[35], During this period, Colt received an extension on his patent, since he did not collect fees for it during the early years. Colt Frontier revolver, invented by Samuel Colt (1814-62), c1850. Colt died a very wealthy man on January 10, 1862, at the age of 47, and was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery. . During 1829, the 15-year-old Colt worked in his fathers textiles processing plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he honed his skills in the use of machine tools and manufacturing processes. Samuel Colt, (born July 19, 1814, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.died January 10, 1862, Hartford), American firearms inventor, manufacturer, and entrepreneur who popularized the revolver. Born in Hartford in 1814, by his 16th year a young Samuel Colt yearned for adventure and persuaded his father to let him go to sea. [15] This is shown by an 1836 letter that Colt wrote to his father in which he said, .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, The first workman would receive two or three of the most important parts and would affix these and pass them on to the next who would add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together. The man behind all this was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1814. . Metropolitan Museum of Art / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. [47], Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt decided to establish a factory in or near Europe and chose London. [48] At one exhibit Colt disassembled ten guns and reassembled ten guns using different parts from different guns. From that idea, he carved out a wooden prototype that would lead to his invention of a rotation-type firearm with a six-barrel cylinder. Only one of their five children, Caldwell Hart Colt, survived infancy. Its articles concerning Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life. During the American Civil War (18611865), Colt supplied firearms exclusively to the Union Army. [44] Colt's revolvers were made by machine, but he insisted on final hand finishing and polishing of his revolvers to impart a handmade feel. As ticket sales decreased, Colt realized that "serious" museum lectures were not what the people wanted to pay money to hear and that it was dramatic stories of salvation and redemption the public craved. [57] Colt commissioned western artist George Catlin to produce a series of paintings depicting exotic scenes in which a Colt weapon was prominently used against Indians, wild animals, or bandits in the earliest form of "product placement" advertisement. Later, after hearing soldiers talk about the success of the double-barreled rifle and the impossibility of a gun that could shoot five or six times without reloading, Colt decided that he would create the "impossible gun". During tests of the foil cartridges, 25 rounds were shot from a musket without cleaning. From his experience in haggling with government officials, he knew what numbers he would have to generate to make enough profit to invest money in improving his machinery, thereby limiting imitators' ability to produce a comparable weapon at a lesser price. [61] Although trade with the South had not been restricted at that time, newspapers such as the New York Daily Tribune, The New York Times and the Hartford Daily Courant termed him a Southern sympathizer and traitor to the Union. As the first practical pistol capable of firing multiple shots without being reloaded, Colts revolver became a key tool in the settlement of the American West. Eventually, the companys shareholders took control of Patent Arms Manufacturing, and Colt was relegated to sales agent. Richard C. Rattenbury has served as curator of history at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum since 1987, and formerly held curatorial positions with the Winchester Museum at the Buffalo Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The standard at the time was to have powder and ball contained in a paper or skin envelope or "cartridge" for ease of loading. Link. In manufacturing his guns, Colt further advanced the use of interchangeable parts introduced around 1800 by cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney. [citation needed], One of his slogans, God created men, Col. Colt made them equal, (claiming that any person could, regardless of physical strength, defend themselves with a Colt gun) became a popular adage in American culture. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}contact us! He got the idea back in 1831, while on a ship, and he carved a . Eventually the British government forced him to remove this sign. At the time of his death in 1862, his firm already had produced some 450,000 guns in 16 different models. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. [4][5] On the Corvo, Colt made a wooden model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood. To date, the company founded by Samuel Colt has produced more than 30 million pistols, revolvers and rifles. Colt's mother died from tuberculosis when Colt was six years old, and his father married Olivia Sargeant two years later. He abandoned the idea of a multiple-barreled revolver and opted for a single fixed-barrel design with a rotating cylinder. [30], With the money he made from the sales of the Walkers and a loan from his cousin, banker Elisha Colt, Colt bought the machinery and tooling from Blake to build his own factory: Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company factory at Hartford. A year after White left Colt, Colt's competitor, Smith & Wesson, attempted to patent a revolver using metallic cartridges only to find that it infringed on White's patent for the bored-through cylinder. Robert Longley is a U.S. government and history expert with over 30 years of experience in municipal government and urban planning. The following year he devised an electrically discharged naval mine, the first device using a remotely controlled explosive, and he conducted a telegraph business that utilized the first underwater cable. [33] Colt used this general design for the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver which was larger than the Baby Dragoon, but not quite as large as the full-sized version. He enjoyed taking things apart to see how they worked, including his father's guns. Root's machinery changed that for Colt, since the machines completed as much as 80% of the work and less than 20% of the parts required hand fitting and filing. Initially, Colt produced three revolving handgunsbelt, holster and pocket pistolsand two rifles. The British patent for Colts mechanism was acquired in October 1835, and on February 25, 1836, the American inventor received U.S. Patent No. Samuel Colt was an American inventor, born on the 19th of July 1814 at Hartford, Connecticut, where his father had a manufactory of silks and woollens. More than a half-century before Henry Ford used assembly lines in his automobile factories, Colt employed them to produce his revolvers. [38][39] However, Colt's zealous protection of his patents greatly impeded firearms development as a whole in the United States. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of textile manufacturer Christopher Colt and wife Sarah. Powers made detailed wax sculptures and paintings based on demons, centaurs, and mummies from Dante's work. [75] Barbara M. Tucker, professor of history and director of the Center for Connecticut Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, wrote that Colt's marketing techniques transformed the firearm from a utilitarian object into a symbol of American identity. Reproduction examples of early Colt revolvers: Colt Paterson, Colt Walker, Colt 3rd Variation Revolving Holster Pistol (Dragoon). Updated: March 29, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009. The Museum of Connecticut History. Samuel Colt was born on July 19 1814, in Hartford. Updates? Samuel Colt, the second-youngest of seven children, was born in 1814 in Hartford, CT, to Samuel and Sarah Colt. As he had envisioned, Colts guns were built on an assembly line. A savvy businessman, he retained rights to these patents, making his applications as an individual rather than through the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company. The company was soon producing 150 firearms a day, making Colt one of the wealthiest men in America. Colts net worth at the time of his death was estimated at $15 millionor about $382 million today. Inventor Born Samuel COLT American inventor and industrialist Born on July 19, 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA , United States Died on January 10, 1862 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA Born on July 19 35 Deceased on January 10 40 Family tree Report an error Colt Benjamin 1698 - 1754 Harris Miriam 1699 - 1765 Caldwell John 1734 - 1782 Church Mary This resulted in breakage of parts, stripped screw heads and inoperable guns. Colt's revolvers were a major tool used during the westward expansion. [17], Constant problems for Colt were the provisions of the Militia Act of 1808, which stated that any arms purchased by a state militia had to be in current service in the United States military. Though Colt blamed the failures on shoddy workmanship and cheap materials, his father withdrew his financial support. As a teenaged seaman, Colt carved a wooden model of a revolving cylinder mechanism, and he later perfected a working version that . [27] Colt tried to use this revenue to resurrect the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, but could not secure funds from other investors or even his own family. Mounted Riflemen. As one of the first American-made products to be widely exported abroad, Colts firearms contributed to the industrial revolution that transformed the once-isolated United States into a leading economic and military power. Why, he could spend hours at it. His preoccupation with patent infringement suits slowed his own company's transition to the cartridge system and prevented other firms from pursuing revolver designs. The next year, at the start of the Mexican War, he and Army Captain Samuel H. Walker designed an even more effective weapon, "The Walker," prompting the government to order 1,000 of these pistolsand Colt was back in business again. As with his revolver mechanism, Colts innovative cable was adapted from an earlier design: a cable developed by telegraph inventor Samuel F.B. He died on August 1, 1986 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. [19], Colt imperiled his own company by his reckless spending. (The line went only as far as Fire Island, New York, before the project was abandoned.). While visiting his brother John in Cincinnati, he partnered with sculptor Hiram Powers for his demonstrations with a theme based on The Divine Comedy. Morse would go on to use Colts waterproof cable for running telegraph lines under lakes, rivers, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. [62], Samuel Colt died of complications of gout in Hartford on January 10, 1862. His professional responsibilities were given to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis. When Colt was six his mother died of tuberculosis, and by age eleven he was indentured. [6] He had learned about nitrous oxide (laughing gas) from the factory chemist of his father's textile plant, so he took a portable laboratory on tour and earned a living performing laughing gas demonstrations across the United States and Canada, calling himself as "the Celebrated Dr.Coult of New-York, London and Calcutta". Samuel Colt. In 1855 he built the worlds largest private armoury in the South Meadows area of Hartford. It employed roughly 1,500 people and manufactured 150,000 firearms annually until the Civil War ended in 1865. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Colt, American Society of Mechanical Engineers - Biography of Samuel Colt, Samuel Colt - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company. In correspondence to and about his namesake, Samuel Colt referred to him as his "nephew" in quotes. Instead of multiple individually-loaded rotating barrels used in early repeating firearms, Colts revolver used a single fixed barrel attached to a rotating cylinder holding six cartridges. 1. [43] Colt historian Herbert G. Houze wrote, "had it not been for Root's inventive genius, Colt's dream of mass production would never have been realized". Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, one of eight children of textile manufacturer Christopher Colt and wife, Sarah Caldwell Colt. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, one of eight children of textile manufacturer Christopher Colt and wife, Sarah Caldwell Colt. Born in Hartford, CT, in 1814, Samuel Colt transformed the evolution of firearms. Over the next few years, Colt and Pearson argued about money, but the design improved and during 1835 Colt was ready to apply for his U.S. patent. He died a wealthy man in 1862; the company he founded remains in business today. The improvements were .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}7+12-inch (190mm) barrels for accuracy, shorter chambers and an improved loading lever. Under Roots guidance, the renamed Colt Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company hired talented mechanics and engineers who continued the innovations Colt had begun. He did chores and attended school. Samuel Colt, an American inventor and manufacturer, was born July 19, 1814. Samuel Colt's birth and death is even a prophecy to the life he would lead, having been born during the War of 1812 and died during the Civil War. Colt's widow, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, and her brother, Richard Jarvis contested this. When he returned to Massachusetts in 1832, Colt showed his carved model guns to his father, who agreed to finance the production of two pistols and one rifle based on the design. After the Panic of 1837, the company's underwriters were reluctant to fund the new machinery that Colt needed to make interchangeable parts, so he went on the road to raise money. [29][32], Besides being used in the war with Mexico, Colt's revolvers were employed as a sidearm by both civilians and soldiers. Timeline of Gun Control in the United States, Biography of Samuel F.B. Colt's great contribution was the use of interchangeable parts. On July 4, 1842, Morse demonstrated his underwater mine by spectacularly destroying a large moving barge. Having been sold by Colt Industries in 1989, the Colt Firearms Division was reconstituted as Colts Manufacturing Company. Over the years he developed specialized machinery for stock turning or cutting the rifling in gun barrels. Colt pistols were the weapons of choice during the American Civil War, from 1861-'65, and the company's .45-calibre Peacemaker, introduced in 1873, became the most popular gun in the West. At the age of 11 Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury. One of young Colts earliest and most-prized possessions was a flintlock pistol that had belonged to his maternal grandfather, who had served as an officer in Gen. George Washingtons Continental Army during the American Revolution. He enjoyed reading articles about inventors, gunpowder, and other explosives. [9] His public speaking skills were so prized that he was thought to be a doctor and was obligated to cure an apparent cholera epidemic aboard a riverboat by giving his patients a dose of nitrous oxide. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. His factory would also supply arms for the Civil War as well as popularize the concept of interchangeable part manufacturing in other industries. He initially worked submarine technology before his style for a firearm with a revolving cartridge was commissioned in mass amounts by the U.S. for the Mexican War. Then in 1846, with the Mexican War (1846-48) under way, the U.S. government ordered 1,000 Colt revolvers. (2021, December 6). While initial sales of his revolver lagged, Colt went on to invent the first remote-controlled Naval mine explosive. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. [14], Colt never claimed to have invented revolvers; his design was a more practical adaption of Collier's earlier revolving flintlock incorporating a locking bolt to keep the cylinder aligned with the barrel. Samuel Colt (/kolt/; July 19, 1814 January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of revolvers commercially viable. Prior to that, Colt revolvers came in two types; the big military .44s weighing over four pounds and . Elizabeth Colt sold the company to a group of investors in 1901. Believing them not to be fair and honest warfare, Adams called Colts mine an unchristian contraption.. His mother died when he was young, and his father, who managed a small textile business, remarried a couple of years later. With the money he had saved from his medicine man days, Colt was able to have prototype guns built by professional gunsmiths. By the age of 15, Colt had found a passion for explosives and began work on a pistol. Colt did this as New York and London were major cosmopolitan cities and he retained an office in New York at 155 Broadway where he based his salesmen. [52] During a tour of the factory, Charles Dickens was so impressed with the facilities that he recorded his comments of Colt's revolvers in an 1852 edition of Household Words:[53]. The couple had four children: two daughters and a son who died in infancy and a son born during 1858, Caldwell Hart Colt. Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814-January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur best remembered for perfecting a revolving cylinder mechanism that enabled a gun to be fired multiple times without reloading. He frequently gave custom engraved versions of his revolvers to heads of state, military officers, and celebrities such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and Hungarian rebel Lajos Kossuth. He subsequently built a factory to manufacture wicker furniture made from these trees. White had an idea of a "bored-through" revolver cylinder to allow cartridges (made of paper at the time) to be loaded from the rear of the cylinder. [30] Colt used his prototype and Walker's improvements as the basis for a new design. However, the unit was never sent to the field and Colt was discharged on June 20, 1861. All models incorporated a revolving cylinder into which gunpowder and bullets were loaded. In the 1840s, most rifle and pistol ammunition consisted of a gunpowder charge and a lead ball projectile wrapped in a paper envelope. Colt patented his revolving-chamber pistol in Europe in 1835 and in the United States the following year. In 1896, a parish house was built on the site as a memorial to their son, Caldwell, who died in 1894. One of young Colt's earliest and most-prized possessions was a flintlock pistol that had belonged to his maternal grandfather, who had served as an officer in Gen. George Washington's Continental Army during the American . ThoughtCo. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The action of cocking the guns hammer rotated the cylinder to align the next cartridge to be fired with the guns barrel. Colt hired Eli Whitney Blake, who was established in the arms business, to make his guns. Link. During 1856 he closed the London plant and had the machinery, tooling, and unfinished guns shipped to Hartford. In 1846, with the Mexican War under way, Colt had a visit from Captain Samuel H. Walker (1817-47) of the U.S. In 1843, after two years of testing, the U.S. Army agreed to buy 200,000 of Colts tinfoil musket cartridges. His goal was an assembly line. With this rank, he toured Europe again to promote his revolvers. Lt. Bedley McDonald, who was a subordinate of Walker when Walker was killed in Mexico, stated that 30 Rangers used Colt's revolvers to keep 500 Mexicans in check. Consequently, many curious soldiers took the locks apart. Colt fixed his prices at a level below his competition to maximize sales volume. In 1830, Colts father sent him to the private Amherst Academy in Amherst, Massachusetts. This left Colt time to improve his earlier revolver design and have a prototype built by a gunsmith in New York for his "New and improved revolver". The company, which manufactured more than 400,000 firearms during Colts lifetime, was left to its founders wife, Elizabeth, and Root was appointed president. [21] Colt soon reworked his design to leave the firing hammer exposed, but problems continued. 2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Samuel had one son: Caldwell Hart Colt. Suffering from chronic rheumatism, the 47-year-old gun manufacturer died at his home on January 10, 1862, leaving behind an estate worth millions. [11] This instrument and patent number 1304, dated August 29, 1836, protected the basic principles of his revolving-breech loading, folding trigger firearm named the Colt Paterson. He started his lectures on street corners and soon began doing the same in lecture halls and museums. Jackson approved of the gun and wrote Colt a note saying so. Later versions contained his entire signature which was used in many of his advertisements as a centerpiece, using his celebrity as a seeming guarantee of the performance of his weapons. [42], Colt hired Elisha K. Root as his chief mechanic in arranging the plant's machinery. During the late 1850s, while tensions mounted between the North and South that would soon lead to the American Civil War, Colt continued to do business with longstanding customers in Southern states. Samuel Colt had amassed a fortune, but he barely had time to enjoy his wealth. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Colt began developing pistols at a young age. [56] He used marketing techniques which were innovative at the time. [18] This act prevented state militias from allocating funds towards the purchase of experimental weapons or foreign weapons. Production of Allen pepperboxes continued until the expiration of Colt's patent during 1857. [10] The invention of the percussion cap made ignition more reliable, faster, and safer than the older flintlock design. Biography of Samuel Colt, American Inventor and Industrialist. Colt then threatened to sue Allen & Thurber due to the cylinder design of their double-action pepperbox revolver. The company also became famed for its production of the Gatling gun, a hand-cranked machine gun invented by Richard J. Gatling, and for a series of John M. Browning-designed semiautomatic pistols, most notably the Model 1911. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, to businessman Christopher Colt and Sarah Caldwell Colt. Colt sued the companies and the court ordered that Warner and Massachusetts Arms cease revolver production. [64] At the time of his death, Colt's estate, which he willed to his wife and three-year-old son Caldwell Hart Colt, was estimated to be valued at about $15,000,000 (equivalent to US$440,000,000 in 2022). From an early age, Colt worked in his father's textile mill. At age 11, Colt was sent to Glastonbury, Connecticut, to live and work on the farm of a family friend. This new revolver had a stationary trigger and had a larger caliber. With the help of the political acquaintances of these venture capitalists, the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, was chartered by the New Jersey legislature on March 5, 1836. During late 1843, after the loss of payment for the Florida pistols, the Paterson plant closed and a public auction was held in New York City to sell the company's most liquid assets. In 1845, the U.S. government heard from its front-line militia that Colt's firearm, a weapon that didn't require constant reloading, was instrumental in defeating the Indians in Texas and Florida. [12][13], With a loan from his cousin Dudley Selden and letters of recommendation from Ellsworth, Colt formed a corporation of venture capitalists in 1836 to bring his idea to market. After receiving an English patent in 1835, the U.S. Patent Office granted Samuel Colt US patent 9430X for a Revolving Gun on February 25, 1836. In an attempt to attract skilled European-immigrant workers to his plant, Colt built a village near the factory away from the tenements which he named Coltsville and modeled the homes after a village in Potsdam. Only one gun fitting White's design was ever made, and it was not considered practical for the ammunition of the time. Root had been successful in an earlier venture automating the production of axes and made, bought, or improved jigs, fixtures and profile machinery for Colt. 138 (later 9430X) for his revolving-cylinder pistol. [68] After Colt's death, he left the boy $2 million by 2010 standards. He was previously married to Eleanore Phillips. Colts revolver mechanism is considered by some to be more innovation than invention because it improved upon a revolving flintlock (a firing mechanism used in muskets and rifles) already patented by Boston inventor Elisha Collier (1788-1856). It differed from other pepperbox revolvers at the time in that it allowed the shooter to rotate the cylinder by the action of cocking the hammer, with an attached pawl turning the cylinder, which was then locked firmly in alignment with one of the barrels by a bolt, a great improvement over the pepperbox designs, which required rotating the barrels by hand and hoping for proper indexing and alignment. During 1842 he used one of the devices to destroy a moving vessel to the satisfaction of the United States Navy and President John Tyler. [65][66] The only other person mentioned in Colt's will was Samuel Caldwell Colt, the son of his brother, John C. [76], Colt established libraries and educational programs within his armories for his employees which provided training for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists, who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century. During 1848, Colt introduced smaller versions of his pistols known as Baby Dragoons that were made for civilian use. The action of the hammer would align the cylinder bores with the single barrel. By the fall of 1830, the 16-year-old Colt was working as an apprentice seaman on the brig Corvo. Colt was given a royalty for each gun sold in exchange for his patent rights and stipulated the return of the rights if the company disbanded. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814 in Hartford, CT. [78], In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Samuel Colt hired engravers and craftsmen to decorate special presentation pistols that were given to European kings, Russian czars and military officials, among other dignitaries. Although successful at this, for the most part, his preoccupation with marketing strategies and patent protection caused him to miss a great opportunity in firearms development when he dismissed an idea from one of his gunsmiths, Rollin White. [10] Despite the reluctance of English officials to issue a patent to Colt, no fault could be found with the gun and he was issued his first patent (number 6909). During Samuel Colts lifetime, Colt's Manufacturing Company had produced more than 400,000 firearms and remains in business today, having manufactured more than 30 million pistols and rifles since its founding in 1855. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of textile manufacturer Christopher Colt and wife Sarah. Co., was incorporated in 1855 in Hartford, with offices in both New York and London. [7] Colt hired a gunsmith by the name of John Pearson to build his revolver. Colt's Manufacturing Company is still in business today. Inventor of the Colt revolver, which is commonly known as The Gun that Won the West. Selden often chastised him for using corporate funds to buy an expensive wardrobe or give lavish gifts to potential clients. The advantage of Colt's over the English is, that the user can take a sight; and the disadvantage is, that the weapon requires both hands to fire. The large order allowed Colt to establish a new firearm business. [49] The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the Silver Telford Medal. Seeking a government contract for his guns, Colt visited the office of the U.S. secretary of war, but the Army judged the use of a percussion cap in Colt firearms too innovative and therefore potentially unreliable. [54] Colt's London factory remained in operation for only four years. To set off his mines remotely, Colt teamed with telegraph inventor Samuel F.B. Colt was also an effective promoter, and by the start of the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) he had made the Colt revolver perhaps the worlds best-known firearm. As a youngboy, he loved disassembling and reassembling his father's guns. They then licensed that component of White's patent and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years. The era of The American gunfighter of fact and legend didn't begin until 1850. Colt concentrated on manufacturing his waterproof telegraph cable, believing the business would prosper along with Morse's invention. Born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, Samuel Colt played a vital role in American culture and folklore.The inventor and creator of the first handheld revolver, Sam Colt made it possible to have a handgun that could fire rapidly without needing to be reloaded after every shot. When the breech plug was removed from the barrel no fouling from the tin foil was evident. Based on his idea, he began carving wooden models of the gun of his dreams. His father had been a farmer but moved the family to the city so he could be a businessman. Samuel Colt, July 19, American inventor and businessman Samuel Colt was born on the 19 July 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut, He was the son of Christopher Colt and Sarah Caldwell. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. On November 24 Sam's second son, Caldwell Hart, is born. In 1842, the company was forced to close, and its fixtures and inventory of guns and gun parts were auctioned off to the highest bidder.With his company failing, Colt turned to another interest: perfecting an underwater mine for use in harbor defense. Primer was placed on a strike plate outside the cylinder, and combustion was initiated by pulling the trigger and releasing the hammer onto the strike plate. A promising order from the state of South Carolina for 50 to 75 pistols was canceled when the company did not produce them quickly enough. Samuel Colt was born on November 28, 1909 in New York City, New York, USA. [33], After his revolvers had gained acceptance, Colt had his staff search for unsolicited news stories containing mention of his guns that he could excerpt and reprint. The Colt brand was now recognized worldwide through savvy promotion and was associated with quality and dependability. Omissions? Colt eventually secured a trademark for his signature. However, opposition from John Quincy Adams, who was serving as a US Representative from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, scuttled the project as "not fair and honest warfare" and termed the Colt mine an "unchristian contraption". Unwilling to alter his open-top single-action design