A Question About the Symbol "&"

[phenson]

I have noticed that the symbol, &, on the older S&W's appears to be pregnant for lack of a better term, the newer guns have the symbol that looks like the one I am typing. Is there any data on exactly when this was changed and why? Here's an example of the older symbol:
Thanks,
Pat

 

[29aholic]

You will wear yourself out

Trying to come up with rhyme or reason about the ampersands. I believe Doc44 has chased them for a while and drove himself crazy.

 

[Jack Flash]

"Pregnant Ampersand" is a good description. I think "Lazy Ampersand" is more commonly used, though.

 

[29-1]

Prego ampersand

Here's one that's about 10 months pregnant, ca 1950.
Chuck

 

[Doc44]

The ampersand on the left side of the barrel and on the right side of the frame changed over the years due to changing the tooling used to roll mark the information. Whether or not the changes observed in the ampersand are an artifact of the changes in tooling, or were actually requested, is unknown (at least by me). There is a definite evolution of the ampersand on the barrel (for N-frames) with only a couple of minor variations (seen in 1961 and 1967). The ampersand on the frame changed back and forth over the years until the upright or modern ampersand became standard around 1971 or early 72. The modern ampersand on the barrel became standard by 1973.

K-frames are another matter and several addtional types of ampersand are seen on these guns.

I have observed the different styles over the years and may do an expert commentary on this question at some point in the future (if I can figure out how to organize the information so it will be useful).

Bill