Editing Samuel Colt (section)

=== 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>