Invention of the Day: Colt Revolver.

July 19, 1814 is the birthday of Samuel Colt, the inventor of the famous Colt Revolver.

It took 12 years for the Colt's invention to become a successful business,

Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War and seen first-hand their effective use as his 15-man unit defeated a larger force of 70 Comanche 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. He met Colt in a gunsmith's shop on January 4, 1847, and placed an order for 1,000 revolvers. Walker asked for a few changes; the new revolvers would have to hold 6-shots instead of 5, have enough power to kill either a man or a horse with a single shot and be quicker to reload. The large order allowed Colt to establish a new firearm business.

Colt used his two key patents, U.S. Patent 9430X and U.S. Patent 1,304, to sue a multitude of copycats who tried to take advantage of his invention.

Eventually, Colt's blindness to new ideas created innovation opportunities for others,

After Colt fired White for suggesting an improvement to his revolver, White took his idea to Colt's competitor, Smith & Wesson, who patented his invention and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years.

tags: invention, innovation, military, patent,