for the solid frame double-action revolver that the British asked for, Colt sold scarcely 23,000 revolvers to the British Army and Navy. It's been reported that he built the opulent Connecticut mansion, Armsmear, as a honeymoon gift to his wife. At the age of 16, he attendedbut was eventually expelled fromAmherst Academy in Massachusetts, where he studied navigation. [28][29] Walker asked for a few changes; the new revolvers would have to hold 6 shots instead of 5, have enough power to kill either a human or a horse with a single shot and be quicker to reload. [8] According to Colt historian Robert Lawrence Wilson, the "lectures launched Colt's celebrated career as a pioneer Madison Avenue-style pitchman". He was awarded numerous government contracts after making gifts of his highly embellished and engraved revolvers with exotic grips such as ivory or pearl to government officials. [59], Before the American Civil War, Colt supplied both the North and the South with firearms. Knowing that some gun parts were made by machine, he envisioned all the parts of every Colt gun to be interchangeable and made by machine, to be assembled later by hand. Prior to his birth, Colt's father moved the family to Hartford to establish a textile business. He was able to produce his guns, which used interchangeable parts, on a large scale due to his ability to employ an assembly line. In 1836, Connecticut-born gun manufacturer Samuel Colt (1814-62) received a U.S. patent for a revolver mechanism that enabled a gun to be fired multiple times without reloading. Under his 1836 patent, Colt maintained a monopoly over the production of revolvers in the United States until 1857. Longley, Robert. After one such display at the schools 1830 July 4th celebration caused a fire on campus, Amherst expelled him and his father sent him off to learn the seamans trade. Within a year, the company was producing 150 guns a day. In 1830, Colt sailed on the Corvo as a seaman, where he first became fascinated with the way the ship's wheel worked. "Biography of Samuel Colt, American Inventor and Industrialist." Michael E. Cumpston / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain. [25], When tensions with the British prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the US government. He found work on the brig Corvo, bound for London and Calcutta. Colt's waterproof cable, made from tar-coated copper, proved valuable when Morse ran telegraph lines under lakes, rivers, and bays and made attempts to lay a telegraph line under the Atlantic Ocean. These models were based on the Walker Colts, and during three generations slight changes to each model showed the evolution of the design. Samuel Colt was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, to businessman Christopher Colt and Sarah Caldwell Colt. [36] During 1854 Colt struggled for his patent extension with the U.S. Congress, which initiated a special committee to investigate charges that Colt had bribed government officials in securing this extension. Colt submitted his single prototype to the War Department as a "Holster revolver". During 1850 General Sam Houston and General Thomas Jefferson Rusk lobbied Secretary of War William Marcy and President James K. Polk to adopt Colt's revolvers for the U.S. military. During 1869, gun makers James Warner and Massachusetts Arms infringed on the patent. In 1901, the Colt family sold the company to a group of investors. Root has been credited as "the first to build special purpose machinery and apply it to the manufacture of a commercial product". [58] He placed numerous advertisements in the same newspapers; The Knickerbocker published as many as eight in the same edition. The idea was not immediately accepted, with gun owners unwilling to give up their trusted muskets and pistols. [42] One of Colt's biggest acts of self-promotion was the payment to the publishers of United States Magazine $1,120 ($61,439 by 1999 standards) to publish a 29-page fully illustrated story showing the inner workings of his factory. However, when the Mexican-American War broke out in 1846, the U.S. government ordered 1,000 pistols and Colt was back in business. Colt continued to refine his initial design, obtaining patents on such components as a cylinder-locking mechanism, fluted cylinders, longer grips and beveled-cylinder mouths to eliminate igniting adjacent chambers. Samuel Colt (July 19, 1814January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur best remembered for perfecting a revolving cylinder mechanism that enabled a gun to be fired multiple times without reloading. After returning from his adventure at sea, Colt spent two years traveling North America under the name Dr. Coult, hosting a road show during which he entertained and educated crowds on the uses of nitrous oxide (laughing gas). The ability to fire six shots without reloadinga task that required 20 seconds using a single-shot firearmprovided a crucial advantage to soldiers and settlers encountering danger in the nations frontier regions. Colt opened a factory in Hartford, which by 1856 was the biggest private arms manufacturing plant in the . Samuel Colt was an American inventor born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 19, 1814. [citation needed], Having saved some money and still wanting to be an inventor as opposed to a "medicine man", Colt made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore, Maryland. In an 1836 letter to his father, Colt said of the process, The first workman would receive two or three of the most important parts and would affix these and pass them on to the next who would add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together.. In 1855, he opened Colt's Manufacturing Company in its current location of Hartford, Connecticut, with sales offices in New York and London, England. Though they were together only six years before Colts death, the couple had five children, only one of which, Caldwell Hart Colt, survived beyond infancy. Elizabeth and her family sold the company to investors in 1901. [29] The Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoons, largely built from leftover Walker parts, are known as the first model in the transition from the Walker to the Dragoon series. During