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COLT, SAMUEL (1814-1862)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 737 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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COLT, See also:SAMUEL (1814-1862) , See also:American inventor, was See also:born on the 19th of See also:July 1814 at See also:Hartford, See also:Connecticut, where his See also:father had a manufactory of silks and woollens. At the See also:age of ten he See also:left school for the factory, and at fourteen, then being in a boarding school at See also:Amherst, See also:Massachusetts, he made a runaway voyage to See also:India, during which (in 1829) he constructed a wooden See also:model, still existing, of what was afterwards to be the revolver (see See also:PISTOL). On his return he learned See also:chemistry from his father's See also:bleaching and See also:dyeing manager, and under the assumed name " Dr Coult " travelled over the See also:United States and See also:Canada lecturing on that See also:science. The profits of two years of this See also:work enabled him to continue his researches and experiments. In 1835, having perfected a six-barrelled rotating See also:breech, he visited See also:Europe, and patented his inventions in See also:London and See also:Paris, securing the American right on his return; and the same See also:year he founded at See also:Paterson, New See also:Jersey, the Patent Arms See also:Company, for the manufacture of his revolvers only. As See also:early as 1837 revolvers were successfully used by United States troops, under Lieut.-See also:Colonel See also:William S. Harney, in fighting against the See also:Seminole See also:Indians in See also:Florida. Colt's See also:scheme, however, did not succeed; the arms were not generally appreciated; and in 1842 the company became insolvent. No revolvers were made for five years, and none were to be had when See also:General Zachary See also:Taylor wrote for a See also:supply from the seat of See also:war in See also:Mexico. In 1847 the United States See also:government ordered moo from the inventor; but before these could be produced he had to construct a new model, for a pistol of the company's make could nowhere be found. This See also:commission was the beginning of an immense business. The little armoury at Whitneyville (New Haven, Connecticut), where the See also:order for Mexico was executed, was soon exchanged for larger workshops at Hartford.

These in their turn gave See also:

place (1852) to the enormous factory of the Colt's Patent See also:Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company, doubled in 1861, on the See also:banks of the Connecticut See also:river, within the See also:city limits of Hartford, where so many millions of revolvers with all their appendages have been manufactured. Thence was sent, for the See also:Russian and See also:English governments, to See also:Tula and See also:Enfield, the whole of the elaborate machinery devised by Colt for the manufacture of his pistols. Colt introduced and patented a number of improvements in his revolver, and also invented a submarine See also:battery for See also:harbour See also:defence. He died at Hartford on the loth of See also:January 1862. COLT'S-See also:FOOT, the popular name of a small See also:herb, Tussilago Farfara, a member of the natural order See also:Compositae, which is See also:common in See also:Britain in See also:damp, heavy soils. It has a stout branching underground See also:stem, which sends up in See also:March and See also:April scapes about 6 in. high, each bearing a See also:head of See also:bright yellow See also:flowers, the male in the centre surrounded by a much larger number of See also:female. The flowers are succeeded by the fruits, which See also:bear a soft See also:snow-See also:white woolly pappus. The leaves, which appear later, are broadly cordate with an angular or lobed outline, and are covered on the under-See also:face with a dense white See also:felt. The botanical name, Tussilago, recalls its use as a See also:medicine for cough (lussis). The leaves are smoked in cases of See also:asthma.

End of Article: COLT, SAMUEL (1814-1862)

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