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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.
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.
According to McElroy's directory in 1841 Deringer had a house/gun shop at 370 North Front Street, Northern Liberties, Pennsylvania.
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 innovative; he perfected the percussion cap about 1820, and Deringer was marketing them by the 1830s, and possibly the mid-1820s.
There was widespread copying of his designs, including outright counterfeiting with his proofmarks being copied. One company even hired a tailor called "John" Deringer so that it could put the Deringer name on its firearms. Some of Deringer's workmen also left the company to set up their own duplicates, while others copied his pistols as closely as possible with some even putting on its Deringer name and trademark. Deringer fought these infringements for most of his business life. The Deringer v. Plate ruling, in which the California Supreme Court ruled in the company's favor, became a landmark in trademark law.
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