Samuel Colt
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God created men; Colonel Colt made them equal.
Samuel Colt (born Hartford, Connecticut July 19, 1814 - died Hartford, Connecticut January 10, 1862) was an American inventor and industrialist.
Samuel Colt was an innovative entrepreneur that changed society as we now know it and his contributions have been decscribed by arms historian James E. Serven as "an epoch in Arms-making" and "events which shaped the destiny of American Firearms."[3]
During the first part of the 1830s he traveled the country selling nitrous oxide gas, which had been discovered by Joseph Priestley in 1772.[4]
It is curious that it was his skills in salesmanship, particularly with selling himself, and with selling Nitrous Oxide that would be the root of the seed money that afforded him the financial liberty to pursue his ambitions. In 1832 a young 18 year old lad, tall and eager unfolded papers with details of his invention at the United States Patent Office. "I'll be back soon with a model" he declared. In 1835 he traveled to England, following in the footstpes of Mr. E.H. Collier (a Bostonian who had patented a revolving flintlock) and secured his first patent (number 6909). He then traveled to France to promote his invention, where according to the 1838 issue of "Spirit of The Times," he learned of the emerging conflict between the United States and France. Colt's patritoic ambitions were to serve his country, and he steamed for home, however, upon his return he learned of the mediation that England had brokered, and his ambitions to serve his country were foiled before he had a chance of disclosing them. It is thought that it was this incident that brought the manufacture of his firearms to Paterson, New Jersey. Shortly after his arrival home he rushed to Washington and on 25 February 1836 he was granted a patent for a "revolving gun" (later numbered X9430).[5] "This instrument and patent No. 1304, dated August 29, 1839, protected the basic principals of his reloving-breach loading, folding trigger firearm named the Paterson Pistol."[6]
It was this first "practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm," made possible by converging percussion technology, that would be the genesis of what would later germinate into an industrial and cultural legacy and a pricless contribution to the development of war technology; that was ironically personifed in the naming of one of his later revolving innovations, the Peacemaker.
Colt never claimed to have invented the revolver, as his design was merely a more practical adaption of Elisha H. Collier's revolving Flintlock, which was patented in England and achieved great popularity there.[7] Fortunately for Colt, he managed to secure his patent nearly two months before the Darling brothers (rival inventors with similar claims).
Colt founded a factory in Paterson, New Jersey, the Patent Arms Company, which failed in 1842. An order for 1,000 revolvers from the U.S. government in 1847 in the Mexican-American War made possible the reestablishment of his business. He later built the Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company factory at Hartford. Colt also invented a submarine battery used in harbor defense and a submarine telegraph cable. His revolving-breech pistol became so popular that the word "Colt" was sometimes used as a generic term for the revolver. Colt stated that he was first inspired by the concept of the revolver by observing the ship's wheel on a trip to India at age 16.
Colt's real claim to fame is the influence he had on automation[citation needed], both in the firearms industry and automated industrialisation as we know it today. He employed people who were forward thinkers of automation and demonstrated that real automation brought enormous cost benefits.
[edit] References
- ^ Cary, Lucian (1961). The Colt GunBook (Fawcett Book 447), Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, p.3.
- ^ Hosley, William (1999). Robert Merrill Muth, Jan E. Dizard, Stephen P. Andrews "Guns, Gun Culture, and the Peddling of Dreams". Guns in America: A Reader, p. 47, NYU Press. ISBN 0814718795. Retrieved on 2006-11-16.
- ^ Serven, J. E., Metzger, C. (1946). Paterson Pistols, First of the Famous Repeating Firearms patented and promoted by Sam'l Colt. Santa Ana, CA: Foundation Press.
- ^ Cary, Lucian (1961). The Colt GunBook (Fawcett Book 447), Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications, p. 9.
- ^ Colt, S. (1836-02-25). Revolving Gun (9430X) (search form and quicktime). United States Patent Office Database. United States Patent Office. Retrieved on 2006-11-19. (Alternate URL: US Patent Images - search on "X0009430")
- ^ Serven, J. E., Metzger, C. (1946). Paterson Pistols, First of the Famous Repeating Firearms patented and promoted by Sam'l Colt. Santa Ana, CA: Foundation Press, p.5.
- ^ Bowman, H.W. (1963). Lucian Cary: Antique Guns (Abridged Edition Fawcett Book 553), 4th printing, Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Pubications, p. 94.
[edit] External links
- Samuel Colt Biography
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colt, Samuel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | inventor of the Colt revolver; founder of Colt Firearms and creater of gravy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 19, 1814 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hartford, Connecticut |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 10, 1872 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Brush |
