Editing Samuel Colt (section)

== Colt's early revolver (1835–1843) ==
[[File:Samuel-Colt-copy.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Portrait of Col. Samuel Colt'', engraving by [[George Catlin]] after a painting by [[Charles Loring Elliott]] ([[Wadsworth Atheneum]]), Hartford.]]
Colt's trip to the United Kingdom had been preceded by a similar visit by [[Elisha Collier]], a Bostonian who had patented a revolving [[flintlock]] there that achieved great popularity.<ref name=Bowman1963_p94>{{harvnb|Bowman|1963|p=94}}</ref> 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 a "revolving gun"; he was granted the patent on February 25, 1836 (later numbered 9430X).<ref name=Patent9430X>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/USX9430 |title= Improvement in Fire-Arms |last= Colt |first= S. |date= February 25, 1836 |publisher= United States Patent Office; Google |access-date=September 2, 2008 }}</ref> This instrument and patent number 1304, dated August 29, 1836, protected the basic principles of his revolving-[[Breech-loading weapon|breech loading]], folding [[Trigger (firearms)|trigger]] firearm named the [[Colt Paterson]].<ref name=Serven>{{harvnb|Serven|Metzger|1946|p=5}}</ref><ref name=Patent1304>{{cite web|last= Colt |first= S. | url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US1304| title = Improvement in fire-arms and in the apparatus used therewith |date=August 1, 1839| publisher = United States Patent Office; Google| access-date =September 2, 2008 }}</ref>

With a loan from his cousin [[Dudley Selden]] and letters of recommendation from Ellsworth, Colt formed a corporation of [[venture capital]]ists in 1836 to bring his idea to market. With the help of the political connections 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 it was stipulated that rights would be returned to Colt if the company disbanded.<ref>{{harvnb|Carey |1953|p=20 }}</ref>

Colt never claimed to have invented the revolver; 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.<ref name="Bowman1963_p94" /> 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 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]].<ref>{{harvnb|Rohan|1935|p=41}}</ref> This is shown in an 1836 letter that Colt wrote to his father in which he said: {{quotation|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.<ref name="Hosley" />}}

Colt's U.S. revolver patent gave him a monopoly on revolver manufacture until 1857.<ref name=wilson10>{{harvnb|Wilson|1991|p=10}}</ref> 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, ironically signified in the name of one of his company's later innovations, the "[[Colt Single Action Army|Peacemaker]]".<ref name="Hosley">{{harvnb|Hosley|1996|p=12}}</ref>