God made people different and the Colt equalized. Samuel Colt - inventor of the revolver. Grandpa's gun and electric cord

Perhaps in all the stories about the famous weapon designer Samuel Colt (1814 - 1862), an American proverb is mentioned that "Ab Lincoln freed all people, and Sam Colt made them equal".

The "great equalizer" S. Colt was a real American: active, skillful and resilient. Like the character in Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Who, when he was in the nineteenth century, worked as a foreman at the arms factory of S. Colt. The biography of S. Colt is still cited with pleasure as one of the examples of the implementation of the "American dream".

Both the head and hands of young Sam worked as they should. Already at the age of 14, he made his first invention: an electric fuse for undermining an underwater mine. On July 4, 1829, the inventor demonstrated his invention. The mine was successfully detonated. But, being placed too close to the shore, she doused the audience with water from head to toe. Young Sam had to flee from an angry mob. They wouldn't lynch him, but they could beat him hard. However, there is no evil without good. Through this incident, Samuel Colt met a mechanical engineer Elisha King Root (1808-1865). E. Ruth hid the boy in his house, and later became an engineer, technologist and manager at the arms factory of S. Colt.

Everyone knows: S. Colt invented "colt". But this does not mean at all that S. Colt is the inventor of the pistol. Hand firearms have been known since the 15th century. Infantrymen used pistols, cavalrymen also used them. Cavalry pistols were longer and hit the target at a distance of up to 40 meters. But the pistol was still a disposable weapon - it took too long to load it. Attempts to speed up the rate of fire, to make the pistol two- or multi-barrelled were unsuccessful. Most often, a pair of single-shot pistols were used in battle. So at least two shots could be fired one after the other.

Another option for increasing the rate of fire of pistols was revolvers. In a revolver, a rotating drum was preloaded, stuffing gunpowder into it and hammering a bullet. (Let's not forget that the unitary cartridge is a rather late invention). When the drum was turned, the charged chamber turned out to be opposite the barrel and became, as it were, its continuation. Now it was a matter of "small things": to somehow set fire to the gunpowder in the chamber. Gunpowder, burning, will push the bullet out. Hooray, shot!

As you can see, the revolver is not an invention of S. Colt. The main, it would seem, part of the Colt, the loaded drum, was invented long before the arms factory in Hartford, Connecticut, started producing revolvers, the handle of which was decorated with the image of a running foal. After all, "colt" in English is "foal".

Two circumstances contributed to the emergence of a truly combat multiply charged revolver. Firstly, a primer was invented, which made it possible to set fire to gunpowder in the drum "with one blow". Bulky flintlocks are a thing of the past. Secondly, machine production began to develop. Complex and precise mechanisms of revolvers became possible to produce in mass quantities. Now it was possible to make a rotating drum that would securely close the barrel for the duration of the shot. After all, before, quite often, powder gases broke out at the place where the drum was pressed against the barrel. This not only reduced the effectiveness of the shot, but was dangerous for the shooter.

S. Colt, as often happens, was in the right place at the right time. He became interested in the design of revolvers and believed that he could make a real military multi-shot weapon. He believed so much that he began to mobilize funds for future production. No shares, no loans! S. Colt, under the name of "Doctor Coult", a chemist and naturalist, traveled around the country and demonstrated in small American towns the effect of laughing gas on a person. The performances were popular, volunteers fell into joyful euphoria, money flowed into the cashier.

In 1835, the first workable model of a revolver was created. It was designed by a gunsmith from Baltimore John Pearson (John Pearson). Colt patented this revolver in England and America. Immediately after receiving the American patent, on March 5, 1836, he established his own production.

The firm was located in Paterson, New Jersey. Accordingly, the first model of the Colt revolver was called "Paterson" (Paterson). This revolver was produced from 1836 to 1842. In 1842, due to a conflict between partners, the company ceased to exist.

But S. Kolt could no longer be stopped. He "fell ill" with revolvers, and wished to resume production. To do this, he even remembered the "sins of youth." Having developed an underwater mine with an electric fuse, he sold the patent to the US government. At the same time, together with the famous American artist, and even more famous inventor Samuel Morse (Samuel Finley Breese Morse) (1791 - 1872) S. Colt worked on the improvement of telegraph communications.

Revolvers, meanwhile, proved to be in great demand during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1847. In early 1847, Colt received the first government order for 1,000 revolvers. This weapon he designed with the captain Samuel H. Walker (1817 - 1847). The captain died early in the war with Mexico. The revolver was named after him, Walker.

Institute teachers of machine parts like to tell the legend that one of the conditions for the government order was the mutual compatibility of the parts of all revolvers. If it were not for machine production and the system of tolerances and landings developed by that time - they conclude their story - S. Colt would never have been able to fulfill this condition.

In the early 1850s, Colt opened a gun shop in Hartford. In 1852, he became the first American entrepreneur to open a branch of his business in London. In 1855, a large arms factory was built near Hartford, which is still located here.

In 1861, the American Civil War began. Colt weapons were used by both warring sides. The "Great Equalizer" sold its products to both northerners and southerners. As they say in America: "This is business, nothing personal." S. Colt himself did not live to see the end of the war. He died suddenly in 1862. He left behind a fortune of $15 million. At the current exchange rate, this is about 300 million. From the moment Samuel Colt entered the arms business until the end of his life, more than 400,000 small arms were produced at his enterprises. At one time, S. Colt was among the ten richest people in America.

Samuel Colt's earthly age was short, 47 years. But the Colt survived its creator and took part in important events that determined not only the boundaries of the current United States, but also many features of the American character and American society.

Revolvers in the United States came not only to the army. Anyone could freely buy a not-so-expensive Colt. The revolver turned out to be a reliable defender in the event of an attack by bandits. Remember the episode with the attack on the stagecoach from A. Surikova's comedy "The Man from the Boulevard des Capucines"! The desire for freedom and justice, originally embedded in the consciousness of Americans, received significant support. The presence of weapons in all the conflicting parties, oddly enough, made it possible to "resolve" situations that otherwise could lead to lawlessness. No wonder the long-barreled 45 caliber cavalry revolver (11.43 mm) was called the "Peacemaker" (Peacemaker). And also "the conqueror of the Wild West." A 45 caliber pistol is not an episodic western hero at all!

Useful links:

1. Anniversary of the legendary Colt.

Samuel Colt made a huge contribution to world history and the history of firearms. Being, he achieved everything absolutely on his own, except for the intellect and entrepreneurial streak that he inherited genetically. For 47 years of his life, Colt managed a lot, went through a lot and left a lot behind. There is a well-known expression that characterizes his invention in the best possible way: "God created people different, strong and weak, and Samuel Colt made them equal."

The birth of passion

Colt Samuel was born in 1814 Hartford, in a quite prosperous aristocratic family, his father was a successful owner of a textile factory. For the fourth anniversary, the future "great equalizer" received a bronze toy pistol as a gift. This gift became fatal, awakening in the kid an unshakable love for weapons. The next day the boy had already obtained some gunpowder somewhere. And by a small explosion, the parents understood: this is forever, the passion for mechanisms and firearms cannot be suppressed in their child by anything.

Samuel Colt gushed not only with the desire to deal with weapons, but also with new ideas. So, at the age of 14, he had already designed a four-barreled pistol and made it at his father's factory. Tests of this model did not bring the expected results to the young gunsmith, but he did not stop there, continuing his path to creating the perfect weapon. As a result of one of the experiments, Colt met the mechanic Elisha Ruth, later this meeting will play an important role in his biography.

The formation of character

S. Colt, at the request of his father, was sent to study at a university in another city. Maybe this desire was due to fear for his factory (after all, Samuel constantly broke something and blew up), or maybe the man wanted the best for his son, so that he would get a good education. Be that as it may, he did not work out with his studies, since, having gained access to the university laboratory, he, of course, blew something up there.

Samuel spends the next stage of his life as a sailor on a merchant ship. There he did not just enjoy the delights of freedom and the sea wind in his face, but studied ship mechanisms. They inspired Colt to create the first locking drum, the basis of any revolver in existence today. S. Colt's innovation was also cylindrical bullets. He, despite the fact that his friends did not believe in the invention, patented it, insisting on his own.

First patent and firm

Samuel Colt invented the revolver and patented it in 1836 in America and in 1835 in France. A very important quality of this person was the ability to continue to go towards his dream under any circumstances. Only those who believed in themselves and their invention could achieve a patent. Thus, the belief in what he does has become the most important distinguishing quality of S. Colt, which has allowed his biography to now look like this and not otherwise.

A little later, Colt founded his arms company called Patent Arms Manufacturing in Paterson. Here appeared the Colt Paterson - the first revolver that was tested in combat. The company continued to exist until it went bankrupt.

Fateful meeting

Sometimes, in order for fate to show us a sharp turn, perseverance and diligence in work alone is not enough, and a meeting with a certain person is needed. That person in Colt's life was Samuel Walker, an officer in the Texas Ranger Corps. He tried it in a fight with the Indians and ordered a batch of a thousand pieces for the government. In 1846, Colt and Walker became colleagues, jointly releasing the latest model of the Colt-Walker revolver. It was at this time that the production of weapons under the leadership of Colt acquires an industrial scale.

Expenses

The newly established business required investments. Samuel Colt understood the urgent need to expand. And in 1852, he buys land in the outskirts of Hartford, spending a huge amount on it. But it was still necessary to build an arms factory on this land that would meet all the requirements for the production of ideal revolvers.

It took three years to build an ultra-modern, state-of-the-art plant, and the Colt company is still there today. Colt Samuel (inventor) made this investment of time and money, and for good reason. Subsequently, they all paid off. This speaks of his gift not only as an inventor, but also as a businessman and entrepreneur. Over 150 years, this factory has produced more than 30 million revolvers proudly bearing the Colt engraving.

Marked as "spam"

It would seem that the concept of spam appeared only after the advent of the Internet. In fact, Samuel Colt had already started doing something similar - sending out samples of his revolvers. He did good advertising for himself on tours with a popular science show with "laughing gas", he also traded in various inventions. Colt did not shun gifts: he personally presented beautifully and richly decorated copies of his revolvers to the heads of state, which caused grandiose bursts of orders. Samuel Colt, whose biography is rich and interesting, also paid people to write stories about his weapons.

Already at that time, he understood that the business needed to be moved, not only by making a quality product, but also by constantly telling people about it. And even if you pass for a spammer, they will find out about you and, perhaps, will be interested.

I will build my factory...

Colt's factory was strict. Although he himself didn't mind a drink or two, the workers had to be like glass. For being late, they were suspended from work, and the day at the plant began at 7 in the morning. In production, Colt was guided by some innovative principles.

Firstly, this is the principle of specialization: on one machine, the worker performed one operation, for example, cutting or drilling.

Secondly, the principle of interchangeability: to speed up production, weapon parts must be as versatile as possible. This made it possible to assemble a sample very quickly from any parts.

Thirdly, it is machine production. Of course, human resources were used (for example, Colt invited the same E. Ruth, who was then considered one of the best mechanics in the country, to work as a manager), but automatic machines played the main role in production.

All these principles were a big novelty at that time, so guests and journalists often came to the plant just to admire the “giant iron monsters”.

Elizabeth - beloved wife of the inventor

Samuel's wife Elizabeth was the daughter of a priest, born in Connecticut in October 1826. They met Samuel Colt in 1851 in Rhode Island and married 5 years later. They had four children, but all died, some earlier, some later. When Samuel died, the plant was inherited by Elizabeth. She managed not only not to ruin her husband's enterprise, but also to achieve his successful work.

The company exists to this day, continuing to produce a wide range of high-end firearms. Thus, Colt was destined to become successful only in work, leaving no heir, except for the Colt revolver.

Gone but not forgotten

Samuel Colt died from complications related to gout. He became, without exaggeration, a legend: myths and fables are composed about him, he is remembered, and his compatriots are proud of him. This man holds the rank of colonel, although he did not serve a day in the army, he got it for his services and help to the state. They escorted Samuel Colt on his last journey with the whole city, along with the governor, the mayor and the 12th Infantry Regiment. They saw off according to his life lived - with a grandiose volley from the guns he made.

