172-703: The Colt Armory is a historic factory complex for the manufacture of firearms, created by Samuel Colt . It is located in Hartford, Connecticut along the Connecticut River , and as of 2008 is part of the Coltsville Historic District , named a National Historic Landmark District . It is slated to become part of Coltsville National Historical Park , now undergoing planning by the National Park Service . The armory
344-720: A National Historical Park , similar to designation granted the Lowell National Historical Park , another important site in the history of American industrialism . In 1994, Colt's Manufacturing Company vacated the Hartford complex amid financial difficulties, consolidating operations at a West Hartford, CT location opened in the 1960s. A former tenant in the East Armory, U.S. Fire Arms Manufacturing Company , originally manufactured replicas of historic Colt pistols, before diversifying and discontinuing
516-476: A "medicine man", Colt made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore , Maryland. He abandoned the idea of a multiple-barreled revolver and opted for a single fixed-barrel design with a rotating cylinder. The action of the hammer would align the cylinder bores with the single barrel. 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
688-583: A "revolving gun"; he was granted the patent on February 25, 1836 (later numbered 9430X). 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 . 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. With
860-414: A commercial use for Waterman Ormsby 's grammagraph to produce "roll- die " engraving on steel, particularly on the cylinders. He hired Bavarian engraver Gustave Young for fine hand engraving on his more "custom" pieces. 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
1032-466: A concept favored politically, but that had little interest or support among handgun owners or police departments. This research never produced any meaningful results due to the limited technology at the time. Colt announced the termination of its production of double-action revolvers in October 1999. The boycott of Colt gradually faded out after William M. Keys , a retired U.S. Marine Lt. General, took
1204-575: A design for a semiautomatic pistol , which debuted as the Colt M1900 pistol and eventually evolved into the M1911 . Prior to America's entry into the war, orders from Canada and the United Kingdom swelled the backlog of orders to three years. Colt hired 4,000 more workers, making a total of 10,000 employees—and its stock's price increased by 400%. By 1918, Colt had produced and sold 425,500 of
1376-666: A few years. Colt historian RL Wilson has described this as the major blunder of Sam Colt's professional life. Rollin White left Colt's in December 1854 and registered a patent on April 3, 1855, in Hartford, Connecticut, as patent number 12,648: Improvement in Repeating Fire-arms . On November 17, 1856, White signed an agreement with Smith & Wesson for the exclusive use of his patent. The contract stipulated that White would be paid 25 cents for every revolver, but that it
1548-518: A fire destroyed most of the factory, including arms, machinery, plans, and factory records. On September 1, 1865, Root died, leaving the company in the hands of Samuel Colt's brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis . The company's vice-president was William B. Franklin , who had recently left the Army at the end of the Civil War. With the Civil War over and having no new military contracts, Colt's Manufacturing
1720-530: A fire that ended his schooling, and his father sent him away to learn the seaman's trade. On a voyage to Calcutta aboard the brig Corvo , Colt had the idea for a type of revolver while at sea, inspired by the capstan, or windlass, which had a ratchet-and-pawl mechanism that he would later say gave him the idea for his revolver designs. On the Corvo , Colt made a wooden model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood. It differed from other pepperbox revolvers at
1892-646: A generic term for the revolvers. 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. Beginning 1848, more contracts followed for what is known now as the Colt Dragoon Revolvers . These models were based on the Walker Colts, and during three generations slight changes to each model showed
SECTION 10
#17328016925462064-513: A great range of tall brick buildings, and on every floor is a dense wilderness of strange iron machines… a tangled forest of rods, bars, pulleys, wheels, and all the imaginable and unimaginable forms of mechanism… It must have required more brains to invent all those things than would serve to stock 50 Senates like ours." Today the factory complex includes: the Forge Shop and the Foundry (from
2236-592: A large number of M1917 water-cooled machineguns . The company had a workforce of 15,000 men and women in three factories and production ran on three shifts, 24 hours a day, and won the Army-Navy rating of "E" for excellence. Colt ranked 99th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. However, the company was losing money every year due to mismanagement, an embittered workforce that had been stretched to its limits, and manufacturing methods which were becoming obsolete. As
2408-614: A large tract of land beside the Connecticut River , where he built his first factory during 1848, a larger factory named the Colt Armory during 1855, a manor that he called Armsmear during 1856, and employee tenement housing. He established a ten-hour work day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a one-hour lunch period, and built the Charter Oak Hall, where employees could enjoy games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. Colt managed his plant with
2580-468: A lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp of the state militia. With this rank, he toured Europe again to promote his revolvers. He used marketing techniques which were innovative at the time. 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 . Colt commissioned western artist George Catlin to produce
2752-564: A living performing laughing gas demonstrations across the United States and Canada, calling himself as "the Celebrated Dr. Colt of New-York, London and Calcutta". Colt thought of himself as a man of science and believed if he could enlighten people about a new idea like nitrous oxide, he could in turn make people more receptive to his new idea concerning a revolver. He started his lectures on street corners and soon began doing
2924-454: A military-like discipline: he would dismiss workers for tardiness, sub-par work or even suggesting improvements to his designs. Colt hired Elisha K. Root as his chief mechanic in arranging the plant's machinery. 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. Over the years he developed specialized machinery for stock turning or cutting
3096-416: A name other than Colt. Samuel Stone acquired a firm that manufactured plastics and renamed it "Colt rock" as well as a company that manufactured electrical products. Colt weathered the financial crises of the time by cutting the work week, reducing salaries, and keeping more employees on the payroll than they needed. These measures kept the company in business but ate up the cash surplus they had acquired during
3268-473: A new firearm business. Colt hired Eli Whitney Jr. , who was established in the arms business, to make his guns. Colt used his prototype and Walker's improvements as the basis for a new design. From this new design, Blake produced the first thousand-piece order known as the Colt Walker . The company then received an order for a thousand more; Colt shared the profits at $ 10 per pistol for both orders. With
3440-631: A parish house was built on the site as a memorial to their son, Caldwell, who died in 1894. In 1975, the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places . 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
3612-408: A patent. Colt hired a gunsmith by the name of John Pearson to build his revolver. 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. Ellsworth was now the superintendent of the U.S. Patent Office and advised Colt to file for foreign patents first, as a prior U.S. patent would keep Colt from filing a patent in
SECTION 20
#17328016925463784-542: A pioneer of advertising, product placement , and mass marketing . Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut the son of Christopher Colt (1780–1850), a farmer who had relocated his family to the city after he became a businessman, and Sarah ( née Caldwell). His maternal grandfather, Major John Caldwell, had been an officer of the Continental Army ; one of Colt's earliest possessions was John's flintlock pistol. Colt's mother died from tuberculosis when Colt
3956-507: A polymer-framed, rotating-barrel, 9×19mm handgun with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. It was designed by Reed Knight, with parts manufactured by outside vendors and assembled by Colt; its execution was disastrous. Early models were plagued with inaccuracy and unreliability and suffered from the poor publicity of a product recall. The product launch failed and production of the All American 2000 ended in 1994. This series of events led to
4128-636: A rear-loader) but also started, as of 1858, to convert cap & ball percussion guns into rear-loaders, even with formerly Colt manufactured revolvers. But the Colt's company itself was prevented by American laws from infringing the Rollin White patent and all along the 1850s and 1860s continued manufacturing percussion guns. In 1860 it produced a new revolver model for the United States Army . This Colt Army Model 1860 appeared just in time for
4300-450: A renewed focus on product development. This resulted in the M4 carbine and Colt 22 pistol, two of the most successful new product offerings in the late 1990s, capturing 50% market shares in the first year of production. The 1990s brought the end of Cold War , which resulted in a large downturn for the entire defense industry. Colt was hit by this downturn, though it would be made worse later in
4472-662: A rightful heir to part of Colt's estate, if not to the Colt Manufacturing Company . Colt was a Freemason . It is estimated that during its first 25 years of manufacturing, Colt's company produced more than 400,000 revolvers. Before his death, each barrel was stamped: "Address Col. Samuel Colt, New York, US America", or a variation using a London address. 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. Colt
4644-557: A serial-number range 5800 to 7900. In November 1865, Franklin had attempted to purchase a license to the Rollin White patent from competitor Smith & Wesson. White and Smith & Wesson would take no less than $ 1.1 million, but Franklin and Colt's directors decided it was too large an investment on a patent that would expire in 1868. In the meantime, Colt turned its attention to manufacturing goods other than firearms, such as watches, sewing machines, typewriters and bicycles. In 1868 Rollin White requested an extension to his patent, but
4816-453: 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. He placed numerous advertisements in the same newspapers; The Knickerbocker published as many as eight in the same edition. Lastly, he hired authors to write stories about his guns for magazines and travel guides. One of Colt's biggest acts of self-promotion
4988-458: A sight; and the disadvantage is, that the weapon requires both hands to fire. The factory's machines mass-produced parts that were completely interchangeable and could be put together on assembly lines using standardized patterns and gauges by unskilled labor, as opposed to England's principal gun makers who made each part by hand. Colt's London factory remained in operation for only four years. Unwilling to alter his open-top single-action design for
5160-478: A solution. The Richards conversion was performed on the Colt 1860 Army revolver. The caliber was .44 Colt and the loading lever was replaced by an ejector rod. This conversion added a breech plate with a firing pin and a rear sight mounted on the breechplate. Cartridges were loaded into the cylinder one at a time via a loading gate. Colt manufactured 9000 of these revolvers between 1873 and 1878. In 1873, Colt performed
5332-719: A stationary trigger and had a larger caliber. Colt submitted his single prototype to the War Department as a "Holster revolver". Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War and saw first-hand their effective use as his 15-man unit defeated a larger force of 70 Comanches in Texas. Walker wanted to order Colt revolvers for use by
Colt Armory - Misplaced Pages Continue
5504-617: A steamship overlooking the factory as well as fireworks and rifle salutes. The couple had four children: two daughters and a son who died in infancy and a son born during 1858, Caldwell Hart Colt . Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt decided to establish a factory in or near Europe and chose London. He organized a large display of his firearms at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park , London and ingratiated himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of
5676-404: A subsidiary of New Colt Holding Corp, LLC. In 2013 Colt Defense acquired New Colt Holding Corp., in part to protect a licensing agreement set to expire in 2014, where Colt's Manufacturing sold sporting rifles marketed to consumers that were manufactured by Colt Defense. This formed a single company to develop, manufacture and sell firearms under the Colt name for all markets for the first time since
5848-516: A village in Potsdam. In an effort to end the flooding from the river he planted German osiers , a type of willow tree, in a 2-mile-long dike. He subsequently built a factory to manufacture wicker furniture made from these trees. On June 5, 1856, Colt married Elizabeth Jarvis , the daughter of the Rev. William Jarvis, who lived downriver from Hartford. The wedding was lavish and featured the ceremony on
6020-422: A village near the factory away from the tenements which he named Coltsville and modeled the homes after a village near Potsdam . In an effort to stem the flooding from the river he planted German osiers , a type of willow tree in a 2-mile long dike. He subsequently built a factory to manufacture wicker furniture made from these trees. The 1850s were a decade of phenomenal success for the new Colt corporation. Colt
6192-429: A whole in the United States. His preoccupation with patent infringement suits slowed his own company's transition to the cartridge system and prevented other firms from pursuing revolver designs. At the same time, Colt's policies forced some competing inventors to greater innovation by denying them major features of his mechanism; as a result, they created their own. Colt knew he had to make his revolvers affordable, as
6364-409: Is a 5-story brick structure with brownstone accents, 508 by 61 feet (155 by 19 m) in dimensions, with its main entrance in the center of a five-bay pavilion projecting 10 feet (3 m) from the main facade. The building is capped with a distinctive onion-shaped, sheet metal dome, painted deep blue with gold stars, and resembling that of the 1855 armory. A gilded ball sits atop the dome, above which
6536-508: Is a gilded fiberglass replica of the original "Rampant Colt". (Its gilded wood original is now on display at the Museum of Connecticut History at Connecticut State Library .) Four Porter-Allen steam engines drove the armory's machine tools through a maze of shafts and belts. Mark Twain, who lived in the nearby Mark Twain House , visited Colt's armory in 1868 and described it thus: "It comprises
6708-413: Is an American firearms manufacturer , founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt that has become a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group . It is the successor corporation to Colt's earlier firearms-making efforts, which started in 1836. Colt is known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms, especially during the century from 1850 through World War I , when it dominated its industry and
6880-575: The American Civil War . The New York Daily Tribune denounced Colt and his company by asserting, “the traitors have found sympathizers among us, men base enough to sell arms when they knew they would be... in the hands of the deadly enemies of the Union... Col. Colt’s manufactory can turn probably 1,000 a week and has been doing so for the past four months for the South.” This article even chided
7052-558: The American war with Mexico . Later, his firearms were used widely during the settling of the western frontier . Colt died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in America. Colt's manufacturing methods were sophisticated. His use of interchangeable parts helped him become one of the first to use the assembly line efficiently. Moreover, his innovative use of art, celebrity endorsements , and corporate gifts to promote his wares made him
Colt Armory - Misplaced Pages Continue
7224-595: The British Army placed an order for 5,000 of these revolvers for army issue. Despite a following order later in the year for an additional 9,000 revolvers, Colt failed to convince the British to adopt his revolver as the issue sidearm for the army. Colt began to realize that British sales were failing to meet his expectations. Unable to justify the London factory's expenses, Colt closed the London factory in 1856. Over
7396-526: The Colt 1851 Navy Revolver which was larger than the Baby Dragoon, but not quite as large as the full-sized version. The gun became the standard sidearm for U.S. military officers and proved popular among civilian buyers. After the testimony by Houston and Rusk, the next issue became how quickly Colt could supply the military. Ever the opportunist, when the War with Mexico was ended, Colt sent agents south of
7568-555: The Colt Armory in 1855, a manor that he called Armsmear in 1856, and employee tenement housing. He established a ten-hour day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a one-hour lunch break, and built the Charter Oak Hall, a club where employees could enjoy games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. Colt ran his plant with a military-like discipline, he would fire workers for tardiness, sub-par work or even suggesting improvements to his designs. In an attempt to attract skilled German workers to his plant, Colt built
7740-538: The Colt Commando family, and the M4 carbine . In 2002, Colt Defense was split off from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Colt's Manufacturing Company served the civilian market, while Colt Defense served the law enforcement, military, and private security markets worldwide. The two companies remained in the same West Hartford, Connecticut location cross-licensing certain merchandise before reuniting in 2013. Following
7912-601: The Colt M1877 . Following this, he once again teamed up with Richards to produce a larger-framed version, the Colt M1878 Frontier. It was Colt's first large-frame, double-action revolver. It combined the front end of the Single Action Army revolver with a double-action, 6-shot frame mechanism. It was available commercially in numerous calibers. The 1870s and 1880s provided sales opportunity to
8084-630: The Colt Single Action Army , the Colt Python , and the Colt M1911 pistol, which is the longest-standing military and law enforcement service handgun in the world and is still used. Though they did not develop it, for a long time Colt was also primarily responsible for all AR-15 and M16 rifle production, as well as many derivatives of those firearms. The most successful and famous of these are numerous M16 carbines, including
8256-419: The Colt Walker , ensuring Colt's continuance in manufacturing revolvers. In 1848, Colt was able to start again with a new business of his own, and 1855, he converted it into a corporation under the name of Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company in Hartford, Connecticut. Colt purchased a large tract of land beside the Connecticut River , where he built his first factory in 1848, a larger factory called
8428-590: The Compendium had accomplished feats that were once deemed impossible, and he wanted to do the same. 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 1829, at the age of 15, Colt began working in his father's textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts , where he had access to tools, materials, and
8600-518: The Gatling Gun , capable of firing 800–900 .30 Army rounds per minute and used with great effect at the Battle of San Juan Hill . The M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun or "Potato Digger" was built by Colt. The Colt–Browning was one of the first gas-operated machine guns, originally invented by John Browning. It became the first automatic machine gun adopted by the United States and saw limited use by
8772-464: The Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park, London and ingratiated himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of the Ordnance. At one exhibit Colt disassembled ten guns and reassembled ten guns using different parts from different guns. As the world's leading proponent of mass production techniques, Colt went on to deliver a lecture on
SECTION 50
#17328016925468944-687: The M9 Pistol . The Colt OHWS handgun was beaten by H&K for what became the MK23 SOCOM , it was lighter than the H&;K entry but lost in performance. Colt did not get to compete for the XM8 since it was not an open competition. Current M16 rifles have been made primarily by FN USA since 1988. However, Colt remained the sole source for M4 carbines for the US military. Under their license agreement with Colt,
9116-577: The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company of Paterson, New Jersey, Colt's Patent . The first firearm manufactured at the new Paterson plant, however, was the Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle beginning in 1837. This was followed shortly thereafter in late 1837 by the introduction of the Colt Paterson . This corporation suffered quality problems in production. Making firearms with interchangeable parts
9288-603: The Rollin White patent by utilizing a unique cartridge. Colt continued to produce the .41 Short derringer after the acquisition, as an effort to help break into the metallic-cartridge gun market, but also introduced its own three Colt Derringer Models, all of them also chambered in a .41 rimfire unique cartridge. The last model to be in production, the third Colt Derringer, was not dropped until 1912. The first metallic cartridge breech-loading weapons sold by Colt's were those Derringers, in 1870, that were formerly conceived by
9460-480: The arms race . A major cause of Colt's success was vigorous protection of his patent rights. Even though he had the only lawful patent for his type of revolver, scores of imitators copied his work and Colt found himself litigating constantly. For each one of these cases, Colt's lawyer, Edward N. Dickerson, deftly exploited the patent system and successfully ended the competition. However, Colt's zealous protection of his patents greatly impeded firearms development as
9632-482: The 15,000 units between April 1921 and March 1922. The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression resulted in a slowing down of production for Colt. In anticipation of this, company presidents William C. Skinner and Samuel M. Stone implemented a diversification program similar to that done at the close of the American Civil War . Colt acquired contracts for business machines, calculators, dishwashers, motorcycles, and automobiles; all marketed under
9804-425: The 1990s by a boycott by the shooting public in America. In 1994, the assets of Colt were purchased by Zilkha & Co, a financial group owned by Donald Zilkha . It was speculated that Zilkha's financial backing of the company enabled Colt to begin winning back military contracts. In fact, during the time period it won only one contract, the M4 carbine . However, the U.S. military had been purchasing Colt carbines for
9976-511: The Astros. The 1980s were fairly good years for Colt, but the coming end of the Cold War would change all that. Colt had long left innovation in civilian firearms to their competitors, feeling that the handgun business could survive on their traditional revolver and M1911 designs. Instead, Colt focused on the military market, where they held the primary contracts for the production of rifles for
10148-486: The Colt company via the spread of European-American society ever further westward across the continent, and the demand for firearms that it engendered in various ways. As white Americans displaced Indians from the Indian Territory , both sides were eager for firearms. On the white side, both the U.S. Army and civilians were customers of Colt. The Army carried Colt revolvers through the last of its Indian Wars . On
10320-636: The Federal Government for not taking action against Colt: “Every man who makes arms should be watched, and if he will not work for a fair equivalent for the Government, his manufactory should be taken away from him.” Despite secession and growing tensions between the North and the South, “Colt’s sales to Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, and Mississippi in 1860 alone were at least $ 61,000 (today’s equivalent of about 3.35 million).” Until just days before
10492-525: The Indian side, Colt weapons were captured when possible, or bought from whoever was selling. Even among whites in towns where Indians had been vanquished, a thriving demand for guns existed, from the criminals to the police to self-defending civilians. Memoirs of Americans including Walter Chrysler and Jack Black speak of what it was like growing up in Western towns where most people had guns and open carry
SECTION 60
#173280169254610664-589: The National Arms Company, but Colt's also started developing its own rear-loading guns and cartridges. In 1871, Colt's introduced its first revolver models using rear-loaded metallic cartridges: the .41 caliber Colt House Revolver (also known as the Cloverleaf for its four-round cylinder configuration) and the .22 cal Colt Open Top Pocket Model Revolver . However, Colt's wanted a more powerful practical handgun loaded with metallic cartridges so
