Lewis and Clark air gun
Where can I find out more about the air gun that Lewis and Clark had on their expedition? A couple years ago I read "Undaunted Courage" and in the book many references were made to the air gun but no real details were given. It seems to me that it was well ahead of it's time and I want to know a lot more about it, any ideas on where to look? Thanks
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There is still debate about the origin and type of air gun that accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition here are some references.
\William Clark, August, 1804
Meriwether Lewis purchased an air gun with his own money at Harpers Ferry, while purchasing supplies for the expedition. The air gun was utilized to impress the Indians that the Corps would encounter.
Various Journal Entries:
August 3, 1804: " after Capt. Lewis's Shooting the air gun a fiew Shots (which astonished those nativs)"
October 10, 1804: "after the Council was over we Shot the air guns which astonished them much".
October 29, 1804: " after the Council was over we Shot the air gun which appeared to astonish the nativs much".
June 10, 1805: " Shields renewed the main-spring of my air-gun we have been much indebted to the ingenuity of this man".
http://lewisandclarktrail.com/lewisairgun.htm
The Lewis and Clark
Air Rifle
...we showed them many curiosities and the air gun which they were much astonished at.
Clock and gun maker Isaiah Lukens of Philadelphia, PA, provided Meriwether Lewis and William Clark one of his air rifles for their 1803-1806 expedition to explore the northwest. Unlike most rifles which used black powder, the air rifle used compressed air to shoot its .31 cal. bullet.
Unlike black powder rifles, an air rifle made little noise when fired. It did not make smoke and had very slight "kick." And, you didn't have to "keep your powder dry!"
The butt of the rifle is actually a metal canister designed with a needele valuve to hold compressed air. The air was stored under pressure --between700 and 900 pounds per square inch! (A modern car tire carries a pressure of 35 puonds per square inch.) When the trigger is pulled, just the right amount of air is carried from the butt to the bullet chamber and the round leaves the barrel with a whish.
This is an air rifle butt reservoir screwed to the pump used to compress the air. The auger end (to the right) could be srewed into a tree. A few hundred strokes on the pump and you were ready to go hunting.
Although the rifle was used in hunting, its main purpose was to impress the Native Americans Lewis and Clark would meet. Upon returning home Lewis and Clark presented the history making air rifle back to Isaiah
http://www4.vmi.edu/museum/air_rifle.html
When the fact that Lewis carried an air gun came to the attention of gun historians around the middle of the 20th century, the initial guess was that it was powered from a ball-shaped tank suspended beneath the gun's breech, a design that apparently was used in many popular sporting air guns made in Europe during the 18th century. For some years air guns of that design were exhibited in various museums as illustrations of the type Lewis was thought to have carried.
In 1977, however, gun historian Henry M. Stewart, Jr., made a discovery at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia that seemed to point to a different make of air gun. He found an auction catalog for the estate of Isaiah Lukens, a Philadelphia clock maker who died in 1846. It included several air guns, one of which, listed as item 95, was a large gun "made for, and used by Messrs Lewis & Clark in their exploring expeditions." It was "A great curiosity."2 The maker was not named, and no record of the disposition of the item after the auction has yet been found.
Catalog item 78, evidently not an air gun, was "1 superior Rifle, silver mounted, telescoping and graduating sights, &c., with mahogany case. Made by Isaiah Lukens for his own use." The twelve items numbered 79 through 90 were collectively identified as "Air Cane Gun, complete" (which today might be considered an even greater "curiosity" than item 95). Item 93 was "1 large Air Gun, in order," which no doubt meant working order; item 94 was a small air gun, similarly "in order." Some gun historians have inferred from this document that some or all of the weapons listed could have been made by Isaiah Lukens, and that item 95 might have been made expressly for Meriwether Lewis, and either sold or loaned to him.
An air gun purportedly manufactured by Lukens, which is now in the collection at Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia, is still believed by many authorities to be the kind that Lewis carried, and some believe it shows direct evidence that it was the very one. At the mouth of the Marias River on 9 June 1805 Lewis recorded: "as we had determined to leave our blacksmith's bellows and tools here it was necessary to repare some of our arms, and particularly my Airgun the main spring of which was broken, before we left this place." The next day, the Corps' gunsmith, Private John Shields "renewed" it. The main spring of the air gun at VMI appears to have been broken, and repaired.