• Samuel Colt, whose photo, or rather a portrait, you see in the article, visited Russia three times and even presented a beautiful revolver to Nicholas I.
• He was expelled from school for trying to show his friends fireworks.
• His name sounds in one of the episodes of the series "Supernatural".
• In 2006 he was inducted into the US Inventors Hall of Fame.
• S. Colt was self-taught.

July 19, 1814 was born Samuel Colt(Samuel Colt). The legendary American engineer Samuel Colt is known for the inventor of the most famous individual small arms named after him, and for the proverb that says: "God created people big and small, but Colonel Colt evened their chances." This is where the mistake of the majority of the townsfolk lies, who believe that Mr. Colt was a military designer and even worked for the government (as our national pride is Mikhail Kalashnikov).

Russia threatened with weapons

In reality, the American army and police forces did not immediately receive the automatic pistol invented by Colt. For a long time, Samuel was mistaken for an eccentric who invents useless things that seemed like toys to others. He would have been considered an urban madman, but the guy was the son of the owner of a factory that produced fabrics. However, the rich offspring did not grow up as a barchuk, but from the age of 9 he worked hard at his father's enterprise, where he created his first four-barreled pistol, which fired four bullets simultaneously. A very heavy weapon with such strong recoil that when fired, it could cripple the shooter himself.

Samuel Colt was born July 19, 1814 in the town of Hartford (Connecticut). For his birthday, 4-year-old Samuel was given a bronze toy gun. The inquisitive kid stole a handful of gunpowder from his father's hunting horn and - with a terrible roar, enveloping the child in clouds of black smoke, exploded in his little hands. This was the first introduction to firearms, but not the last experiment of a novice pyrotechnician. At the age of 15, Samuel entered Amher University. Within the walls of the alma mater, the lad staged an experiment with a sea mine, which turned into a loud explosion and the same loud scandal. The student was expelled. The future creator of the legendary revolver was hired as a sailor on the merchant ship "Corvo". Watching the work of the capstan - a mechanism in the form of a large drum for choosing anchor or mooring ropes with sockets for a stopper - he was struck by the idea of ​​replacing the gun lock with a rotating drum. They say that Colt assembled the first wooden model of his revolver on board the ship.

It must be admitted that the very idea of ​​​​using a drum for a charge was not new, but it was Colt who first guessed to combine the work of the firing mechanism with the rotation of this drum, which led to the appearance of a capsule revolver. The ingenious invention not only made its way, but its inventor had enough penetration power just like his weapon. On February 25, 1836, 22-year-old Samuel Colt received a patent for his first revolver.

A year earlier, with the help of an uncle who was a businessman, he opened the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co and arms factory in Paterson, New Jersey. The first model of a 38 caliber revolver was called Colt Paterson. His 9 mm bullet from a distance of 20 yards (18.29 m) pierced 3 inch thick pine boards each (762 mm). All five charges could be fired in 5 seconds, and the walnut grip made the revolver easy to handle.

Even the famous Texas Rangers, who appreciated the advantages of a multi-shot revolver, could not save the father of the American pistol. A group of rangers led by Jack Hayes at the Pedernails River unexpectedly encountered the Indians. Having brought a large group of horsemen within firing range, the Texan boys fired several continuous volleys at them, which demoralized the Comanche attackers. After several similar episodes, when small groups of rangers utterly defeated large hordes of redskins, Colt's revolver began to proudly call "Texas".

However, the Colt product, which cost only $ 20, was sold in small quantities, and the US military department, having bought 100 pieces for trial, refused to further the deal, declaring this revolver "yesterday". Five years later, the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co was closed. The self-taught engineer had only two thousand bucks left in his pocket. Samuel Colt, commissioned by the US government, developed a sea mine with an electric fuse, and, together with his namesake Samuel Morse, launched the production of underwater telephone cables. It is not for nothing that it is said to whom the war is to whom the mother is dear! The war with Mexico showed the merits of the new weapon to the soldiers and officers of the US Army. In American-reconquered Texas, Jack Hayes formed a regiment of rangers and ordered a thousand revolvers for them - two for each brother! Another Texan, one Sam Walker, suggested that Colt make some changes to the design. The advice of an experienced campaigner helped create a new model of a revolver Colt Walker.

