The story of Whitney Arms and the Wolverine pistol start with its inventor Robert Hillberg.
Hillberg was born in Iowa in 1917, grew up hunting and fishing with his father in Minnesota and South Dakota. In 1938, without any formal training he designed a sub machine gun using the .38 Super cartridge and took it to Colt in Hartford.
While Colt was not interested in the gun, they were interested in Hillberg's talents and offered him a job. After two years he was lured away by Pratt & Whitney in Hartford in their Engineering department, making parts for jet engines. Funny, both Pratt and Whitney also started their careers at Colt.
During World War II Hillberg worked for Bell Aircraft and later Republic Aviation where he worked on armament solutions. While at Republic he designed several pistols, including one futuristic looking 9mm called the "Hillberg Trimatic" that would inspire the Wolverine.
The Hillberg/Johnson partnership was called Hillson (combining their last names).
The Hillson team had several options to get the pistol built. They could completely build the gun themselves, farm out the parts and just assemble the pistols or license the design to another manufacture, of which there were plenty to choose from.
Most of the nickel-plated pistols were 100% polished, while at least one featured the "two-tone" matte and polished.
Specs:
Action: Blow-back, semi-automatic
Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
Weight: 23 oz.
Barrel Length: 4 5/8"
Overall Length: 9"
Capacity: 10 rounds
Construction: Aluminum, steel and plastic
Price: $39.95 blue/parkerized & $44.95 for nickel plated
The pistol was too cool to die and in the late '80s Hillberg began working with Olympic Arms of Olympia Washington to bring the pistol back.
Sources
Manta
Rock Island Auction
Guns.com
Mythic Armory
Gun Digest
Gun Wiki
Edwards, W. B. (1956, August) The Oldest Name in Guns Comes Back, Guns, Vol. 2 No. 8-20, 24-27
During World War II Hillberg worked for Bell Aircraft and later Republic Aviation where he worked on armament solutions. While at Republic he designed several pistols, including one futuristic looking 9mm called the "Hillberg Trimatic" that would inspire the Wolverine.
The pistol looked like a marriage of the Beretta model 70 and the grip from a Colt Lightning....of course this gun was designed before the Beretta model 70 by more than a decade.
In 1951 he left the Aircraft industry and went to work for High Standard in Hamden as head of research and development. While there he helped design guns for Sears (a big customer of High Standard) and even a tank version of the BAR which became the M37 Machine Gun.
In April of 1954 he submitted for a patent on his .22 pistol. He was ready to set out on his own and create his futuristic pistol.
The design was complete, but he needed funds and a manufacturing facility. He partnered up with Howard Johnson, owner of the Bellmore-Johnson Tool Company.
In April of 1954 he submitted for a patent on his .22 pistol. He was ready to set out on his own and create his futuristic pistol.
The design was complete, but he needed funds and a manufacturing facility. He partnered up with Howard Johnson, owner of the Bellmore-Johnson Tool Company.
The Hillberg/Johnson partnership was called Hillson (combining their last names).
The Hillson team had several options to get the pistol built. They could completely build the gun themselves, farm out the parts and just assemble the pistols or license the design to another manufacture, of which there were plenty to choose from.
The second issue was selling the pistol, they needed someone to distribute and promote the pistol.
They sold the exclusive rights to market to pistol to a national firearms distributor named Jacques Galef (a move they would come to regret) and decided to build the gun themselves. The agreement was for 10,000 pistols the first year at $16.53 each (wholesale cost). The equates to about $151 today.
Bellmore-Johnson was a machine shop, ill-equipped to make firearms, but that didn't stop their predecessors and it wouldn't stop them.
The name of the company was changed when they were looking for a location to build the guns. Eli Whitney was credited with the idea of interchangeable parts on guns (even though he wasn't the originator of the idea), which later became known as the "American system of manufacturing". This system became the standard for every manufactured item in the world.
The company name would be Whitney Arms, the name of the pistol was the Wolverine, in honor of the University of Michigan Wolverines, Hillberg's favorite college team.
