Editing Samuel Colt (section)

== Colt's Patent Manufacturing Company (1847–1860) ==
{{Main|Colt's Manufacturing Company}}
[[File:Hamilton-Captain-Samuel-Walker.jpg|upright|thumb|Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817–1847)]]
[[File:Ubertiperc.jpg|upright|thumb|Modern reproductions of the Colt Paterson [top] and Colt Walker (middle)]]
[[Samuel Hamilton Walker|Captain Samuel Walker]] of the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War and saw firsthand their effective use when his 15-man unit defeated a larger force of 70 [[Comanche]]s in Texas. Walker wanted to order Colt revolvers for use by the Rangers in the [[Mexican–American War]] and traveled to New York City in search of Colt. On January 4, 1847, he met Colt in a gunsmith's shop and ordered 1,000 revolvers.<ref name="House2006p73">{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=73}}</ref><ref name=sapp>{{harvnb|Sapp| 2007|pp=35–40}}</ref> Walker asked for a few changes: the new revolvers would have to hold six shots instead of five, 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 a new firearm business. He hired [[Eli Whitney Blake]], who was established in the arms business, to make his guns.<ref name=Adler62>{{harvnb|Adler |2008|p=62}}</ref> Colt used his prototype and Walker's improvements as the basis for a new design. From this new design, known as the [[Colt Walker]], Blake produced the first thousand-piece order. The company then received an order for a thousand more; Colt shared the profits at $10 per pistol for both orders.<ref name=Adler62 />

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, Connecticut|Hartford]].<ref name="Hounshell1984p47">{{harvnb|Hounshell|1984|p=47}}</ref> 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 a generic term for "revolver".<ref name=sapp /> The Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoon, largely built from leftover Walker parts, is known as the first model in the transition from the Walker to the Dragoon series. Beginning in 1848, more contracts followed for what is known now as the [[Colt Dragoon Revolver]]. These models were based on the Walker Colt, and slight changes to each model over three generations marked the rapid evolution of the design. The improvements were: {{convert|7+1/2|in|mm|adj=on}} [[Gun barrel|barrels]] for accuracy, shorter [[Chamber (firearms)|chambers]], and an improved loading lever.<ref name=sapp /> The shorter chambers were loaded to 50 grains of powder, instead of 60 grains in the earlier Walkers, to prevent ruptured [[Cylinder (firearms)|cylinders]].<ref name=sapp /> Finally, a positive catch was installed at the end of the loading lever to prevent the lever from dropping due to [[recoil]].<ref name=sapp /><ref>{{harvnb|Adler|2008|p=67}}</ref>

Besides being used in the [[Mexican–American War]], Colt's revolvers were employed as a sidearm by both civilians and soldiers. Colt's revolvers were a key tool of the [[westward expansion]]: a revolver which could fire six times without reloading helped soldiers and settlers fend off larger forces not armed in the same way. In 1848 Colt introduced smaller versions of his pistols for civilian use, known as "[[Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers|Baby Dragoons]]". In 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. 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, a subordinate of Walker at the time Walker was killed in Mexico, stated that 30 Rangers used Colt's revolvers to keep over 300 Mexicans in check.<ref name=dizard66>{{harvnb|Hosley|1999|p=66}}</ref> Colt followed this design with the [[Colt 1851 Navy Revolver]], which was larger than the Baby Dragoon but not quite as large as the full-sized version. It became the standard sidearm for U.S. military officers and also proved popular among civilian buyers. After the testimony by Houston and Rusk, the next issue became how quickly Colt could supply the military.<ref>{{harvnb|Foster-Harris|2007|p=128}}</ref> Ever the opportunist, when the war with Mexico ended, Colt sent agents south of the border to procure sales from the Mexican government.<ref name=hosley72>{{harvnb|Hosley|1999|p=72}}</ref>

=== Patent extension ===
[[File:Colt Navy 51 Squarebeck.JPG|thumb|Colt 1851 Navy Revolver]]

During this period, Colt received an extension on his patent, since he had not collected fees for it in its early years. In 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. In 1852, Colt threatened to sue another company, Allen & Thurber, over 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 in 1857.<ref>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=144}}</ref> In 1854 Colt fought 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 was exonerated, and the story became national news when ''[[Scientific American]]'' magazine reported that the fault was not with Colt, but with Washington politicians.<ref name=hosley72 /> 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 the [[arms race]].<ref>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=153}}</ref>

A major reason for Colt's success was vigorous protection of his patent rights. Even though he held the only lawful patent for his type of revolver, scores of imitators copied his work and Colt found himself constantly in litigation.<ref name=houze125>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=125}}</ref> In each case, Colt's lawyer, Edward N. Dickerson, deftly exploited the patent system and successfully shut down the competitor.<ref name=houze125 /><ref>{{harvnb|Gibby|2011|pp=115–122}}</ref> However, Colt's zealous protection of his patents greatly impeded firearms development as a whole in the United States. His preoccupation with patent infringement suits slowed his own company's transition to the [[Cartridge (firearms)|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 key features of his mechanism; as a result, they created their own.<ref name=Adler146>{{harvnb|Adler|2008|p=146}}</ref>

Colt knew he had to make his revolvers affordable, as 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 lower price.