10836-601: The New Jersey corporation by 1842. Colt made another attempt at revolver production in 1846 and submitted a prototype to the US government. During the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), this prototype was seen by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker who made some suggestions to Colt about making it in a larger caliber. Having no factory or machinery to produce the pistols, Samuel Colt collaborated with
11008-531: The Open Top started in 1872 and stopped in 1873 when the Single Action Army model started to be delivered to the US Army. However, the Open Top was already a completely new design. The parts, for example, would not interchange with the older percussion pistols. Mason moved the rear sight to the rear of the barrel as opposed to the hammer or the breechblock of the earlier efforts. The caliber was .44 rimfire and it
11180-611: The Ordnance. At one exhibit Colt disassembled ten guns and reassembled ten guns using different parts from different guns. 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. The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the Silver Telford Medal . With help from ICE secretary Charles Manby Colt established his London operation near Vauxhall Bridge on
11352-448: The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, he teamed with Samuel Morse to lobby the US government for funds. 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. Morse used the battery from one of Colt's mines to transmit a telegraph message from Manhattan to Governors Island when his own battery
11524-404: The Rangers in the Mexican–American War and traveled to New York City in search of Colt. He met Colt in a gunsmith's shop on January 4, 1847, and ordered 1,000 revolvers. 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. The large order allowed Colt to establish
11696-401: The River Thames and began production on January 1, 1853. 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 : Among the pistols, we saw Colt's revolver; and we compared it with the best English revolver. The advantage of Colt's over the English is, that the user can take
11868-403: The Rollin White patent neared expiration, Colt moved to develop its own metallic cartridge revolver. It was 1868 when Colt's first effort toward a metallic cartridge revolver was by conversion of existing percussion revolvers. The first of these conversions was patented on September 15, 1868, by Colt engineer, F. Alexander Thuer as patent number 82258. The Thuer conversion was made by milling off
12040-422: The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdülmecid 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. Apart from gifts and bribes, Colt employed an effective marketing program which comprised sales promotion, publicity, product sampling, and public relations. He used
12212-403: The U.S. Marine Corps at the invasion of Guantánamo Bay and by the 1st Volunteer Infantry in the Santiago campaign during the Spanish–American War . In 1901, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt sold the company to a group of outside investors based in New York and Boston. During World War I , Colt surpassed all previous production achievements. John Browning worked for Colt for a time and came up with
12384-481: The U.S. military awarded the contract for future M16 production to Fabrique Nationale . The strike finally ended when an agreement was reached on 22 March 1990. Some criticized Colt's range of handgun products in the late 1980s as out of touch with the demands of the market, and their once-vaunted reputation for quality had suffered during the UAW strike. Colt's stable of double-action revolvers and single-action pistols
12556-598: The U.S. military designation system, whose terms are in the public domain . Colt has entered in several US contracts with mixed results. For example, Colt had an entry in the Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) program of the 1980s, but along with other contestants failed to replace the M16A2. Colt and many other makers entered the US trials for a new pistol in the 1980s, though the Beretta entry would win and become
12728-474: The U.S. military. Rusk testified: "Colt's Repeating Arms are the most efficient weapons in the world and the only weapon which has enabled the frontiersman to defeat the mounted Indian in his own peculiar mode of warfare". 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. Colt used this general design for
12900-586: The UAW itself. The new Colt first attempted to address some of the demands of the market with the production in 1989 of the Double Eagle , a double-action pistol heavily based on the M1911 design, which was seen as an attempt to "modernize" the classic Browning design. Colt followed this up in 1992 with the Colt All American 2000 , which was unlike any other handgun Colt had produced before—being
13072-474: The US military could not legally award second-source production contracts for the M4 until July 1, 2009. In 2007 Colt won a contract to produce M4 carbines for the US military worth $ 71 million. In 2008 this was followed by a $ 151 million order for 89,000 M4 carbine rifles. In a 2002 restructuring, Colt's Manufacturing Company, Inc, spun off Colt Defense , LLC, to supply military, law enforcement and security markets. Colt's Manufacturing Company itself become
13244-478: The US military. This strategy dramatically failed for Colt through a series of events in the 1980s. In 1984, the U.S. military standardized on the Beretta 92F . This was not much of a loss for Colt's current business, as M1911A1 production had stopped in 1945. Meanwhile, the military rifle business was growing because the U.S. military had a major demand for more upgraded M16s; the M16A2 model had just been adopted and
13416-493: The Union. In response to these charges, Colt was commissioned as a colonel by the state of Connecticut on May 16, 1861, of the 1st Regiment Colts Revolving Rifles of Connecticut armed with the Colt revolving rifle . Colt envisioned this unit as being staffed by men more than six feet tall and armed with his weapons. However, the unit was never sent to the field and Colt was discharged on June 20, 1861. Samuel Colt died of complications of gout in Hartford on January 10, 1862. He
13588-566: The United Kingdom. In August 1835, Colt left for England and France to secure his foreign patents. During 1835, Samuel Colt traveled to the United Kingdom, much as had Elisha Collier , a Bostonian who had patented a revolving flintlock there that achieved great popularity. 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). Upon his return to America, he applied for his U.S. patent for
13760-655: The Whitney armory of Whitneyville, Connecticut. This armory was run by the family of Eli Whitney . Eli Whitney Jr (born 1820), the son of the cotton-gin-developer patriarch, was the head of the family armory and a successful arms maker and innovator of the era. Colt used a combination of renting the Whitney firm's facilities and subcontracting parts to the firm to continue his pursuit of revolver manufacture. Colt's new revolvers found favor with Texan volunteers (the progenitors of later Texas Rangers cavalry groups), and they placed an order for 1,000 revolvers that became known as
13932-580: The World War I years. In 1935, after employees voted to disband a labor union , 1,000 workers went on strike for 13 weeks. Strikers became violent, attacking workers and detonating a bomb in front of company president Samuel M. Stone 's house. The company set up a barracks, dining room, and recreation room for workers within the Colt Armory during the strike. On June 3, 1935, the National Recovery Administration ruled that
14104-447: The army purchased a few thousand rounds for further testing. During 1843 the army gave Colt an order for 200,000 of the tinfoil cartridges packed 10 to a box for use in muskets. With the money made from the cartridges, Colt resumed business with Morse for ideas other than detonating mines. Colt concentrated on manufacturing his waterproof telegraph cable, believing the business would prosper along with Morse's invention. He began promoting
14276-486: The border to procure sales from the Mexican government. During this period, Colt received an extension on his patent, since he did not collect fees for it during the early years. During 1849, gun makers James Warner and Massachusetts Arms infringed on the patent. Colt sued the companies, and the court ordered that Warner and Massachusetts Arms cease revolver production. Colt then threatened to sue Allen & Thurber due to
14448-477: The company put forward William Mason, who in 1871 began work on Colt's first .44 caliber metallic-cartridge revolver: the Colt Model 1871-72 Open Top . The company registered two patents for the Open Top, one in 1871, the other in 1872, the same patents mentioned in the markings of Colt Single Action Army revolvers , a nowadays legendary and long produced model, improved and based on the Open Top. Production of
