S&W flush valves.

[kleinkaliber]

Anyone have one? Ever come across one still in "service"?

 

[kleinkaliber]

Anyone have one? Ever come across one still in "service"?

 

[gaucho1]

Where's Sip when you need him?

 

[windjammer]

What is a S&W flush valve?

 

[Andy Griffith]

I would suggest looking in the 1896-1961 section.
It is a "hand ejector" of a nature.

No, I have never actually seen one still in service.

Places to look would be...

Old "Standard Oil" or similar service stations..
Old, unupdated churches,
Business establishments in little hole in the wall towns that have been standing vacant for decades, but built prior to WWII.

 

[Tijeras_Slim]

They were banned in the 90's for being "high capacity".

 

[kleinkaliber]

Here in CA, it would be illegal for me to get one without going through an FFL and waiting ten days.

 

[carguychris]

What is a S&W flush valve?

A flush valve like on a commercial toilet or urinal. It's the thing with the lever on it that flushes the commode. Yes, I'm serious.

According to the SCSW, S&W briefly went into the flush-valve business in the 1930s when handgun sales slowed.

 

[gunsmith11]

I have flushed a few,,but never a smith

 

[handejector]

Truly one of the best failures S&W ever had.
In the 30's, the design was giving trouble, and Carl Hellstrom, an engineer, was engaged as a consultant. He corrected the design, but it was a commercial failure because of the high manufacturing cost.
They got in trouble with the British 9mm Light Rifle Contract in 1939, and remembered Hellstrom. He was again engaged, demanding a free hand with control of production. He stayed with the company, became Vice President in 43, and then President in 46 when Harold Wesson died. He ran the company till he died in 63 of a heart attack.
It could be argued that Hellstrom had more influence on the history of S&W than any other single person, possibly excepting Horace Smith and D.B.Wesson.

 

[opoefc]

Lee's got it pretty close. Actually Hellstrom retired in 1958 but was a consultnat until he died. He planned on writing a history of S&W and had collected a lot of data on productions, etc., in a notebook,of which I have a copy, but he became ill and died before he could put it in book form, so Roy Jinks got the job eventually of completing the book in the late 70s. (History of S&W" by Jinks). Getting back to Flush Valves. Gulf Oil Stations in New England areas were built with S&W flush valves in the restrooms, so there could be a few in some remote backwater towns in that part of the US that are still standing. Roy Jinks sent me a Christmas card several years ago, with a picture of him holding a S&W Flush valve as though it was a revolver he is sighting in at a traget. I think he had target sights put on the Valve!

 

[Andy Griffith]

When I visited the factory two years ago, I didn't see but one little picture of Mr. Hellstrom.

In the latest book put out by Roy Jinks and Sandra Krein, Smith & Wesson, Images of America, there was a photograph of a lady unveiling a large painting of C.R. Hellstrom.

Unfortunately, that painting was not on display when I visited the facility a while back. I was certain to look...but there was a small painting of him with other past presidents.

I also heard that it was Leer Siegler that took all the art and other valuable "collectables" out of the factory when they left...but I don't know how true that may be...

 

[handejector]

Lee's got it pretty close. Actually Hellstrom retired in 1958 but was a consultnat until he died.

Ed,
Never heard that he retired in 58. Roy's History does not mention that. If so, who was Pres from 58 to 63? Roy says that the Board elected Bill Gunn after Hellstrom's death.

 

[H Richard]

When I haunt antique shops, you see all manner of things, but I have never seen a S&W flush valve, and I am looking for one. It would really be an item for your S&W collection.

 

[opoefc]

Lee, Hellstrom's circa 1958 retirement timing is as I recall it, but I could be mistaken. I'll check my data sources and see what I can nail down. Somewhere I have copies of the annual corporate reports for S&W going back to the 40s, which lists the officers & BOD members, etc. Speaking of Bill Gunn - When the S&WCA had it's first annual meeting at the Factory, (1977?) Bill was our guest of honor at the Sat. eve. banquet. He recognized me in the crowd and had me sit at the head table with him. Turned out I had been his paperboy, delivering the San Diego Union papers to his military housing quarters in San Diego during the time he was stationed there as a Marine Corp officer! Small world! Ed.

 

[wheelgun1958]

Patented July 4, 1939

2,164,760

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,164,760 FLUSH VALVE

Harold Wesson, Spring-field, Mass., assignor to .Smith, and Wesson, Inc., Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts

Application October 3, 1938, Serial No. 232,921 3 Claims. (Cl. 137—93)

link

 

[Spotteddog]

I wouldn't mind changing out those quite as much as the Sloane's I often work with!