Since 1847, by order of the government, the industrial production of this type of firearms began. In 1848, near his native Hartford, Samuel Colt purchased a wasteland on which he built an arms factory, which is still in operation. Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, it can be said without stretch, armed all of America. Already in the first year, the plant produced up to 150 "barrels" per day. The Paterson enterprise switched to the production of expensive piece revolvers. The buyers of Colt's products were the cowboys of the Wild West and the nouveau riche from the East Coast, terrorists, bandits and revolutionaries.A personal letter of thanks to the inventor was sent by the fighter for the independence of Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The governor of Connecticut honored Colt with the rank of colonel for the fact that a well-known and wealthy businessman (his fortune was estimated at $ 15 million) supported him in the elections. Samuel Colt died on January 10, 1862 at the age of 47, having survived the Crimean War, the American Civil War between North and South and numerous skirmishes and clashes, one of the main characters in which was his brainchild spewing deadly lead.

Before Colt

The design of drum-loading small arms has been around long before the Colt, at least since the 17th century. But its first samples were not widely used due to the complexity of production and high cost. Reliability also left much to be desired. The revolution in the production of rapid-fire weapons became possible only with the spread of primer lock and machine production. In 1836, Samuel Colt proposed his model.

Texas Choice

Colt received a U.S. patent on February 25, 1836, and set up production in Paterson, New Jersey, where he created his first masterpiece, the Colt Paterson revolver, also known as the Texas Colt, due to its popularity among the rangers of the Wild West. The first revolvers, as well as rifles and carbines of a similar design, were acquired by the armies of the United States and the Republic of Texas. The standardization of parts made this weapon affordable and could be purchased for $20. But he still had flaws, in particular, army customers complained about "too much consumption of cartridges" - a consequence of the high rate of fire. The number of buyers decreased every year and in 1842 the company went bankrupt. The production of Colt revolvers resumed only in 1847. By this time, competitors had already appeared on the market for Samuel, with whom Colt entered into a difficult struggle for a buyer.

Caliber and marketing

Even before the bankruptcy, in 1842, a group of Russian officers visited the enterprise in Paterson and got acquainted with the sensational weapon. So the first official acquaintance of Russians with Colt products took place. Already by 1854, small-scale production of Colt revolvers was launched in Russia at three state-owned factories: in Tula, Izhevsk and Helsingfors. The following models dominated: "saddle pistol" (Dragoon), "belt pistol" (Navi), "five-shot pocket pistol with a 6-inch barrel" (Pocket). They were recognized by the military department as fit and useful. Contrary to popular belief, in the Russian Empire they were already used during the Crimean War, but not everywhere, except perhaps the guards naval crew and officers of the rifle regiment of the imperial family. Colts were not issued to ordinary soldiers, believing that they could not cope. But, as you know, the results of the Crimean War showed that the modernization of the army is necessary. So, starting from the 1850s and until the first half of the 20th century, when the Smith-Wesson and Nagant revolver came into fashion, Colts were used everywhere.

Legendary "Peacemaker"

The symbol of the Wild West, the Colt Peacemaker revolver is still produced in small batches. The model was created in 1873 specifically for the American cavalry and was called the "Colt single action army" (Single Action Revolver). The weapon acquired the famous nickname later, thanks to the availability and ease of use of the revolver, even for untrained shooters. Together with the famous "Winchester", the "Peacemaker", which fired similar cartridges, is one of the attributes of the "typical" cowboy, whose image has come down to us in numerous "westerns". By the way, despite the fact that the revolver was six-shot, they preferred to load it with only five cartridges - the design did not provide for a fuse, so the cartridge in the drum opposite the barrel could already be fatal for the owner.

most famous phrase

"God made people different, but Colonel Colt made them equal." According to legend, this inscription is carved on the tombstone of the famous gunsmith. In fact, there is nothing on it except the name and dates of life. The witty phrase appeared during the American Civil War and sounded like: "Abraham Lincoln gave people freedom, and Colonel Colt equalized their chances." True, Colt did not serve in the US Army and was not a colonel. He died in 1862 at the age of 47, one of the richest and most famous people in the United States. His fortune was estimated at 15 million dollars, which corresponds to half a billion in modern money. During the Civil War, his firm was the exclusive supplier of the US Army, which did not prevent it from selling weapons to the Confederate troops.