However, in 2002 another gun historian, Michael Carrick, determined through research at the Library Company of Philadelphia that Lukens is not known to have been in business in Philadelphia before 1814.3 In 1803, at 23 years of age, he was still an apprentice to his father, a horologist (clock-maker), in Horsham Township, fifteen miles north of Philadelphia.
http://www.lewis-clark.org/MILITARYPROFILE/AIRGUN/wea_airgun2.htm
MOLON LABE!
An evil tree bears evil fruit. You can destroy as much fruit as you want, but it will always grow back, and it will always be evil.
Tear the tree out of the ground by the roots and burn it. Burn it to ash and grind out the embers with your boot until there's nothing left. Not a single spark. Not a single seed.0 -
If memory serves: It was made in France in the late 1700's or in the 1st few years of 1800. It was 31 or 32 Caliber, Had a Ball Tank with Valve attachment where a Pump was Attached to pump up the Ball...How much Pressure was contained in the Ball Tank is unknown to this author. The Tank was mounted under the Fore Arm almost like a Shutzen Rifle....There was a man that Lived in Corona, California....and Can't remember His name.....Dang................WENTZEL..! Thats the name thats been so elusive to me .....! Don't recall the 1st name...but Wentzel was the name of the Guy and He was a Radar Technition at Todd Shipyards in Wilmington/San Pedro....ED!...ED WENTZEL.....Man...been over 30 years since I've thought of Him and His Wife Darlene...Gads...!
My Father in Law W.O. William E. Haynes, U.S.M.C. and I were out visiting Ed and Darlene, chowing down on Her Homemade Cookies and Drinking Coffee and having a Laugh and Scratch Session when the Subject was brought up about the Air Rife that Lewis and Clark carried with them on the Great Adventure in 1804/06...I had picked up an Early Air Rifle at a Gun Show several weeks before...and as Most Coffee Bull Sessions....... bounced around like a Ping Pong Ball in a Hurricane...But, anyway...We were discussing this gun and that maybe it was the one that Lewis and Clark carried...? Ed mentioned something to the Fact that a Relation or a Friend of His was the Curator of the Little Display Museum in Yosemite Park in California...and that it had an Airgun like mine, and was stored in the Safe Room in the Park....and was thought to have been carried by the Lewis and Clark Party....How it ended up in a Jerk Water Museum and where it came from no one knew..and as far as I know the History was never found out. I called the Park and was able to talk to the Man in charge of the Museum for a few minutes...Can't recall the name...This was 35 years ago....I had it all written down....but over the years the paper that I wrote all the info on, is Lost or destroyed...? Maybe when I pass on My hiers will run across this paper in My boxes of Trash and Treasures...? Anyway..The Curator told me that he had recieved the Airgun from a Vistor and that He had some Paper with information claiming that it was the same Rifle the Lewis and Clark carried on thier Trek to the Pacific Ocean...It was claimed that it would reach out and Kill a Deer or Antelope out to 100 Yards...The vistor who donated this gun or place of residence is unknown to me...I had a Photo of mine and sent it to the Museum and never kept a copy for myself...Drat! I was blessed with 20/20 Hind Sight....Anyway...I sold mine to a Collector from Europe back in the 70's...but have No further Knowledge of either Gun...I hope that in the ramblings in my attempt to recall facts of This gun, you can pull enough information to make sense of...Have a Doctors appointment to keep....so must blast outta here...If I can recall anything further....I'll contact You.....Best....
Captain Kirk, Tech Staff<P><BR>0 -
Thanks Cap'n and Bigtire I really appreciate the info. Responses like yours are why I keep coming back with more questions. I will follow up on both of your courses of information. 0 -
This really set my tired ol memory working. Checked my 1964 issue
of Gun Digest. Sure enough, a 9 page article called "TheGGuns of Lewis
and Clark" with pictures. Main topic was the air gun but also showed
others including a small swivel cannon. Article was written by
William R. Barbour. If you wish a reproduced copy of the pages,
let me know and will send them. Also possible you could check up on
William R Barbour as a author. Maybe.0 -
I believe that American Rifleman had an article on the Lewis and Clark expedition guns last year, or worst case in 2002. Like the Capt. my memory get's a little fuzzy ... although I remember 30 years ago much better than last year[:D]
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0
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