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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  GERMAN PISTOL LIGNOSE MODEL 2A "EINHAND" 6.35MM SN# 49949
Maker/Manufacturer:	CHELEWSKI, WITOLD
Date of Manufacture:	C 1930
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 997
Measurements:	OL: 12CM 4 3/4" BL: 5CM 2" 12.5 oz. empty

Object Description:

GERMAN PISTOL LIGNOSE MODEL 2A "EINHAND" 6.35MM SN# 49949
Manufactured by Lignose, Berlin, Germany - Model 2A Lignose semi-automatic pistol supposedly being capable of being cocked and fired with one hand. Blowback operated, hammer fired. Fixed blade front, groove in slide top rear sight. 6-groove rifling, right hand twist. Blued finish with molded rubber grips. This is short grip 6-round model as opposed to the longer 9-round Model 3A. Complete with 6-round detachable box magazine. Weapon weighs approximately 12.5 oz. empty. Action jammed. Left grip chipped, right grip cracked.

Markings:
Slide: Crown/N. 49949. AKT-GES, LIGNOSE, BERLIN/ABTEILUNG SUHL - CAL. 6.35 DRP. DRP = Deutsches Reichs-Patente.
Grips: LIGNOSE.
Barrel: Crown/N.

Notes: "Witold Chylewski developed an unusual automatic pistol capable of being operated by one hand. In the early days of the automatic, the revolver makers made much of the fact that their products could be operated one-handed, whereas an automatic required both hands to cock and load. Inventors set about remedying this by arrangements of levers, but the ideas failed when applied to heavy military calibres.
Chylewski sensibly stuck to a simple 6.35mm blowback pocket pistol, with a relatively weak recoil spring and minimal travel. He connected the front edge of the trigger guard with the slide, so that pulling back on the guard with the forefinger retracted the slide to cock and load. The forefinger was then transferred to the trigger; alternatively on some versions, the slide was released automatically and the trigger-guard retreated farther to trip the trigger lever and fire the gun.
Chylewski received several relevant patents in 1910-18. Small numbers of pistols, perhaps no more than two hundred, were made by SIG in Switzerland. They bore the company name on the left side and BREVETTE CHYLEWSKI; unfortunately SIG no longer has records of quantity.
The next stage is unclear. Surviving Chylewski pistols often have the one-hand feature disabled, sometimes said to have arisen from an patent-infringement argument with Ole Krag. However, Krag had died in 1912 and it seems unlikely that Norwegian executors would have pursued patents that had almost elapsed in Switzerland. It is more likely that the original one-hand cocking system began to bind when worn, and became an irritation.
Rights to Chylewski's designs passed to the Bergmann company who, after slight changes had been made, produced the 'Einhand' pistol in the late 1920s. Even more remarkably, the Chylewski/Einhand system reappeared in China in the early 1980s, when the Type 77 pistol was announced by the North China Industries Corporation. This pistol is virtually an Einhand chambered for the Chinese 7.65mm Type 64 cartridge." - Hogg & Weeks

"This unique design was based on the Chylewski. It allows the shooter to cock and fire this blowback-operated semiautomatic pistol with one hand (Einhand). It is chambered for the 6.35mm cartridge and has a 2" barrel. The magazine holds 6 shots; and the finish is blued with molded rubber grips marked 'Lignose.' The triggerguard on this pistol has a reverse curve that fits the finger, and it moves backward to cock the slide. It was manufactured in 1917 by the Bergmann Company, but the rights were sold to Lignose where it was produced after 1921." - Ned Schwing

"The Aktiengesellschaft Lignose was an old established explosives and ammunition company which began as a post-war programme of expansion by purchasing the moribund Bergmann company in 1921 and took over their factory in Suhl. Among the acquisitions was the Chylewski one-hand pistol which Bergmann had acquired and redesigned as the Einhand Pistole and Lignose put into production as the Lignose Einhand. Another was the Bergmann Taschenpistole, which also had its name changed to Lignose. Both were given distinctive numbers, as had been the Bergmann practice: the Taschen models became the 2 and 3, while the Einhand became the 2A and 3A, the number 1 being reserved for a prospective Einhand in 7.65mm which, together with a 9mm
"There were Bergmann-type blowback pocket pistols made after the original operations had been purchased by Lignose, the numerical designations being retained. The Model 2A was adapted for one-hand 'Einhand' cocking." - Zhuk

References:
Hogg, Ian & John Weeks. PISTOLS OF THE WORLD. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1992.
Hogg, Ian. GERMAN HANDGUNS: THE COMPLETE BOOK OF THE PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS OF GERMANY, 1869 TO THE PRESENT. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, Pa. 2001.
Schwing, Ned. STANDARD CATALOG OF FIREARMS. 8th Ed. Krause Publications. Iola, Wi. 1998.
Walter, John. THE GREENHILL DICTIONARY OF GUNS AND GUNMAKERS. Stackpole Books. Chambersburg, Pa. 2001.
Zhuk, A.B. THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HANDGUNS: PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS OF THE WORLD, 1870 TO THE PRESENT. Greenhill Books. London, England. 1995.