Samuel Colt
1814 – 1862 American inventor, firearms manufacturer
Inventor of a mass-produced revolver whose armory was an early showcase of interchangeable-parts manufacturing.
- Affiliations
- Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company
Samuel Colt patented a practical revolving-cylinder firearm in 1836 and, after early failure, built a large arms business on the back of government orders during the Mexican-American War. His Hartford armory was a leading example of the American system of interchangeable parts and assembly-line methods, using precision machine tools to turn out standardised weapons at scale. He was an aggressive marketer who sold to buyers on many sides, and his revolvers spread widely through the American West. He died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in the country.
In the timeline
- 1815 – 1850 The American system of interchangeable parts takes hold an armory pioneer of the method
- 1844 Battle of Walker Creek and the Colt revolver mentioned
- 1847 Samuel Walker helps design the Walker Colt mentioned