his trip Colt conceived, by observing the action of the ship's wheel (or possibly the windlass) a practical way for making a multi-shot pistol. That was when Samuel Colt introduced his first "Belt Pistol" meaning one practical for a man to actually wear on his person in a holster. [77] Prominent examples included Francis A. Pratt, Amos Whitney, Henry Leland, Edward Bullard, Worcester R. Warner, Charles Brinckerhoff Richards, William Mason and Ambrose Swasey. [40], Colt knew he had to make his revolvers affordable, as the doom of many great inventions was a high retail price. The gun became the standard sidearm for U.S. military officers and proved popular among civilian buyers. Regardless of one's views on the use of firearms by private citizens, it is important to know about these powerful devices. Word that Colts multishot Paterson weapons had been effective against Indians in Texas prompted a government order for 1,000 pistols during the Mexican-American War, and Colt resumed firearms manufacture in 1847. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Colt's mother passed away from tuberculous when Colt was six years old. He went so far as to hire agents in other states and territories to find such samples, to buy hundreds of copies for himself and to give the editor a free revolver for writing them, particularly if such a story disparaged his competition. He sought the counsel of a friend of his father, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, who loaned him $300 and advised him to perfect his prototype before applying for a patent. 1858 Age 44. An ambitious inventor and successful industrialist, Colt was fascinated by machinery from an early age. Video His oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at age 19, and the other, Sarah Ann, later committed suicide. Colts Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company operated at full capacity and employed over 1,000 people in its Hartford factory. In 1975, the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Colt's manufacturing methods were sophisticated. He loved tinkering with things, taking them apart just to see how they worked. [42] Colt historian Herbert Houze wrote that Colt championed the concept of modernism before the word was invented, he pioneered the use of celebrity endorsements to promote his products, he introduced the phrase "new and improved" to advertising and demonstrated the commercial value of trade-name recognition as a word for "revolver" in French is le colt. Referencing the encyclopedia, Samuel built a homemade galvanic cell and advertised as a Fourth of July event during that year that he would explode a raft on Ware Pond using underwater explosives; although the raft was missed, the explosion was still impressive. The reception was moderate and the army purchased a few thousand rounds for further testing. Demonstrating his gun to people in general stores did not generate the sales volume he needed, so with another loan from his cousin Selden, he went to Washington, D.C., and demonstrated it to President Andrew Jackson. The profits he saved through his skill as a promoter enabled him to perfect his revolver mechanism, and he hired gunsmiths to create a series of prototypes. On a visit to Constantinople he gave a custom-engraved and gold inlaid revolver to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdlmecid I, informing him that the Russians were buying his pistols, thus securing a Turkish order for 5,000 pistols; he neglected to tell the Sultan he had used the same tactic with the Russians to elicit an order. He died at age 47 from chronic rheumatoid arthritis at his Armsmear mansion on January 10, 1862. ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/biography-of-samuel-colt-4843209. Colt began making firearms in the 1840s, setting up the Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company in Paterson, New Jersey. "Biography of Samuel Colt, American Inventor and Industrialist." After Colt and Walker collaborated on the design for a new and improved gun, General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) ordered 1,000 Colt revolvers. His estate was reportedly worth $15 million. Birthplace: Hartford, CT Location of death: Hartford, CT Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartfor. Rather than claiming to have invented the revolver, Colt always acknowledged that his gun had been an improvement to a revolving flintlock pistol patented by Boston gunsmith Elisha Collier around 1814. The strain of supplying the war effort eventually took its toll on Colt. The revolver was conceived!. Samuel Colt, (born July 19, 1814, Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.died January 10, 1862, Hartford), American firearms inventor, manufacturer, and entrepreneur who popularized the revolver. [60] He had been known to sell weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and did the same with respect to the war in America. As a teenaged seaman, Colt carved a wooden model of a revolving cylinder mechanism, and he later perfected a working version that was patented in England and France in 1835 and in the United States the following year. By 1856, the company could produce 150 weapons per day. [16], Colt's U.S. revolver patent gave him a monopoly of revolver manufacture until 1857. He met Colt in a gunsmith's shop on January 4, 1847, and ordered 1,000 revolvers. Samuel Colt, the man who revolutionized firearms manufacturing in the United States, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 19, 1814. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Conn., the son of a prosperous cotton and woolen manufacturer. Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images. This small book goes over the life and times of Samuel Colt, an industrialist whose invention became synonymous with his name - in French, the word for 'revolver' is "la colt". [23], With the money made from the cartridges, Colt resumed business with Morse for ideas other than detonating mines. Tucker added that Colt associated his revolvers with American patriotism, freedom, and individualism while asserting America's technological supremacy over Europe's. [42], In 1867, Colt's widow, Elizabeth, had an Episcopal church designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter built as a memorial to him and the three children they lost. While attending grade school in Glastonbury, Colt became fascinated with the Compendium of Knowledge, an early encyclopedia. When he opened the London armory, he posted a 14-foot sign on the roof across from Parliament reading: "Colonel Colt's Pistol Factory" as a publicity stunt, which was noted by the British press. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Christopher Colt (17801850), a farmer who had relocated his family to the city after he became a businessman, and Sarah (ne Caldwell). One of his earliest and most valued possessions was the flintlock pistol . In the early 1850s, a company branch was established in England, and in 1855 a new Hartford factorythe largest privately owned armament manufacturing plant in the worldwas built overlooking the Connecticut River. Seeing a new opportunity, Colt submitted a sample of his enhanced revolving holster pistol to the U.S. war department. [67] After John's death, Samuel Colt cared financially for the child, named Samuel Caldwell Colt, with a large allowance, and paid for his tuition in what were described as "the finest private schools." At the age of 11, he discovered the scientific . He also outfitted the 1st Regiment Connecticut Rifles, a volunteer regiment from his companys home state. The American inventor and manufacturer Samuel Colt (1814-1862) first developed and popularized the multishot pistol, or revolver, which found wide use in the last half of the 19th century, especially in the American West. By 1875, Samuel Coltnow one of Americas richest menwas living in his sprawling Hartford, Connecticut, mansion he named Armsmear. [22][23], Colt did not refrain long from manufacturing and began selling underwater electrical detonators and waterproof cable of his own invention. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. As Colt would later recall, regardless of which way the wheel was spun, each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch that could be set to hold it. He was interred on the property of his private residence Armsmear and reinterred to Cedar Hill Cemetery in 1894. Colts tinfoil cartridge was the forerunner of the modern brass ammunition cartridge introduced around 1845. Later versions of his legendary Colt revolver pistol, first patented in 1836, played a key role in settling the American West. Colt constructed fireworks to complete the show, which was a success. Today the enterprise is best known for government-contract production of the M16 assault rifle in all its many iterations and for the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. [33] Many of the revolvers Colt gave away as "gifts" had inscriptions such as "Compliments of Col. Colt" or "From the Inventor" engraved on the back straps. Colts career as an inventor and business promoter prevented him from marrying until after he had attained his considerable fame and fortune. The work was okay, but what really fueled his passion was the . Samuel Colt. Astrological Sign: Cancer, Death Year: 1862, Death date: January 10, 1862, Death State: Connecticut, Death City: Hartford, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Samuel Colt Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/inventors/samuel-colt, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 19, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. The enhancements listed in this patent include greater facility in loading, changes in the weight and location of the cylinder, which give steadiness to the hand, and the great rapidity in the succession of discharges. Colts Patent Arms Manufacturing Company began making the Paterson pistol in 1836 at its Paterson, New Jersey, factory using funds advanced by Colts family. With the help of master gunsmith John Pearson, Colt continued to refine and improve his revolver. From his youth, Colt was interested in technology and engineering. Britannica January 5, 2021. [20], The company was briefly saved by the war against the Seminoles in Florida which provided the first sale of Colt's revolvers and his new revolving rifles. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. Articles he read on steamboat inventor Robert Fulton and gunpowder would inspire him throughout his life. By visiting his fathers mill in Ware, Massachusetts, and helping out at a nearby farm, the young Colt gained an interest in all things mechanical and often dismantled objectsincluding his fathers firearmsto discover how they functioned. [34] Ever the opportunist, when the War with Mexico was ended, Colt sent agents south of the border to procure sales from the Mexican government. Colt Single-Action Army Revolver, the iconic "Peacemaker". Invented the revolver. Colt founded a company to manufacture his revolving-cylinder pistol; however, sales were slow and the business floundered. Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1814 and began an early career in the firearm business. As the world's major proponent of mass production techniques, Colt delivered a lecture concerning the subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in London. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Colt hired artisan gun makers from Bavaria and developed a commercial use for Waterman Ormsby's grammagraph to produce "roll-die" engraving on steel, particularly on the cylinders. [3] Sent to boarding school, he amused his classmates with pyrotechnics. One brother, James, became a lawyer; another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. Featuring a multichambered cylinder that rotated and locked by cocking the hammer, Colts repeating single-barreled pistols, rifles, and shotguns were slow to gain acceptance, and a company that formed to manufacture them in Paterson, New Jersey, failed in 1842. Between the failure of the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company in 1842 and the success of his Colt's Manufacturing Company, Samuel Colts inventive and entrepreneurial juices continued to flow. [29] Finally, a positive catch was installed at the end of the loading lever to prevent the lever from dropping due to recoil. 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