By Larry B. Schuknecht

The Lancaster Arms Co. was founded by Alfred Harvey Worrest (July 28, 1855-Nov. 21, 1941) of Lancaster, Pa. around 1910. In the late 19th Century he developed and patented many improvements for horse drawn vehicles. Between 1900 and 1904 Alfred worked on developing his single trigger and his first patent for it was no. 829,453 of Aug. 28, 1906. His second patent was no. 871,550 issued on Nov. 19, 1907. His other Single Trigger patents were-

No. 1,029,781 of June 18, 1912

No. 1,013,254 of Jan. 2, 1912

No. 1,029,782 of June 18, 1912.

     In the Winter 1995 issue of The Double Gun Journal Mr. Tom Kidd wrote an article titled “An Expatriate Returns” which pictured the cover of a Lancaster Arms Co. catalog. On that cover was given the address of a New York address of 302 Broadway.  This is the address of the firm of Schoverling, Daly & Gales who were importers of some of the finest guns to come out of Europe. From this I assume that Alfred Worrest had some form of a working relationship with Schoverling, Daly & Gales, perhaps installing his single triggers in Charles Daly guns at their customer’s requests. That catalog cover also states that Lancaster Arms Co. had a Foreign Office in Suhl, Prussia. It is interesting to note that many of the guns that Schoverling, Daly & Gales imported were manufactured in Suhl. It is possible that J. P. Sauer was that distributer, the catalog lists several Sauer guns fitted with these triggers. 

You can read more about Alfred Worrest in my Ebook -Development of the American Double Gun which is available on Ebay as item no. 124218758488.