The Lignose Einhand-Pistole was a German pocket pistol designed by Louis Schmeisser in 1910 and initially manufactured by Waffenfabrik Bergmann from 1912 to 1922 as the Bergmann-Einhand-Pistole, when manufacture was taken over by Lignose AG who produced it from 1922 to around 1928.
History
The Einhand-Pistole was based on the Bergmann Models 2 and 3 pocket pistols, but with a few added quirks. The Einhand had a brass cocking piece that acted as part of the trigger guard, which gave it the name "Einhand", which was German for "one-handed", and was a pistol that one could legitimately fire with just one hand. Production began in 1912, originally by Bergmann; production was transferred to Lignose AG after Bergmann was acquired by Lignose and continued until around 1928.
The mechanism was designed by Witold Chylewski, who filed a patent for it in 1912, and obtained it in 1919. That same year, a Spaniard by the name of José Lopez de Arnaiz had a patent granted to him which served a similar purpose, and would later be integrated into his own pistol, the JO.LO.AR. A similar mechanism was created by Elbert Searle in 1918, where one would have to squeeze an extended portion of the grip to cock the gun; the mechanism made by Searle was never produced. Eventually, the Chinese caught on and their Norinco Type 77B pistol has a one-handed cocking lever, but it is hardly ever used due to the gun's strong recoil spring.
Design Details
The Einhand is a simple pistol that is fired using blowback. It has plastic grip covers with the manufacturer's name on them, which was either Lignose or Bergmann; ones with "Bergmann" on them are rarer. It also had a cocked hammer indicator situated on the back of the pistol grip, noted by a golden nub. The nub is pushed out when the gun is cocked. However, there are versions of the Einhand with an actual loaded chamber indicator, which are possibly very early versions.
Variants
- 2A - This is the pocket pistol version of the Einhand. It held six rounds in a magazine.
- 3A - This is an actual pistol, with not many differences from the 2A other than an extended grip and longer magazine.
Gallery
