

That looks like a '41 Indian 4. '40 was the year the valanced fenders and plunger rear came out. The only difference was 18" wheel in '40 and 16" in '41. Those look like 16's, maybe. 1942's are unicorns, less then 100 were built before war production started.
 
OK. This thread inspired me to do a bit more hunting in various databases online; which reminds that searching in them invokes the Butterfly Effect of chaos theory. A database like Newspapers.com, for example, takes spelling quite literally and doesn't offer up equivalents; so if one misspells a name it might actually be in the database that way! Example, is D.A. Jelly Bryce whose surname sometimes appears there as Brice; stumble across that and get new info :-).

Here, it seems that although like J.E. Berns with the Berns-Martin, F.C. Jewett was the inventor; he was not the maker. With B-M it was Martin who made them and with Jewett is was a partner Al Northey who actually made them. This matters not least because of their death dates.

Both were born late 19th century and it was Jewett who was a California police officer; various sources indicate he was S.O. but his draft registration in '42 shows his employer as Delano P.D.. He was in a partnership with Northey and his wife, with Engelman and his wife, and third person who was a lawyer-turned-senator.

It all seemed to come apart for the group just before the War: Jewett's wife who was a Stanroy (remember that name) divorced him in '39, in '40 Engelman and his wife sold out to Northey in a partnership dissolution, in '42 Jewett has had to register for the draft (having now lost his marriage exemption), in '48 he has died.

An extensive history published in a July 1954 newspaper article reveals that Northey made the metal cases entirely on his own; and his wife Amelia assembled the leather onto them. At that time the two had made 30,000 (!) of them that way and he built them in lots of 1,000.

The operation is called the Jewett Safety Holster Co. in Bakersfield yet there is no appearance of that corporation in the Cal Sec'y of State database; which suggest it was not actually incorporated (which is what the word 'Co.' is supposed to indicate).

Northey died in '60. I expect that this is where the handoff to Boren at Safety Speed took place because he has married in '62.

There are Stanroy versions of the Speed Holster, that being the family name of Jewett's ex-wife. They feature the wire loop for the trigger blocking device as do the Northey versions; but not the Hoffman or Safety Speed versions. Stanroy also does not appear in the Cal Secy of State database as a company.

stanroy speed (3).jpg
 
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rednichols said:
OK. This thread inspired me to do a bit more hunting in various databases online; which reminds that searching in them invokes the Butterfly Effect of chaos theory. A database like Newspapers.com, for example, takes spelling quite literally and doesn't offer up equivalents; so if one misspells a name it might actually be in the database that way! Example, is D.A. Jelly Bryce whose surname sometimes appears there as Brice; stumble across that and get new info :-).

Here, it seems that although like J.E. Berns with the Berns-Martin, F.C. Jewett was the inventor; he was not the maker. With B-M it was Martin who made them and with Jewett is was a partner Al Northey who actually made them. This matters not least because of their death dates.

Both were born late 19th century and it was Jewett who was a California police officer; various sources indicate he was S.O. but his draft registration in '42 shows his employer as Delano P.D.. He was in a partnership with Northey and his wife, with Engelman and his wife, and third person who was a lawyer-turned-senator.

It all seemed to come apart for the group just before the War: Jewett's wife who was a Stanroy (remember that name) divorced him in '39, in '40 Engelman and his wife sold out to Northey in a partnership dissolution, in '42 Jewett has had to register for the draft (having now lost his marriage exemption), in '48 he has died.

An extensive history published in a July 1954 newspaper article reveals that Northey made the metal cases entirely on his own; and his wife Amelia assembled the leather onto them. At that time the two had made 30,000 (!) of them that way and he built them in lots of 1,000.

The operation is called the Jewett Safety Holster Co. in Bakersfield yet there is no appearance of that corporation in the Cal Sec'y of State database; which suggest it was not actually incorporated (which is what the word 'Co.' is supposed to indicate).

Northey died in '60. I expect that this is where the handoff to Boren at Safety Speed took place because he has married in '62.

There are Stanroy versions of the Speed Holster, that being the family name of Jewett's ex-wife. They feature the wire loop for the trigger blocking device as do the Northey versions; but not the Hoffman or Safety Speed versions. Stanroy also does not appear in the Cal Secy of State database as a company.

View attachment 383723
Click to expand...
Amazing post with gobs of history laid out.

I still confused though. Since my granddad's holster has the wire trigger guard and no name stamped in or on it, it was obviously made by....oh, who knows?!
 
rocknroad said:
Amazing post with gobs of history laid out.

I still confused though. Since my granddad's holster has the wire trigger guard and no name stamped in or on it, it was obviously made by....oh, who knows?!
Click to expand...

I don't blame you! I think without the marking, and in that time frame, we would think of it as a Jewett, made by Northey under the four-way partnership but before the name was established as the Jewett Safety Holster Co. The partners all are mentioned in a 1936 article about two CHP officers being en route to a police pistol competition in Mexico City (which is called Distrito Federal and so 'D.F.' and pronounced 'day effay' in Mexico vs. Ciudad Mexico, the literal translation) with their clamshells. But by '40 as mentioned the partnership had been dissolved and perhaps that is when the formal name was adopted.

And the info about the partnership, was always emblazoned across the top of Jewett's patent: 1/4 interest to the inventor and to the three partners, who are named there.