Present day

In 1848, near his birthplace in Hartford, Colt built a gun factory that is still in operation today, one of the largest in the industry. And the restored enterprise in Paterson switched to the production of small-scale, personalized and piece models. Dozens of revolvers and pistols were produced under the Colt brand, including such famous models as the Colt 1911 pistol, which was in service with the US Army of the 20th century, and the Colt Detective Special compact revolver, the "star" of detectives and films of the genre " Noir". In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the US Inventors Hall of Fame.

The Lord God created people strong and weak, tall and short, fat and thin, but Mr. Colt invented his gun and leveled their chances - From the advertisement of the gun.

If God created people and Lincoln freed them from slavery, then Colonel Samuel Colt made them truly equal - provided, of course, that each of the equality seekers had a 45th or at least 36th toy at hand in time. caliber.

Desire is the beginning of passion, and passion is the beginning of all beginnings!

Samuel Colt was born July 19, 1814 in the town of Hartford, in the family of the owner of a textile factory, Christopher Colt. When the boy was four years old, one of his relatives gave him a bronze toy pistol for his birthday.

This was ahead of his future fate.

The next day the boy stole a pack of gunpowder from his father and began to experiment. It's not hard to guess how it ended. There was just a small explosion in the house. Thank God, there were no injuries, severe fright and fire. However, this did not discourage little Sammy from engaging in machines, mechanisms and ... pistols!

Exactly ten years later, secretly from everyone, he personally designed and manufactured at his father's factory, in a repair shop, a four-barreled pistol that fired simultaneously from all four barrels. What happened next, history is silent, but, apparently, the tests passed ... not very successfully. Throwing this "stupid idea", in the sense of shooting simultaneously from four barrels, he still "did not get sick" with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bcreating a perfect, ideal pistol. And so, when, at the age of 17, Samuel blew up a raft with gunpowder on the lake, leading electric wires to it and blowing up the gunpowder with a spark from a battery he made himself. However, as a result of a mistake, the explosion of a mine brought down a huge stream of water on the assembled audience. He was saved from the crowd by a tall young man, a meeting with whom determined Colt's life path. It turned out to be the mechanic Elisha Ruth, the future designer and organizer of the Kolt production.

The father, after this incident, apparently fearing for his factory, quickly sent the boy away from his native city. To study. To university.

Sam had trouble with his studies, and after a while in the university laboratory ... an explosion thundered. Who was the reason, it was not difficult to guess!

Afraid to appear home after such a shame, Samuel got a job as a sailor on the merchant ship Corvo. It was while sailing on this ship that he came up with his first drum revolver design, which then became the prototype of all revolver designs around the world. Observing the work of the ship's mechanisms, he drew attention to two of them: the steering wheel with fixation after each turn and the mechanism for raising the anchor chain, which rotated only in one direction. Based on the principles of operation of these mechanisms, Colt created the first, then still wooden model of a rotating drum with fixation, the basis for the design of any drum revolver. Spitting on overseas countries and delighted with his great discovery, he spent several months to create a prototype of the world's first revolver. This significant event happened in 1835. And although neither friends nor gunsmiths believed that "this thing could shoot," Samuel Colt patented his invention in America, England and France. In the patent application, Colt pointed out the main difference between his system: the central ignition of the charge and a cylindrical bullet (before that, bullets from pistols and revolvers were spherical).

It was this patent application that determined the rest of Samuel's life.

Having received an American patent for his first revolver on February 25, 1836 (in France he received a patent a year earlier), 22-year-old Samuel Colt, then borrowed money from his wealthy businessman uncle and, having registered the Patent Arms Manufacturing Co, opened a gun shop in the city of Patterson. Here the first working sample of a revolver appeared - "Colt Paterson".

The main advantage of the Colt Paterson revolver was, unlike other pistols of that time, that it allowed for quick shooting and confronting several opponents alone.

And yet, despite the positive reviews, the Colt company was slowly but surely going to ruin. Purchasing batches of revolvers did not exceed 100 pieces. As a result, the workshop, which had already grown into a small factory, was closed in Paterson, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to somehow stay afloat, Colt went on a tour of the United States with his popular science show with nitrous oxide, while simultaneously trading in waterproof ammunition and those very underwater mines with an electric fuse, the prototype of which he tested at the age of 14. For mines, he, without any hope, filed a patent, which, a few years later, brought him millions of dollars.

This continued until one of the officers of the Texas Ranger Corps, Captain Samuel Walker, praising the excellent fighting qualities of the new revolver, knocked out a government order for 1000 revolvers for the Texas Expeditionary Force.

The reason for this was the successful outcome of the battle of his group of 16 people, armed with revolvers designed by Colt, with 80 Indians. At the same time, not a single person from the detachment was even injured !!! It was then that the Texas Rangers forever refuted the Indian philosophy: “Trunks are for suckers, knives are the choice of real warriors!”

Such combat episodes and reviews of the rangers simply could not be ignored by officials of the military department, and fueled the demand for Colt revolvers. Sales, and with it profits, began to grow rapidly. In 1846, when the war with Mexico began, the government urgently ordered Colt another thousand new, modified revolvers. At the same time, Captain Walker met with Colt and asked him to take him as an assistant. Colt and Walker create a new model of the Colt-Walker revolver, which marked the beginning of the industrial production of this type of weapon.

However, in order to fulfill this, at that time, huge government order, a new plant was needed, and Colt begged Eli Whitney (the son of the inventor of the cotton gin) to give production to his unused textile factory in Connecticut. It was there that the world's first weapons production on an industrial scale was launched. After the brand new revolvers entered service with the army, the name of Colt became known throughout America. Therefore, even after the end of hostilities with Mexico, government orders continued to flow like a river.

In 1852, Samuel Colt received a large government order for revolvers for naval officers.

That same year, he bought a piece of wasteland near his hometown of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. It cost a lot, even for Colt, money. But even more expenses were demanded by the newest weapons factory, equipped with the latest science and technology, which had been standing on this wasteland for more than three years. However, Colt did not lose here either! During the Civil War alone, the Colt company delivered hundreds of thousands of small arms, mostly revolvers, to government troops. All expenses paid off very quickly! In total, for a century and a half, the company manufactured at this plant more than 30 million revolvers, pistols and rifles with the branded engraving "Colt".

Colt was an innovative inventor not only in the field of weapons production. It was he who, for the first time in business, began to engage in marketing and advertising, organized targeted distribution of samples of his products.

In 1851, S. Colt entered the international market - not only weapons, but also labor, opening his first factory in England. At the same time, he systematized the development, design and production of various models of his revolvers and guns, using, wherever possible, the unification of parts.

When the opportunity arose, Colt divided production: in addition to the mass production of revolvers and shotguns, a line of expensive exclusive weapons was opened. These were works of weapon art, decorated with exquisite engraving and woodcarving. Exclusive samples of weapons from the Colt company were presented at the most prestigious exhibitions and auctions, presented as a gift to politicians and royalty: "Colts" were kept in the collections of Nicholas I and Alexander II, the Danish King Frederick VII and the Swedish Charles XV.

After the outbreak of the American Civil War, the health of the "gun king" deteriorated sharply. Samuel Colt died on January 10, 1862 in Hartford, at the age of 47.

The funeral of the colonel of the US Army was held at public expense - the guard of honor was part of the 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment, led by the governor, General Thomas Seymour. America said goodbye to Colt in a purely American way - with volleys of thousands of rifles and revolvers of his production - in a word, so, according to the local newspaper, "the cannonade was like on a battlefield."

The "great equalizer" left behind a fortune estimated at $15 million - simply unimaginable money at that time. Around that time, the state of Alaska was sold by Russia to the United States for about HALF OF THIS AMOUNT!

