Kalthoff repeater
The Kalthoff repeater was a type of repeating firearm that was designed by members of the Kalthoff family around 1630, and became the first repeating firearm to be brought into military service. At least nineteen gunsmiths are known to have made weapons following the Kalthoff design. One Kalthoff gun was a wheellock, but the rest were flintlocks. Some carried six shots, Peter Kalthoff's patent specified 29 shots, and one gun claims in an inscription on its barrel to hold thirty. A single forward and back movement of the trigger guard, which could be done in 1-2 seconds, readied the weapon for firing.The caliber of Kalthoff guns varied between 0.4 and 0.8 inches.
Origin and Development
The Kalthoff system originates with a gun which was crafted in Solingen by an unknown member of the Kalthoff family around 1630. Members of the family later moved to other areas of Europe, including Denmark, France, The Netherlands, England and Russia. The first patent for the Kalthoff system was issued in France by Louis XIII to Guillaume Kalthoff in 1640. This patent specified muskets and pistols that were capable of firing 8-10 shots with a single loading, while retaining the weight, length and handing of a standard firearm. A year later in 1641, Peter Kalthoff obtained a Dutch patent for a rifle which could fire 29 rounds before reloading. This patent did not specify the mechanism by which the gun worked, but mentioned that he would be able to perfect the design within a year. Later that year, another Dutch patent was granted to an individual named Hendrick Bartmans. This patent specified a gun with separate magazines for powder and ball, a 30 shot capacity, and a trigger guard that could be rotated to reload the weapon. Bartmans made a magazine rifle following his patent in 1642, which likely used the snaplock mechanism. In 1645 Peter Kalthoff made a wheellock magazine rifle. He made another repeating firearm in 1646, which was given to the Danish Prince Frederik. Most repeaters made by Peter use a smooth, rounded trigger guard held in place by a rear trigger. Repeaters made by Matthias Kalthoff, who also worked in Denmark, have a trigger guard with straight sections and hard angles, and use a straight rod for retention of the lever.In 1649, a pair of repeating pistols made by a gunsmith with the surname Kalthoff were reported to have been sent to King Frederik III. Two pistols using the Kalthoff system are held at the National Museum of Denmark, but it cannot be confirmed that these are the pistols mentioned.
A Kalthoff gun engraved with the year 1652 carries the name Cornelius Coster Utrecht. This weapon has two ball magazines, one in the fore-stock and one in the butt. A cylindrical tube behind the breech block holds a strong coil spring, which pushes against the breech block.
In 1658 Caspar Kalthoff made a repeating gun in London which used a sliding box-breech and had a capacity of 7 rounds. Harman Barne also made magazine guns in London, one of his guns used a rectangular sliding breech block with two chambers, another used a cylinder breech system. Kalthoff guns using cylindrical breeches were also made by Jan Flock of Utrecht, some of which he advertised for sale in 1668.
Hans Boringholm, a pupil of Mathias Kalthoff, made repeating guns for hunting use. Two repeating rifles attributed to Boringholm, dated 1670 and 1671, currently reside in the National Museum of Denmark. Anders Mortensen, a pupil of Boringholm, also made repeating firearms. On a Kalthoff gun signed By Mortensen, the powder passage is a separate component rather than being part of the lock.
Around 1710, Charles Cousin made a gun using the Kalthoff system. This weapon had a capacity of 15, and was made in France.
Mechanics and Operation
There were two major variations of the Kalthoff repeater. The first used a rectangular breech block with two or three chambers, a powder magazine in the stock, and had a capacity of up to 30 rounds. At least one gun of this type also featured a coil spring behind the breech block which served to close the gap between it and the barrel. The second variation used a vertical cylindrical breech block, stored powder beneath the lock, and had a capacity of up to 10 shots. These guns had a removable cap over the breech, allowing the breech to be easily cleaned. An additional variation of the Kalthoff used a cylindrical breech that rotated on an axis parallel to the bore. The ball magazine was situated in a cylindrical cavity in the stock under the barrel. Many Kalthoff guns used a magazine located in the ramrod cavity, and featured a cap designed to look like the end of the ramrod. Guns of the rectangular breech type had a flat spring that would bend to the right as the breech was moved, which held the balls in the magazine as the breech moved to the right. Powder in the magazine could be reloaded through a hatch on the underside of the powder carrier if the powder magazine was located under the lock. On Kalthoff guns with the magazine in the stock, the magazine was refilled through a hole covered by a sliding lid in the butt-plate, or through a hole uncovered by removing a screw on the left side-plate. Some guns with a powder magazine in the butt also had a bolt inside the grip part of the stock, which could be turned to block the flow of powder. The carrier on most guns contained enough powder for both the main charge and priming the pan. Spring-loaded covers on the carrier and powder magazine ensured that powder could only flow when the carrier aligned with the magazine or powder passage. The mechanism of many Kalthoff guns occupied the space normally reserved for a mainspring. This had to be worked around by placing it in the stock and connecting it to the cock using a rod, or by mounting it externally.With the muzzle facing upwards, laterally rotating the trigger guard approximately 155° to the right and back deposited a ball and load of powder in the breech and cocked the gun. On some guns a small trigger had to be depressed before rotating the trigger guard. A carrier attached to the trigger guard took the powder from the magazine to the breech, so there was no risk of an accidental ignition in the reserve. The trigger guard was either coupled to the cylindrical breech by a cross-pin, or moved the breech using a cogwheel. When the lever was rotated forwards fully, the carrier aligned with a hole at the front of the lock plate. The powder could then flow through a tunnel in the lock plate, and into the breech. The powder flowed directly through the breech into a cavity behind it in the case of cylinder breech guns, or into the middle chamber on rectangular breech guns. In the case of cylindrical breech guns, as the lever was rotated back, a loading arm on the left side of the gun seated a ball in the breech in front of the powder. On sliding breech block Kalthoff guns, a bullet would drop into the leftmost chamber as the gun was pointed upwards, and a plunger would seat the ball in the barrel as the left chamber aligned with the barrel. Cylinder breech guns still held some powder in the breech tap as the lever was rotated back; this powder would flow into the priming pan just as the ball was inserted. On rectangular breech guns, there would be remaining powder in the powder passage that would fall into the rightmost chamber as it shifted back towards the left, which then could flow into the pan. Alternatively, if the breech had only two chambers the powder would flow directly from the passage into the pan. Cocking the mechanism and closing the frizzen was achieved by a toothed bar that interfaced with a cogwheel attached to the lever.
Use
In 1648, after Frederik III succeeded his father, he ordered that the Scanian Guard be equipped with Kalthoff repeaters. This order was fulfilled by Peter and Mathias Kalthoff, and the guns were issued in 1657. The Guards received about a hundred guns, and they are thought to have been used in the Siege of Copenhagen and the Scanian War. By 1696 the guns had been removed from service. The Royal Armoury's inventory of 1775 still listed 133 repeating guns, by this time they were already regarded as antiques.A royal bodyguard of Charles X was equipped with Kalthoff repeaters in 1659.