I've re-read the historical portion of the online article I mentioned about fighting leather, and do believe that it would now need some adjustment in light of the newly-discovered newspaper articles etc. I've sent those along to the author, who has been super nice in our exchanges to date; if I were Ian Fleming I would call him a 'correspondent' of mine (we write but don't know each other, as with Fleming and Boothroyd).
 
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RayVet said:
I have to dig them out first.
Also: some cops complained that ya needed 2 hands to reholster. Problematic when trying to handcuff a perp. Dad said “Hell, I just shoved the gun into my waistband “ never had a problem. Old School. I also have his old sap. A spring loaded blackjack.
Click to expand...

If you are not rushed, it is quite easy to reholster with one hand. If you were in a real hurry, it went in the waistband.
 
Re Post 44:

Red-

Fleming and Boothroyd knew one another in person and appeared on a TV show together.

But it is true they were mail correspondents before they met in person.
 
Berns Martin did make a "clam-shell" holster back in the day; I believe that Bianchi did as well.
 
AZretired said:
I think you are mistaking the "break front" for the "Clamshell. Not the same.
Click to expand...

You are correct; and has already been addressed in this thread. Neither Berns-Martin, Hoyt, nor Bianchi made clamshells, which are leather-covered metal cases that fly completely open to release. Instead they made forward draw holsters, which are held shut by an internal spring and stay shut while the pistol is drawn through the forward edges of the holster.

bm elberton (1).jpg Berns-Martin forward draw

2 costa mesa 1960-80 (8).jpg Hoyt forward draw

1971 (3).jpg Bianchi forward draw

hoffman (5).jpg Hoffman clamshell

Why do folks persist in guessing when they don't know? The consequence is that it spreads misinformation that then becomes gospel for the next poor slob who reads it -- and spreads it.

Next we'll have people posting, "I don't know, I'm just guessing, but I heard somewhere that the Dirty Harry gun was a .22 Magnum". That's not a little wrong, it's very wrong!
 
Red Nichols
Holstorian (tm).

Thanks for the explanation about the Clam Shell vs Break Front holsters.

I had interest in information about the Bianchi "Break Front" Model 27.
I have one of those, with basket weave pattern, along with my Model 68 revolvers.

Bekeart
 
I like Saddleback Leather bags....I have a few of their items. For leather care, I recommend Leather Milk. In this case, the cleaner and the basic conditioner...

2467x36.jpg


For cleaning up leather scratches, the balm works really well...

2m79oxx.jpg


(Sorry, I have no idea why Tinypic is rotating my images)
 
Being an old fart, I have some second hand experience with the clam shells. The Speed Safety/Safety Speed was quite popular with some folks I worked with.

About being banned: one of the major issues was pranksters sneaking up on those who weren't practicing situational awareness, hitting the button and disappearing. The Allegheny County Courthouse had numerous stair wells that enabled the "sport". It could also be done on the street. As noted above, since most back then had to buy their service revolvers, this was extremely disrespectful and hard on the hardware, dropping onto various hard surfaces. Locker room remediation wasn't unknown.

The other issue is equipment failure. 50 years later I recall a gent whose holster refused to operate as intended one night. His seniority allowed him to direct others to take care of the situation. Afterward, he got a garage owner out of bed to get his revolver free. Took a welding grinder cutting the hinge. He snuck back into the station, dug out a Don Hume border patrol holster and went back on duty. Cured me of gadget type holsters. [Learn by the mistakes of others.]

FWIW, Bucheimer made a 'Philadelphia' swivel holster with a leaf spring retainer in the trigger guard. To get the weapon out, you had to stick your trigger digit into the trigger guard and press the leaf spring down. Always struck me as a disaster waiting to happen.
 
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LPD256 said:
I just enjoyed a Jordan style holster. Simple elegance. I thought the clamshells were ugly.
Click to expand...

Yet they all had their safety quirks! The Jordan, first to extend the metal shank up into the belt loop and therefore under the belt (the predecessor Askins had metal only behind the pistol) was known for -- breaking ribs. If an officer were to drop down into a manhole, for example, and catch the muzzle of the holster with his weight against it -- the stiff holster would be slammed into the rib cage with disastrous results. Lots of ways for an armed officer to jump downwards into recesses other than manholes.
 
WR Moore said:
FWIW, Bucheimer made a 'Philadelphia' swivel holster with a leaf spring retainer in the trigger guard. To get the weapon out, you had to stick your trigger digit into the trigger guard and press the leaf spring down. Always struck me as a disaster waiting to happen.
Click to expand...

You're speaking of what's commonly called the Audley, because he invented it. But indeed it was made by J.M. Bucheimer and all the Eastern police makers including Colt, Folsom, Jaypee, Courtlandt Boot Jack. This one is the Jaypee:

jaypee (3).jpg

jaypee (5).jpg

jaypee (4).jpg

I think it has been mentioned in this thread already? Audley's patent was filed just after the 1911 was adopted and his patent illustrates it for that pistol. He blamed the automobile for putting him out of business almost immediately but somehow other holster makers survived that. He was an Irish harness maker who came over in the late 19th century, appears to have married three times in succession, then bankrupt and dead by 1916. Even Colt's included it in their original Colt-branded holster range, late 1950s.
 
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