Page 10 - Auction84-Book3
P. 10

LOT 3001
Extremely Rare Prototype Lever Action Rifle Marked “MADE BY Joseph Rider Newark Ohio” Underneath the Buttplate From the Remington Factory Museum Collection - NSN, 40 cal., 29 3/4 inch octagon bbl., blue finish, walnut stock. At first glance, this prototype lever action tube fed magazine rifle resembles visual similarities of known Marlin lever action rifles designed and patented by Lewis L. Hepburn but is entirely unmarked besides “MADE BY Joseph Rider Newark Ohio” written in black ink in the wood hidden beneath the buttplate. Joseph Rider was an inventor who had more than twenty-five years of a relationship with E. Remington & Sons and is well known for his invention of the Remington Rolling Block rifle along with his Remington pistols and revolvers. He was paid 12 brace of revolvers and 400 acres of Ohio land by E. Remington & Sons for his invention of the Remington-Rider double action percussion pocket revolver, which struck the long-lasting relationship between him and the company. He would reside in Ilion, New York near the company for most of his career, later returning to Newark, Ohio where he was once considered the wealthiest man in the town. Although Joseph Rider held over 100 patents in various fields during his career, no patents related to this lever action rifle have been located at the time of writing this description, and this rifle would be somewhat of an anomaly compared to Rider’s other known designs, although it is possible that it is his work. The Remington-Hepburn falling block rifle (patented by Lewis Hepburn in October of 1879) shares a buttstock that resembles what is mounted on this prototype rifle. Lewis Hepburn became superintendent of Remington’s mechanical department and sporting arms starting in 1871, and he left to go to Marlin with his lever action designs when E. Remington & Sons went bankrupt in 1886. Hepburn held U.S. Patent number 298,377 dated May 13th, 1884 for a lever action magazine gun that differs from this example while employed at E. Remington & Sons out of Ilion, New York, and would carry that design with him to John Marlin in 1886 where he continued on to become a long time Marlin engineer and designed many of the company’s most successful arms that included the Model 1888 through the Model 1897 lever action rifles, and over his thirty year career, secured some twenty patents for Marlin. During their time with E.
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Remington & Sons, Lewis Hepburn would have worked together with Joseph Rider in a collaborative effort.
     






























































































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