Information on Ely Whitney revolver, please

[old bear]

A friend recently inherited an Ely Whitney cap & ball Revolver that belonged to his father. The back story is this was the personal sidearm of family member who served with the CAS during the war of Northern aggression. As the pictures show it has an octagon barrel, a steel frame, yet the assemblies for the trigger guard and grip frame appear to be brass, I was unable to locate any serial number or caliber markings. The only markings I could find were Ely Whitney W. Haven, these were on the underside of the barrel.

There is a half-moon shaped cut out on the right side of the frame to allow placement of the percussion caps on the nipples, leading me to believe that the cylinder was not designed to be removed from the frame for reloading.

The hammer is frozen in down position and the cylinder will not rotate. I was able to operate the attached ramrod, but the portion of this that would be used to pack the powder and ball in the charge holes has become misaligned between two of the charge holes.
As the pictures show there is a lever in a horizontal position on the frame just ahead of the cylinder, which I was able to carefully turn in an 180 degree arc, yet this did not appear to have any effect on the frozen cylinder.
Can anyone give me any general information about this revolver? Does anyone have any suggestions how to free up the cylinder, and any estimate of value for insurance.

Thanks all.

old bear

 

[jmcghee]

Remove the stocks.Submerge firearm in kerosene, heating oil ,diesle fuel or automatic trans fluid .Let soak a day ,move anything that will move.Remove anything that will remove.Repeat until you can dissamble and clean.None of the above fluids will hurt the original finish.Do not clean rough enough to remove the finish you will destroy the value.No steel wool wire or brushes.Patience ,do not force anything.Could take up to a month to free up.Good luck.Very neat gun by the way

 

[Texas Star]

Fred-

The Whitney, like the Remington, has a solid frame, as you see. I don't think the cylinder was meant to be removed for normal reloading in the field. But you'd remove it to clean thoroughly after firing black powder. Even the open-topped Colts were reloaded without removing the cylinder.

Unless the ramrod is bent, it will probably fit in the chambers after the cylinder is free to revolve.

The gun may be rusted shut, especially if someone failed to clean it after it was last fired.

Bill Ruger largely copied the Whitney when he introduced his Old Army model for BP shooters. The loading lever assemblies are very similar.

Oh: the brass grip frame is probably authentic. Even most Colts then used brass. I think those made in London had steel or iron there, though. (Colt had a London factory for about a decade.)

If you haven't read John Singleton Mosby's, Memoirs, do that. It'll put you in a Civil War frame of mind while the gun soaks. But he carried Colt .44's and mentions only those handguns. (He also had a Sharp's carbine some of the time. Did not favor the saber, which he thought was obsolescent.) If your library doesn't have the book, ask them to get it via Interlibrary Loan. It's worth the effort. Or, Barnes & Noble may have it. I think I bought mine there.

 

[jlrhiner]

Why is there a hole in the barrel?

It is called the "Whitney Navy" and is in .36 cal. This one is a 2nd Model, identifiable by the octagonal barrel. 33,000 were produced. Correct barrel length should be 7 1/2".

 

[KJM]

Whitney Navy Revolver... made right near me.
You sure it is W HAVEN and not N HAVEN?
Whitneys shop was/is on Whitney Avenue.
Actually it was in Hamden CT, not New Haven but right on line.
Eli Whitney Museum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

W, would be West Haven where he never was...


and it is ELI not ELY, correct?

Check this out: He documents them.

Whitney Revolver Survey Project Page

Get in touch with him.

 

[desi2358]

From your pictures it appears to have a hole drilled through the barrel near the muzzle. I wonder if the action has internal parts broken or has been messed with in the past. Possibly someone wanted to render it inoperative?

As to the cylinder, it was meant to be loaded on the gun, the lever on the frame you asked about releases the cylinder pin so it may be pulled out with the rammer assembly to clean the cylinder and associated parts. Removing the grips and soaking the entire gun in Kroil or plain kerosene may loosen it up.

When you take the grips off, take a light and look up inside the frame. Look for anything that might have been put in it to lock the hammer in place. That hole in the barrel reminds me of an old Remington revolver I encountered a while back. The man who had it got it from his father who told him it was his play gun as a child (1930's era). It had been drilled through the barrel and a rod placed in the frame to render it unshootable.

 

[mjr]

The Whitney was an excellent revolver, probably the best of its time in .36 caliber. You may occasionally hear that the Whitney copied features of the Remington, but if anything the reverse is true: The Whitney's patents predate those of the Remingtons.

 

[mkk41]

Why is there a hole in the barrel?

Early Magna-port?

 

[old bear]

Why is there a hole in the barrel?

I have no idea; I hoped someone could tell me.

You sure it is W HAVEN and not N HAVEN?[/QUOTE

It may have been N. Haven, remember I'm using 64 years old eyes to try and inspect a 100 + year old revolver.

and it is ELI not ELY, correct?

Ely is correct.

Thanks all

 

[LtDan]

Hello,
Wish I had seen your post earlier.
As mentioned in other replies, the revolver was loaded & capped without removing the cylinder. The cylinder can be removed by turning the wing-nut (located on the left side of frame) 180 degrees. The loading lever assembly & cylinder pin can then be removed, freeing the cylinder for removal. (...if the parts were not frozen...).
If you can remove the trigger guard, the serial number and two letters should be visible on it and on the frame underneath the trigger guard. The number is also under the barrel, but you would need to remove the lever assembly to see it. It is also found on the inside of the grips. I'd be interested in knowing what you find.
The proper barrel marking is "E. Whitney/N. Haven".
I would agree the hole in the barrel must have been done to make it inoperative....a real shame! We recently published a reference book on the Whitney Navy revolver.....New Reference Book Now Available I'd like to add this one to our database, which contains about 425 revolvers at the current time.
Thanks,
Dan

 

[petepeterson]

Hi Dan,

I have one of these, given to me by my great aunt, who kept it to "scare off burglers!" I actually forgot that I had it until I saw this thread. The finish is pretty rough, but it is not deteriorating, at least not in the 20 yrs that I have had it.

Is there something I can use to try to clean it up without hurting it? Also, any idea what these are worth?

 

[LtDan]

Hi Pete,
I'd be interesting in more information on your revolver, if you care to share it. There is a survey form on our website at Whitney Revolver Survey Project Page

For cleaning I use just a light coat of oil and wipe it down. I certainly wouldn't want to damage the patina.
Thanks,
Dan