14620-695: The company sold 107,000 of the Colt Army Model 1860 alone, with production reaching 200,500 by the end of the war in 1865. During the war, Colt's was still prevented by the American laws from infringing Rollin White's patent. Nevertheless, the war made a huge fortune for the company, allowing Sam Colt to become America's first manufacturing tycoon, though he did not live to see the end of the war; he died of rheumatic fever on January 10, 1862. His close friend and firearms engineer, Elisha K. Root , took over as Colt's company president. On February 4, 1864,
14792-424: The company thrived during the conflict. Sam Colt had carefully developed contacts within the ordnance department, signing the very first government contract for 25,000 rifles. Colt's Factory was described as "an industrial palace topped by a blue dome", powered by a 250-horsepower steam engine . During the American Civil War , Colt had 1,500 employees who produced 150,000 muskets and pistols a year. In 1861 and 1863,
14964-461: The company was within its rights not to deal with the union and the strike ended. In the year following the strike, the factory was hit by a hurricane and flood. Many company shipping records and historical documents were lost as a result. At the beginning of World War II , Colt ceased production of the Single Action Army revolver to devote more time to filling orders for the war. During the war Colt manufactured over 629,000 M1911A1 pistols as well as
15136-445: The company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. In 1992, the creditors, state and shareholders enlisted the aid of turnaround specialist RC (Ron) Whitaker to overcome the bankruptcy challenge. He developed a new team to address the company's situation. In addition to creating a positive working relationship with the UAW to introduce new techniques like cellular manufacturing, operator quality assurance and single-piece flow, they developed
15308-590: 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 . 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
15480-500: The cylinder design of their double-action pepperbox revolver. However, Colt's lawyers doubted that this suit would be successful, and the case was resolved with a settlement of $ 15,000. Production of Allen pepperboxes continued until the expiration of Colt's patent during 1857. 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. By August he
15652-466: The day he was to be executed. At age 11, Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury , where he did chores and attended school. Here he was introduced to the Compendium of Knowledge , a scientific encyclopedia that he preferred to read rather than his Bible studies. Its articles concerning Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life. He discovered that other inventors in
15824-430: The doom of many great inventions was a high retail price. Colt fixed his prices at a level below his competition to maximize sales volume. 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. Although successful at this, for
15996-465: The editor a free revolver for writing them, particularly if such a story disparaged his competition. 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. 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
16168-676: The escalation of the Vietnam War , Robert McNamara shutting down the Springfield Armory , and the U.S. Army 's subsequent adoption of the M16 , for which Colt held the production rights and would sell over 5 million units worldwide. Colt would capitalize on this with a range of AR-15 derivative carbines. They developed AR-15-based Squad Automatic Weapons, and the Colt SCAMP , an early PDW design. The Colt XM148 grenade launcher
16340-402: The evolution of the design. The improvements were 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 -inch (190 mm) barrels for accuracy, shorter chambers and an improved loading lever. The shorter chambers were loaded to 50 grains of powder, instead of 60 grains in the earlier Walkers, to prevent the occurrence of ruptured cylinders . Finally, a positive catch was installed at the end of the loading lever to prevent
16512-516: The facilities that he recorded his favorable comments of Colt's revolvers in an 1854 edition of Household Words . Most significant, the Colt factory's machines mass-produced interchangeable parts that could be easily and cheaply put together on assembly lines using standardized patterns and gauges by unskilled labor as opposed to England's top gunmakers. In 1854 the British Admiralty ordered 4,000 Navy Model Colt revolvers . In 1855
16684-404: The factory workers' expertise. 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. Sent to boarding school, he amused his classmates with pyrotechnics. During 1830, a July 4 accident caused
16856-550: The famous Browning -designed M1911 . Because the factory could not keep up with demand for this pistol, the US Military decided to accept Colt New Service revolvers in caliber .45 ACP, called the M1917 revolver , as a substitute weapon. Competing manufacturer Smith & Wesson made double-action revolvers in .45 ACP, which were accepted and issued by the U.S. military under the same name. Colt produced 151,700 revolvers during
17028-537: The firearm from a utilitarian object into a symbol of American identity. Tucker added that Colt associated his revolvers with American patriotism, freedom, and individualism while asserting America's technological supremacy over Europe's. 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. The church's architecture contains guns and gun-smithing tools sculpted in marble to commemorate Colt's life as an arms maker. In 1896,
17200-581: The firing hammer exposed, but problems continued. 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. Colt did not refrain long from manufacturing and began selling underwater electrical detonators and waterproof cable of his own invention. Soon after the failure of
17372-613: The first model was in the newest caliber known as the .45 Colt . The revolver was chosen by the Army in 1872, with the first order, for 8000 revolvers, shipping in the summer of 1873: The Colt Single Action Army or "Peacemaker", also known as the Colt Model 1873, was born. This revolver was one of the most prevalent firearms in the American West during the end of the 19th century and Colt still produces it, in six different calibers, two finishes and three barrel lengths. In
17544-411: The first shot at Fort Sumter, Colt received orders from various states, some participating in secession. In his memoir on Colt, written in 1866, Henry Barnard reported, “before the rebellion broke out, Col. Colt, foreseeing that his weapons must ere long be in double demand, had made all preparations to extend his factory.” The American Civil War was a boon to firearms manufacturers such as Colt's, and
17716-523: The helm of the company in 2002. Keys salvaged Colt's reputation and brought Colt from the brink of bankruptcy to an international leader in Defense production. In 2010 Gerald R. Dinkel replaced Keys as CEO of Colt Defense LLC, while Keys remained on the board of directors for Colt Defense. Colt has to compete with other companies that make M1911-style pistols such as Kimber and AR-15 rifles such as Bushmaster . Bushmaster has subsequently overtaken Colt in
17888-497: 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. Colt was given a royalty for each gun sold in exchange for his share of patent rights and stipulated the return of the rights if the company disbanded. Colt never claimed to have invented revolvers; his design
18060-672: The lever from dropping due to recoil . Besides being used in the war with Mexico , Colt's revolvers were employed as a sidearm by both civilians and soldiers. Colt's revolvers were a major tool used during the westward expansion. A revolver which could fire six times without reloading helped soldiers and settlers fend off larger forces which were not armed in the same way. During 1848, Colt introduced smaller versions of his pistols known as Baby Dragoons that were made for civilian use. 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
18232-701: The loss of its M4 contract in 2013, the reunited Colt was briefly in Chapter 11 bankruptcy , starting in 2015 and emerging in January 2016. The company was bought by Česká zbrojovka Group in 2021. In April 2022, Česká zbrojovka Group announced it had changed its name to Colt CZ Group. Samuel Colt received a British patent on his improved design for a revolver in 1835, and two U.S. patents in 1836, one on February 25 (later numbered U.S. Patent 9430X ) and another on August 29 ( U.S. patent 1,304 ). That same year, he founded his first corporation for its manufacture,
