How long as "Lemonsqueezer" been in use?

[RaceBannon]

I just noticed tonight that some prominent members of the forum are taking exception to the term lemonsqueezer, so now I'm curious. How long has this nickname been is use? Is this a century old nickname, or has this term been applied to the hammerless safety revolvers by modern collectors?

 

[Absalom]

This has been discussed here before; I may actually have posed this question when I acquired my first gun of the type, but I don't recall anyone coming up with a satisfactory answer. I don't think anyone knows. Wikipedia blames the term on "collectors", collectors don't like it, but it doesn't look like anyone has undertaken a search of old magazines and such to ascertain when it appeared for the first time. So far it does not even seem to be clear whether the term is contemporary to the gun (that is, emerged while the gun was still in production and sold), or was created sometime afterward. All we know is that Smith & Wesson didn't call the gun that.

 

[glowe]

I believe the tern pre-dates the safety bar hammerless revolvers. There was an odd pistol that you had to squeeze in order for it to fire that was called the squeezer by the manufacturer in advertising. It was the Protector Palm Pistol is a small .32 rimfire revolver designed to be concealed in the palm of the hand. The entire handgun was squeezed in order to fire a round. I have found the term used in a couple of old gun books in reference to this type of pistol, but have not been able to find the references. It was called the Palm Squeezer pistol in the late 1800s and was round like a lemon, so no big leap to the lemon-squeezer term.

I believe that S&W was the first company to successfully introduce a quality safety bar hammerless revolver and soon after there were many copies on the market by firms like Iver Johnson, Harrington Richardson, Forehand Arms, etc. All were considered inferior to the S&W Safety Hammerless guns. Reading about these guns from publications back in the day, the term lemon-squeezer seemingly became synonymous with those inferior quality copies and that is why many collectors do not like the term as it applies to Smith & Wesson.

 

[Absalom]

Gary,

that's an interesting point. I've never seen the "lemon squeezer" term associated with any of the hammerless S&W competitors, since they lacked the characteristic grip safety, and I've always considered the necessary "squeeze" to be the culprit for the term. One can actually find the term occasionally (I've come across it on Gunbroker) applied to the Model 40 Centennial, obviously because of that unusual feature for a revolver.

 

[H Richard]

I'm going to "guess" the term was coined by some gun writer around the time the Safety Hammerless was first produced. Unfortunately the name stuck.

 

[glowe]

. . . I've never seen the "lemon squeezer" term associated with any of the hammerless S&W competitors, since they lacked the characteristic grip safety . . .

That was one of the reasons why competitors hammerless revolvers were inferior. You are probably right about the safety bar being the reason for the term lemon squeezer, but I always looked at the fact that you squeeze any hammerless double action in order to fire it. You can also find lots of references to "lemon squeerzers" with other brands of hammerless guns.

Al Capone’s ‘lemon squeezer’ up for Auction. Heritage Auctions has just listed a very special Harrington & Richardson top-break revolver that once belonged to none other than Al Capone. While he’s more frequently remembered for his hat and cigar, there’s little doubt that he knew his way around guns, too.

Nice condition Iver Johnson Lemon Squeezer! 32S&W double action. Nickel with pearl grips.

Bottom line is we will probably never know for sure who or how this term got its original start.