The management of the company passed to his widow Elisabeth, who managed not only to keep the brand of the company high, but also to lead it to further prosperity.

reference Information

Few people know that the world-famous, equal to God and Lincoln, Colonel Colt did not serve in the army for a single day! And yet, he was a real colonel! It’s just that he received his title already being a millionaire, for his support in the elections from the governor of Connecticut. That's how it happens!

And yet….

1. The first underwater mine; 2. the first drum revolver "Colt Paterson"; 3. the first cartridge revolver "Single Action Army", with the original nickname "Peacemaker", because where he fired, the world came well, very quickly; 4. the famous gangster machine «Tommy gun»;5. the legendary Colt 1191, which was in service with the US Army for more than 70 years (you heard right - seventy years, from 1911 to 1985!); 6. modern American assault rifle "M-16"; all these are "children" of the firm founded by Samuel Colt.

And yet, Colt's passion, what he considered the main achievement of his life, was precisely the revolver. And it is precisely as the inventor of the revolver that Samuel Colt is known all over the world.

Material from the encyclopedia

“Samuel Colt (1814-1862) - the inventor of the revolver, an American, fled from his father's house to India at a young age and during the journey made a wooden model of what later became known as the revolver. Returning, he studied chemistry, lectured on it in the United States and Canada, visited Europe in 1835 and took patents for his invention in London and Paris and founded a company for the production of revolvers, but in 1842 he went bankrupt; For 5 years in a row, revolvers were not made and became a rarity.

When the government ordered the inventor 1000 pieces, he had to make a new model, since it was impossible to find a copy previously made by the company anywhere. This order was the beginning of Colt's prosperity. He replaced a small workshop in Whitneyvilles with a large one in Getford, in 1852 he founded a huge trading post, doubled in 1861, on the shallows of the Connecticut River. From here, a huge mass of revolving mechanisms was annually sent to Russia and England.

Look, nothing is said here about underwater mines, nor about the Tommy gun, or the M-16. All this came later, after his death. And the lifetime monument to Colonel Colt was, in his personal opinion, an ordinary revolver!

Here they are, Colt revolvers, which became classics during the life of their creator.

1. Five-shot "Colt Paterson" model 1836. Caliber 0.36 in. (9 mm). The first pistol in the world, firstly, equipped with a fuse, and secondly, allowing rapid fire, firing back from several opponents. The rate of fire was achieved due to interchangeable drums, two of them came with the revolver and it was possible to buy as many more as you like.

2. "Dragoon" or "Big Colts", produced in three versions. Caliber 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), size - almost 40 cm! A sort of small repeating shotgun without a butt! Not everyone could accurately shoot from it - the weight of this "toy" was four pounds (over one and a half kilograms!).

3. "Colt - Navy" Model 1851, caliber 9 mm, designed for the navy, but was also popular on land. The features of this weapon were an octagonal drum (probably so that it would not roll when rolling) and the complete absence of a front sight! And why shoot accurately at sea?

4. Army "Colt" of the 1860 model, the main weapon of the war between the North and the South. Caliber - 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), but the weight is less than that of the "Dragoon" - only about a kilogram;

5. Upgraded "Colt-Navy". Model 1861. Produced in caliber 0.45 and 0.36 inches. He began his military career during the Civil War and remained popular until the Second World War.

The rest of the weapons "hits" of the Colt company were created by his followers after his death. And the Peacemaker revolver, and the Tommy gun, famous for the gangster "showdowns" of the Prohibition era, and the American M-16 assault rifle, which is in service in more than 20 countries around the world.

By the way, it was in Colt's shotguns that they first began to use a pump-action shotgun reloading scheme, in contrast to the "winchester" system, in which the shotgun is reloaded with a special bracket near the trigger. Then Winchester also tried to introduce it into his guns, but, after experimenting, he refused. These two systems have long been the strongest competitors in the American gun market. Colt won here too!

Today, the company, founded in 1847 by Samuel Colt, remains one of the world's leading manufacturers of firearms. Its model line extends from miniature ladies' pistols to heavy army machine guns, "shoulder" anti-aircraft weapons and other "lethal tools".