18404-478: The military needed hundreds of thousands of them. In 1985, Colt's workers, members of the United Auto Workers went on strike for higher wages. This strike would ultimately last for five years and was one of the longest-running labor strikes in American history. With replacement workers running production, the quality of Colt's firearms began to decline. Dissatisfied with Colt's production, in 1988
18576-455: 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 . The first revolving-breech pistols made at the factory were named "Whitneyville-Hartford-Dragoons" and became so popular that the word "Colt" was often used as
18748-419: 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 . 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. Only one gun fitting White's design was ever made, and it
18920-539: The name of one of his company's later innovations, the " Peacemaker ". Although by the end of 1837 the Arms Company had made more than 1,000 weapons, there were no sales. 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. Demonstrating his gun to people in general stores did not generate
19092-726: The new market of metallic cartridge rear-loading pocket revolvers, Colt's not only introduced its three Derringer Models (as of 1870) or the Colt House and the Open Top Pocket (the last two as of 1871) but also introduced in 1873 a subsequent design called its " New Line " revolver models, based on William Mason's patents. After the success of the Colt Single Action Army and Colt's conversion of existing percussion revolvers to Richards-Mason conversions, Mason went on to design Colt's first Double-action revolver ,
19264-572: The newspress to his own advantage by giving revolvers to editors, prompting them to report "all the accidents that occur to the Sharps & other humbug arms", and listing incidents for which Colt weapons had been "well used against bears, Indians, Mexicans, etc". Colt's firearms did not always fare well in standardized military tests; he preferred written testimonials from individual soldiers who used his weapons and these were what he most relied on to secure government contracts. Colt felt that bad press
19436-524: The next few months his workmen crated and shipped the machinery and disassembled firearms back to America. Though the U.S. was not directly involved in the Crimean War (1854–1856), Colt's weapons were used by both sides. In 1855 Colt unveiled new state-of-the-art armories in the Hartford and London factories stocked with the latest machine tools (some of which were of Colt's devising), many built by Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney , who would found
19608-597: The next half century. Prominent examples included F. Pratt and A. Whitney (as mentioned above); Henry Leland (who would end up at Cadillac and Lincoln); Edward Bullard Sr of the Bullard firm; and, through Pratt & Whitney, Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey (of Warner & Swasey ). In 1852 an employee of Colt's, Rollin White , came up with the idea of having the revolver cylinder bored through to accept metallic cartridges. He took this idea to Colt who flatly rejected it and ended up firing White within
19780-515: The next half century. Prominent examples included Francis A. Pratt , Amos Whitney , Henry Leland , Edward Bullard , Worcester R. Warner , Charles Brinckerhoff Richards , William Mason and Ambrose Swasey . In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame . Colt%27s Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC ( CMC , formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company )
19952-418: The number of AR-15s sold on the civilian market. Colt suffered a legal defeat in court when it sued Bushmaster for trademark infringement claiming that "M4" was a trademark that it owned. The judge ruled that since the term M4 is a generic designation that Colt does not specifically own, Colt had to pay monetary reimbursement to Bushmaster to recoup Bushmaster's legal fees. The M4 designation itself comes from
20124-475: The original Pratt & Whitney tool building firm a few years later. For example, the Lincoln miller debuted to industry at these armories. Colt had set up libraries and educational programs within the plants for his employees. Colt's armories in Hartford were seminal training grounds for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists , who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of
20296-553: The original 1855 factory); the East Armory with its distinctive blue onion dome, rebuilt in 1867; the South and North Armories (1921), the Machine Shop, Warehouse, Power Plant, and Garage, built in 1916 to accommodate World War I production; and the World War II Office Building (1942). The state of Connecticut has been trying to place the complex under the administration of the National Park Service as
20468-415: The paper got wet it would ruin the powder. Colt tried alternative materials such as rubber cement, but decided to use a thin type of tinfoil. During 1841 he made samples of these cartridges for the army. During tests of the foil cartridges, 25 rounds were shot from a musket without cleaning. When the breech plug was removed from the barrel no fouling from the tin foil was evident. The reception was moderate and
20640-419: The parts of every Colt gun to be interchangeable and made by machine, to be assembled later by hand. His goal was an assembly line . This is shown by an 1836 letter that Colt wrote to his father in which he said: 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
20812-425: The past 30 years (See Colt Commando ). During a 1998 The Washington Post interview, CEO Ron Stewart stated that he would favor a federal permit system with training and testing for gun ownership. This led to massive grassroots boycotts of Colt's products by gun stores and US gun owners. Zilkha replaced Stewart with Steven Sliwa and focused the remainder of Colt's handgun design efforts into " smart guns ,"
20984-658: The performance of his weapons. Colt eventually secured a trademark for his signature. 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. Before the American Civil War , Colt supplied both the North and the South with firearms. He had been known to sell weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and did
21156-468: The point became universally accepted that such manufacture was possible and economical. Colt opened his London plant on the River Thames at Pimlico and began production on January 1, 1853. Many English people saw Colt's advanced steam-powered machinery as proof of America's growing position as a leader in modern industrial production. On a tour of the factory, Charles Dickens was so impressed with
21328-505: The present). These presses eventually became known generically as "Colt's Armory" presses, although they were distributed under names including Colt's Armory, Universal, Victoria, Hartford, National and Laureate . The fascinating history of the design, production, sales and business battles behind these storied presses was summarized in a 1983 article in the typographic journal Type & Press . Samuel Colt Samuel Colt ( / k oʊ l t / ; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862)
21500-418: The production of two guns, a rifle and a pistol. The first completed pistol exploded when it was fired, but the rifle performed well. His father would not finance any more development, so Samuel needed to find a way to pay for the development of his ideas. 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
21672-399: The rear of the receiver and replacing it with a breechplate containing six internal firing pins. The cartridges were loaded through the mouths of the chambers. Colt made 5000 of these but they were not well accepted. Colt found the mechanism so complex it included a spare percussion cylinder with each revolver. Colt tasked its superintendent of engineering, Charles Richards , to come up with
21844-526: The replicas in 2011. In addition to Colt firearms, the factory produced a number of items under contract for other companies. The most famous of these was a letterpress printing press designed by Merrit Gally, known as the Universal . From 1873 to 1902, the Armory manufactured a series of these presses that developed a reputation as the finest hand-fed platen press ever made (a reputation which survives to
22016-663: The request was rejected. He then turned to the Congress , but the request was again rejected, this time by the Senate and on the initiative of President Ulysses Grant , in January 1870. This led the patent to expire, allowing competitors to develop their own breech-loading guns and metallic cartridges. Following this, on that same year of 1870, Colt's bought the National Arms Company , a Brooklyn, New York company known for manufacturing derringers and for circumventing
22188-413: The rifling in gun barrels. Root has been credited as "the first to build special purpose machinery and apply it to the manufacture of a commercial product". 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". Thus, Colt's factory was the first to make use of the concept known as the assembly line . The idea
22360-465: 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 . Jackson approved of the gun and wrote Colt a note saying so. With this letter, Colt got a bill approved by Congress endorsing a demonstration for the military, but failed to obtain an appropriation for military purchase of the weapon. A promising order from
22532-613: The same conversion on the M1851 and M1861 revolvers for the US Navy in .38 rimfire. Another of Colt's engineers, William Mason , improved this conversion by placing the rear sight on the hammer and, along with Richards, he was granted patents in 1871 to convert percussion revolvers into rear-loading metallic-cartridge revolvers. Those converted revolvers are identified as the "Richards-Mason conversion". There were approximately 2100 Richards-Mason M1860 Army conversions made from 1877 to 1878 in
22704-608: The same in lecture halls and museums. 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. While visiting his brother John in Cincinnati, he partnered with sculptor Hiram Powers for his demonstrations with a theme based on The Divine Comedy . Powers made detailed wax sculptures and paintings based on demons, centaurs, and mummies from Dante 's work. Colt constructed fireworks to complete
22876-559: The same with respect to the war in America. During 1859 Colt considered building an armory in the South and as late as 1861 had sold 2,000 revolvers to Confederate agent John Forsyth . 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
23048-526: The same year. Also in 1955, Colt released one of the most famous revolvers in history, the Colt Python . In 1958 Penn-Texas merged with Fairbanks-Morse to form the Fairbanks-Whitney Corporation and in 1964 the conglomerate reorganized as Colt Industries. In 1956 Colt resumed production of the Single Action Army revolver and in 1961 began making commemorative versions of their classic models. The 1960s were boom years for Colt with
23220-454: The same, and so on until the complete arm is put together. Colt's U.S. revolver patent gave him a monopoly of revolver manufacture until 1857. His was the first practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm, thanks to progress made in percussion technology. No longer a mere novelty weapon, the revolver became an industrial and cultural legacy, as well as a contribution to the development of war technology, represented ironically by
23392-455: The show, which was a success. According to Colt historian Robert Lawrence Wilson, the "lectures launched Colt's celebrated career as a pioneer Madison Avenue-style pitchman". 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. Having saved some money and still wanting to be an inventor as opposed to
23564-469: The solid frame double-action revolver that the British asked for, Colt sold scarcely 23,000 revolvers to the British Army and Navy. During 1856 he closed the London plant and had the machinery, tooling, and unfinished guns shipped to Hartford. When foreign heads of state would not grant him an audience, as he was only a private citizen, he persuaded the governor of the state of Connecticut to make him
23736-858: The state of South Carolina for 50 to 75 pistols was canceled when the company did not produce them quickly enough. 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. This act prevented state militias from allocating funds towards the purchase of experimental weapons or foreign weapons. Colt imperiled his own company by his reckless spending. Selden often chastised him for using corporate funds to buy an expensive wardrobe or give lavish gifts to potential clients. Selden twice prohibited Colt from using company money for liquor and fancy dinners; Colt thought getting potential customers inebriated would generate more sales. The company
23908-491: The subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the Telford Gold Medal . Colt's presence in the British market caused years of acrimony and lawsuits among British arms makers, who doubted the validity of Colt's British patent and the desirability of the American system of manufacturing . It took many more years and a UK government commission before
24080-443: The telegraph companies so he could create a greater market for his cable, for which he was to be paid $ 50 per mile. 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. 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". This new revolver had
24252-466: 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. When Colt returned to the United States during 1832, he resumed working for his father, who financed
24424-502: The war as well as 13,000 Maxim-Vickers machine guns and 10,000 Browning machine guns with an additional 100,000 under subcontract to other companies. Since Auto-Ordnance had no tooling for production of the newly developed Thompson submachine gun, John T. Thompson , in August 1920, entered into contract with Colt's to manufacture 15,000 Thompson 1921 submachine guns . The contract was signed on August 18, 1920. Colt's tooled up and produced
24596-463: The war ended and demand for military arms came to a halt, production literally ceased. Many long-time workers and engineers retired from the company and nothing was built from 1945 to 1947. Mismanagement of funds during the war had a serious impact as the 105-year-old firm faced possible bankruptcy. In September 1955 the board of directors voted to merge Colt with an upstart conglomerate called Penn-Texas, which had acquired Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool
24768-486: Was Samuel Caldwell Colt, the son of his brother, John C. Colt . Colt historian William Edwards wrote that Samuel Colt had married Caroline Henshaw (who later married his brother, John) in Scotland during 1838, and that the son she bore later was Samuel Colt's and not his brother John's. In a 1953 biography about Samuel Colt based largely on family letters, Edwards wrote that John Colt 's marriage to Caroline during 1841
24940-400: Was a more practical adaption of Collier's earlier revolving flintlock incorporating a locking bolt to keep the cylinder aligned with the barrel. The invention of the percussion cap made ignition more reliable, faster, and safer than the older flintlock design. Colt's great contribution was the use of interchangeable parts . Knowing that some gun parts were made by machine, he envisioned all
25112-585: Was a program run by the Air Force to replace the M1911A1. The Beretta 92S won, but this was contested by the Army. The Army ran their own trials, leading eventually to the Beretta 92F being selected as the M9. In the early 1960s, Colt threatened legal action against Major League Baseball 's new Houston franchise, the Colt .45s , citing trademark infringement. In December 1964 the team backed down, renaming itself
25284-402: Was a seminal influence on manufacturing technology. Colt's earliest designs played a major role in the popularization of the revolver and the shift away from single-shot pistols. Although Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver, his designs resulted in the first very successful model. The most famous Colt products include the Colt Walker , made in 1847 in the facilities of Eli Whitney Jr. ,
25456-536: Was a way to legitimize her unborn son as the real father, Samuel Colt, felt she was not fit to be the wife of an industrialist and divorce was a social stigma at the time. 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." In correspondence to and about his namesake, Samuel Colt referred to him as his "nephew" in quotes. Historians such as Edwards and Harold Schechter have said this
25628-540: Was almost totally destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1864; only two small outbuildings remain of this original construction (the Forge and the Foundry). The West Armory (built 1861) was demolished before World War II. After the 1864 fire, the East Armory was rebuilt on its predecessor's foundation, to designs by General William B. Franklin, the company's general manager and a former U.S. Army engineer, and completed in 1867. It
25800-495: Was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company and made the mass production of revolvers commercially viable. Colt's first two business ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey , and making underwater mines; both ended in disappointment. His business affairs improved rapidly after 1847, when the Texas Rangers ordered 1,000 revolvers during
25972-570: 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 . The soldiers in Florida praised the new weapon, but the unusual hammerless design, sixty years ahead of its time, resulted in difficulty in training men who were used to exposed-hammer guns. Consequently, many curious soldiers took the locks apart. This resulted in breakage of parts, stripped screw heads and inoperable guns. Colt soon reworked his design to leave
26144-488: Was built on a 260-acre (110 ha) site beginning in 1855. Low-lying, often flooded meadows were set off from the river by a 2-mile (3.2 km) dike and drained. The dike and earliest armory buildings were completed in 1855, and Colt's mansion Armsmear was constructed the following year on a hill overlooking the armory. Shortly afterwards Colt added 20 six/eight-family houses (10 of which survive) on Huyshope and Van Block Avenues for skilled workers. Colt's 1855 East Armory
26316-742: Was common (such as in Kansas and Missouri, which were considered "out West" at the time—now considered the Old West ). Colt finally left the "loading gate concept" for a swing-out cylinder on its revolvers with the Colt M1889 Navy revolver, which resembled the Colt M1878 and was based on another design by Mason. The model was produced for three years between 1889 and 1892 and eclipsed by the Colt M1892 chambered in .38 Long Colt . The M1892
26488-413: Was created by Colt's design project engineer, gun designer Karl R. Lewis. The May 1967 "Colt's Ink" newsletter announced that he had won a national competition for his selection and treatment of materials in the design. The newsletter stated in part "In only 47 days, he wrote the specifications, designed the launcher, drew all the original prints, and had a working model built". At the end of the 1970s, there
26660-437: Was exonerated, and the story became national news when the magazine Scientific American reported that the fault was not with Colt, but with Washington politicians. With a virtual monopoly, Colt sold his pistols in Europe, where demand was high due to tense international relations. By telling each nation that the others were buying Colt's pistols, Colt was able to get large orders from many countries who feared falling behind in
26832-513: Was forced to lay off over 800 employees. The company found itself in a precarious situation. The original revolver patents had expired, allowing other companies to produce copies of his designs. Additionally, metallic cartridge revolvers were gaining in popularity, but Colt could not produce any because of the Rollin White patent held by rival Smith & Wesson . Likewise, Colt had been so protective of its own patents that other companies had been unable to make revolvers similar to their design. As
27004-456: Was interred on the property of his private residence Armsmear and reinterred to Cedar Hill Cemetery in 1894. 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$ 458,000,000 in 2023). His professional responsibilities were given to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis . The only other person mentioned in Colt's will
27176-413: Was just as important as good press, provided that his name and his revolvers received mention. 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. Eventually the British government forced him to remove this sign. Colt historian Herbert Houze wrote that Colt championed
27348-418: Was not considered practical for the ammunition of the time. 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. They then licensed that component of White's patent and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years. Colt purchased
27520-464: Was not new but was never successful in industry at the time because of the lack of interchangeable parts. 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. Colt's revolvers were made by machine, but he insisted on final hand finishing and polishing of his revolvers to impart a handmade feel. Colt hired artisan gun makers from Bavaria and developed
27692-611: Was replaced by the New Service Double Action revolver in 1899. In caliber .45 Colt, the New Service was accepted by the U.S. Military as the Model 1909 .45 revolver. The New Service revolver was available in other calibers such as .38 Special and, later in the 20th century, .45 ACP (as the M1917 revolver ) and .357 Magnum. Under a contract with the U.S. Army, Colt Arms built the Model 1895 ten-barrel variant of
27864-513: Was seen as old-fashioned by a marketplace that was captivated by the new generation of " wondernines " – higher capacity handguns chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum , as typified by the Glock 17 . Realizing that the future of the company was at stake, labor and management agreed to end the strike in an arrangement that resulted in Colt being sold to a group of private investors, the State of Connecticut, and
28036-470: 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". After this setback, Colt turned his attention to perfecting tinfoil cartridges he had originally designed for use in his revolvers. The standard at the time was to have powder and ball contained in a paper or skin envelope or "cartridge" for ease of loading. However, if
28208-447: Was six years old, and his father married Olivia Sargeant two years later. Colt had three sisters, one of whom died during her childhood. His oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at age 19, and the other, Sarah Ann, later died by suicide. One brother, James, became a lawyer; another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. A third brother, John C. Colt , a man of many occupations, was convicted of an 1841 murder and died by suicide on
28380-542: Was still rather new (it had reached commercial viability only about a decade before), and it was not yet easy to replicate across different factories. Interchangeability was not complete in the Paterson works, and traditional gunsmithing techniques did not fill the gap entirely there. The Colt Paterson revolver found patchy success and failure; some worked well, while others had problems. The United States Marine Corps and United States Army reported quality problems with these earliest Colt revolvers. Production had ended at
28552-524: Was submitted to the US Army for testing in 1872. The Army rejected the pistol and asked for a more powerful caliber with a stronger frame. Mason redesigned the frame to incorporate a topstrap, similar to the Remington revolvers, and placed the rear sight on the rear of the frame; he consulted with Richards on some other improvements. The first prototype of the new gun was still chambered in .44 rimfire, but
28724-438: Was the elder Colt's way of letting the world know that the boy was his own son without saying so directly. After Colt's death, he left the boy $ 2 million by 2010 standards. Colt's widow, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, and her brother, Richard Jarvis contested this. In probate court Caroline's son Sam produced a valid marriage license showing that Caroline and Samuel Colt were married in Scotland during 1838 and that this document made him
28896-404: Was the first American manufacturer to use art as a marketing tool when he hired Catlin to prominently display Colt firearms in his paintings. 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. On a visit to Constantinople he gave a custom-engraved and gold inlaid revolver to
29068-421: Was the first to widely commercialize the total use of interchangeable parts throughout a product. It was a leader in assembly line practice. It was a major innovator and training ground in manufacturing technology in this decade (and several after). Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt set out to establish a factory in Europe and chose London, England. He organized a large display of his firearms at
29240-488: 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. 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. 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
29412-469: Was too weak to send the signal. 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. 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 . However, opposition from John Quincy Adams , who
29584-465: Was up to him to defend his patent against infringement as opposed to Smith & Wesson. During the 1850s and 1860s, Rollin White had been permanently trying to keep control on his breech-loading system patent, bringing a lawsuit to any breech-loaded manufactured gun. He nevertheless obtained an advance against royalties for using his patent from Smith & Wesson, a company that not only introduced its first revolver in 1857 ( Smith & Wesson Model 1 ,
#545454