Henry Deringer

Henry Deringer, Jr.
The Henry Deringer pistol used by John Wilkes Booth.
Born	Henry Deringer (1786-10-26)October 26, 1786 Easton, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	February 28, 1868(1868-02-28) (aged 81) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Occupation	Inventor, gunsmith, businessman
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Hollobush
Children	Theophilus T. Deringer (1811 - 1874), Bronaugh McClain Deringer (1819 - 1868), Calhoun Mason Deringer (1824 - 1907), Eliza Deringer (1831-1907)

Henry Deringer (October 26, 1786 – February 28, 1868) was an American gunsmith. He is best known for inventing and giving his name to the derringer pistol.

Deringer was born in Easton, Pennsylvania on October 26, 1786 to colonial gunsmith Henry Deringer Senior (1756-1833) and Catherine McQuety (1759–1829). The family moved to Philadelphia where his father continued work on the Kentucky rifle, both an ornate sporting model and a basic version for the US Army. He sent his son to Richmond to apprentice with another gunsmith there.

Henry Deringer moved back to Pennsylvania after serving his apprenticeship and set up shop in 1806 in Philadelphia, on Tamarind Street. He married Elizabeth Hollobush at the First Reformed Church in Philadelphia on April 5, 1810.

Deringer's early efforts were for military contracts, producing military pistols, muskets and rifles. Among those he produced was the Model 1814 Common Rifle and the Model 1817 Common Rifle. He produced trade rifles, designated for the Native American tribes, to fulfill the U.S. treaty obligations. His specialties became fine sporting rifles and dueling pistols. He stopped pursuing the government contracts by the mid-1840s.

In 1825 he designed the first of the large caliber, short barreled pistols that would lead to considerable wealth and fame for himself. Using the basic flintlock action in common usage at the time, the pistols were muzzle loading single shots, or in some cases, double barreled in an over-under manner.

Later models used the percussion cap action, although both actions were manufactured and sold for some time. For arms of his own design, he adopted the newer percussion cap technology, putting his pistol on the modern cutting edge. He was innovating; the percussion cap was perfected about 1820, and Deringer was marketing them by the 1830s, and possibly the mid-1820s.

Deringer never claimed a patent for his pistols and the public bought them as fast as he produced them. Further development and copying of his design resulted in the derringer (note the double-r) pistol that was generically manufactured widely by other companies.