KEMPF 1934 PATENT “SPEED
LOADER” MANUFACTURED BY THE REVOLVER CARTRIDGE CLIP
COMPANY “SPEED LOADERS” – FULLY FUNCTIONAL SPECIMENS:
Patented by Herman H. Kempf in 1934 (US Patent
#1,971,526) these speed loaders were manufactured by the
REVOLVER CARTRIDGE CLIP COMPANY of New York, with the
company name cast into the face of the finger ring.
  
Kempf’s loader was a
side-stripping design featuring the cartridges arranged
in the configuration of the revolver’s cylinder. The
six cartridges, each held in place on the back plate by
a partial arc of spring steel, were inserted into the
chambers all at one time. The shooter would then use
the finger ring to slide the carrier away from the face
of the cylinder, disengaging the cartridges and allowing
them to drop into the chambers. A unique feature is a
centrally located hinge, surmounted by a stiff spring
which holds the carrier open. The two halves of the
carrier can be folded back against the tension of the
spring, which allowed the loader to be carried in a flat
belt pouch. When the carrier is pulled from the pouch,
the spring snaps the two halves of the carrier into
position to insert the cartridges into the cylinder.
While there is not a lot of
information on how or to whom these speed loaders were
marketed, there is some belief that due to their timely
production immediately before World War Two, Kempf’s
Speed Loaders may have been purchased by Allied
servicemen for use with the various .38 caliber
revolvers, and its likely they saw some use by police
officers of that era.
These Kempf Speed Loaders
are not particularly common and they would make a nice
addition to a World War Two era .38 caliber revolver
display. I have these two specimens, each listed below
with accompanying photographs.
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