They sold the exclusive rights to market to pistol to a national firearms distributor named Jacques Galef (a move they would come to regret) and decided to build the gun themselves. The agreement was for 10,000 pistols the first year at $16.53 each (wholesale cost). The equates to about $151 today.
Bellmore-Johnson was a machine shop, ill-equipped to make firearms, but that didn't stop their predecessors and it wouldn't stop them.
The name of the company was changed when they were looking for a location to build the guns. Eli Whitney was credited with the idea of interchangeable parts on guns (even though he wasn't the originator of the idea), which later became known as the "American system of manufacturing". This system became the standard for every manufactured item in the world.
The company name would be Whitney Arms, the name of the pistol was the Wolverine, in honor of the University of Michigan Wolverines, Hillberg's favorite college team.
The name would not stick though, it just so happened that the Lyman gun sight company had a copyright on the name Wolverine and to avoid a legal dispute Hillberg agreed to drop the Wolverine name and use the name "Lightning" instead. A name which had been used by Colt.
Honoring Eli Whitney (who was also a native of the New Haven/Hamden area) did not end with the company name. They wanted to place their factory near his historic workshop.
They originally tried to acquire the land that Whitney's Armory once occupied, but it was not for sale. They eventually found a location less than a mile away in North Haven (although the boxes and literature used New Haven as the address).
Finding the actual address of their factory proved nearly impossible. Whitney never put a complete mailing address on their literature. This was not all that uncommon in the 1950s, back then the post office would deliver to a person or business with simply a name and city on the envelope. I found one book that listed the building as being on State Street in North Haven.
I did find an older address for Bellmore-Johnson, it was at 445 Putnam Ave in Hamden. This address is within a mile of the old Whitney Armory (and just down the street from High Standard).
The pistols unique aluminum frame were cast by ALCOA, made from an alloy named "Duraluminum".
Honoring Eli Whitney (who was also a native of the New Haven/Hamden area) did not end with the company name. They wanted to place their factory near his historic workshop.
They originally tried to acquire the land that Whitney's Armory once occupied, but it was not for sale. They eventually found a location less than a mile away in North Haven (although the boxes and literature used New Haven as the address).
Finding the actual address of their factory proved nearly impossible. Whitney never put a complete mailing address on their literature. This was not all that uncommon in the 1950s, back then the post office would deliver to a person or business with simply a name and city on the envelope. I found one book that listed the building as being on State Street in North Haven.
I did find an older address for Bellmore-Johnson, it was at 445 Putnam Ave in Hamden. This address is within a mile of the old Whitney Armory (and just down the street from High Standard).
The pistols unique aluminum frame were cast by ALCOA, made from an alloy named "Duraluminum".
The guns came in a blued anodized finish or a satin nickel-plated finish. The frames were matte while the upper assembly was polished.
About 500 or so of the guns got the nickel finish, making them highly collectable. Grip choices were black, brown (simulated wood) or white (simulated Ivory).
Most of the nickel-plated pistols were 100% polished, while at least one featured the "two-tone" matte and polished.
Production began in 1956, while sales were slow, they did get some attention. Some were even shipped to Mexico by Armarex.
The company failed to make much money, due to the unfortunate deal made with the distributor and production ended in 1958 with 13, 371 pistols made.
Specs:
Action: Blow-back, semi-automatic
Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
Weight: 23 oz.
Barrel Length: 4 5/8"
Overall Length: 9"
Capacity: 10 rounds
Construction: Aluminum, steel and plastic
Price: $39.95 blue/parkerized & $44.95 for nickel plated
The pistol was too cool to die and in the late '80s Hillberg began working with Olympic Arms of Olympia Washington to bring the pistol back.
The Olympic Arms version would use a polymer frame. They debuted in 2004 and were produced in limited numbers until Olympic Arms closed their doors in 2017.
Samson Manufacturing has acquired the original tooling, molds and a slew of original parts and claims to be working on bringing back the original pistol. We'll have to watch for that.
Sources
Manta
Rock Island Auction
Guns.com
Mythic Armory
Gun Digest
Gun Wiki
Edwards, W. B. (1956, August) The Oldest Name in Guns Comes Back, Guns, Vol. 2 No. 8-20, 24-27
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