While Browning is given credit for the lock up of the 1886 and 1892 Winchester, here's the same lock up system used in a single shot 2 decades before. The lever is attached to both the breech block and the locking block, with the movement of the lever first dropping the locking block and then pivoting on the locking block to throw back the breech. This gun uses a side hammer, which is pushed to half cock by the breech sliding rearward. Lacking a magazine, the user drops the next cartridge into the action and closes the lever before bringing the hammer to full cock.
He praises the action for it's strength and simplicity, a feature of the later Browning models as well. Browning's trick, of course, was to split the locking block in two so that the breech block could extend rearward far enough to cock a centrally hung hammer.
Google has two scans of this book in its library. The National is described starting on page 163.
I have to wonder if other types of machinery had employed this locking mechanism even before this.
By the way, he has a very low opinion of the Henry and the then new Winchester.
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