Ethan Allen built cane guns for Dr. Roger N. Lambert before coming to Norwich, where he designed and produced Pocket Rifles.
Oliver Allen designed and patented the bomb-lance in 1846. The lance was shot from a hand-held whaling gun. After entering the whale the bomb-lance exploded.
Thomas K. Bacon opened 3 separate fire arms companies in Norwich:
1850-1857 Bacon & Company
1858-1868 Bacon Manufacturing Company
1863-1888 Bacon Arms Company
The Civil War took place 1861-1863 time period. Eagle Mfg. Co. made rifled-muskets to support the Union Army.
The Hood Fire Arms Company made several types of Robin Rood revolvers in the 1875-1879 time frame.
Hopkins & Allen was a major arms producer for many years in Norwich. In 1880 they produced more that 1000 pistols each day.
The Duplex two had barrels. The upper barrel shot a .22 short round and the lower barrel shot a .32 caliber round.
The quick-cocking, lever action mechanism, permitted the user to quickly reload. The design became the basis for repeating pistols and rifles.
The design of the .22 caliber cartridge, Patent No. 11496, was revolutionary. It began the modern era of self-contained cartridges.
The Infallible was made in Norwich by the Warner Arms Corp between 1913-1917. The design was based on the Schwarzlose Model 1910.