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]]. White had the 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 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Hosley|1999|p=70}}</ref>

=== Colt's armories ===

==== Hartford ====
[[File:Colt Armory (1857).jpg|right|thumb|Colt's Armory, viewed from the east, from an 1857 engraving]]
Colt purchased a large tract of land beside the [[Connecticut River]], where he built: his first factory in 1848; a larger factory (the [[Colt Armory]]) in 1855; the manor [[Armsmear]] in 1856; and employee tenement housing.<ref name="Hounshell1984p47" /> He established a ten-hour work day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a one-hour lunch break, and built the Charter Oak Hall, where employees could enjoy games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. Colt managed his plant with a military-like discipline: he would dismiss workers for tardiness, sub-par work, or even suggesting improvements to his designs.<ref name=tucker />

As he set up his plant's machinery, Colt hired [[Elisha K. Root]] as his chief mechanic. 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 the rifling in gun barrels. Historian Barbara Clark credited Root as "the first to build special purpose machinery and apply it to the manufacture of a commercial product."<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Tucker|2008|p=74}}</ref> 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."<ref name=houze174>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=173}}</ref>

Thus, Colt's factory was one of the first to make use of the concept known as the [[assembly line]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lehto|Buck|2008 |p=30|quote= However, Samuel Colt gave us an even greater invention: the first assembly line}}</ref> The idea 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.<ref name=houze174 /> 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 a commercial use for [[Waterman Ormsby]]'s grammagraph to produce "roll-[[Die (manufacturing)|die]]" engraving on steel, particularly on the cylinders.<ref name=hosley72 /> 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 Historic District|Coltsville]] and modeled the homes after a village in Potsdam. In an effort to stem flooding from the river he planted German [[Willow|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.<ref name=tucker />

On June 5, 1856, Colt married [[Elizabeth Jarvis Colt|Elizabeth Jarvis]], the daughter of the Rev. William Jarvis, who lived downriver from Hartford.<ref>{{harvnb|Schechter |2010| p=308}}</ref> The wedding was lavish and featured the ceremony on 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 in 1858, [[Caldwell Hart Colt]].<ref name="CompanySociety1914">{{cite book|author1=National Americana Society|author2=American Historical Society|title=Americana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=swgdAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA889|access-date=December 20, 2011|year=1914|publisher=The American Historical Company|page=889|location=New York}}</ref>

==== London ====
[[File:Colt Roots British Carbine.JPG|thumb|Colt Model 1855 Carbine with London proofmarks]]

Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt decided to establish another 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|Hyde Park]], London and ingratiated himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of the Ordnance.<ref>{{harvnb|Auerbach |1999 |p=123}}</ref> 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 delivered a lecture concerning the subject to the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] (ICE) in London.<ref>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=83}}</ref> The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the [[Telford Medal|Silver Telford Medal]].<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers|volume =12|author=Institution of Civil Engineers| location=Great Britain|pages=115–117, 169, 178|publisher=The Institution|year= 1853|title=Annual Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBYAAAAAMAAJ&q=Colt&pg=PA115|access-date=June 12, 2012}}</ref> With help from ICE secretary [[Charles Manby]]<ref>[http://www.theshootists.co.uk/Stories/coltlondon.htm The Shootists: London] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601135359/http://www.theshootists.co.uk/Stories/coltlondon.htm |date=June 1, 2013 }} , retrieved July 22, 2013</ref> Colt established his London operation near Vauxhall Bridge on the River Thames and began production on January 1, 1853.<ref>{{harvnb|Haven|Belden|1940|p=86}}</ref> During a tour of the factory, [[Charles Dickens]] was so impressed with the facilities that he later published his comments on Colt's revolvers in an 1852 issue of ''[[Household Words]]'' magazine:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dickens|author-link=Charles Dickens|title =Pistols and Revolvers|journal=Household Words|page=583|year=1854|quote=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 a sight; and the disadvantage is, that the weapon requires both hands to fire}}</ref>
 
<blockquote>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 a sight; and the disadvantage is, that the weapon requires both hands to fire.</blockquote>

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 top gun makers, who made each part by hand.<ref>{{cite book|title =Great stories of American businessmen, from American heritage: the magazine of history |url =https://archive.org/details/greatstoriesofam00newy |url-access =registration |publisher= American Heritage |year= 1972 |location=Madison, Wisconsin|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatstoriesofam00newy/page/95 95]|isbn =9780070011588 }}</ref>

Colt's London factory remained in operation for only four years. 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. In 1856 he closed the London plant and had the machinery, tooling, and unfinished guns shipped to Hartford.<ref name=houze184>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=184}}</ref>

=== Marketing ===
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 a lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp of the state militia. With this rank, he toured Europe again to promote his revolvers.<ref>{{harvnb|Houze|Cooper|Kornhauser|2006|p=59}}</ref> 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]].<ref name=Sapp1314 /> In the earliest use of [[product placement]] advertising, Colt commissioned American frontier painter [[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.<ref>{{harvnb|Tucker|Tucker |2008|p=80}}</ref> He placed numerous advertisements in the same newspapers; ''The Knickerbocker'' published as many as eight in the same edition. He also hired authors to write stories about his guns for magazines and travel guides.<ref name=tucker /> One of Colt's more significant acts of self-promotion was a $1,120 payment ($61,439 in 1999 dollars) to the publishers of ''United States Magazine'' for a 29-page fully illustrated story showing the inner workings of his factory.<ref name=dizard66 />

After his revolvers had gained acceptance, Colt had his staff search for unsolicited news stories mentioning 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 the editor a free revolver for writing them, particularly if such a story disparaged his competition.<ref name=dizard66 /> 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 the performance of his weapons. Colt eventually secured a trademark for his signature.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who Made America? {{!}} Innovators {{!}} Samuel Colt |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/colt_hi.html |website=www.pbs.org |access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref>