Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Factory

“ The Hartford armory is the largest and most complete in the world, in extent and perfection of machinery. All the articles needed with the revolver, such as the powder flask, balls, lubricator, bullet molds, cartridges, etc., are made here on a large scale. The establishment is a noble monument to the inventive genius and business capacity of its founder.
In addition to his inventions of fire-arms, Colonel Colt invented a submarine battery, which was thoroughly tested by the officers of the United States Navy, and is said to be one of the most formidable engines for harbor defense ever known. ”

“ The invention of printing by means of movable types is claimed for two men; the steam-engine had two or three inventors, and so had the system of electric telegraphy. A curious circumstance is that many things which have been considered new in our times were known to the ancients. Samuel Colt received a patent for the revolving pistol, when the same weapon had been made in Europe two or three centuries ago; and patents have been taken out for the invention of things that were afterward found in the ruins of Pompeii, where they had been buried for 1800 years. ”

“ This plant was the largest private armory in the world and far-and-away the best then existing for economical and accurate production of a high-grade output. Many rivals have sprung up in the past sixty years, but the Colt Armory is still one of the leading gun factories of the world.
Colonel Colt was a remarkable man, masterful, daring and brilliant. He started the larger industrial development of his city, and affected manufacturing methods more than any other man of his generation. ”

“ To pistols, rifles, and shotguns the company has added, from time to time, the manufacture of gun machinery, Gatling guns, printing-presses, portable steam-engines, and Colt automatic guns. Aside from the output of weapons and machinery, the Colt works have been of great value as an educating force in applied mechanics, and they have turned out many men who have founded large manufacturing establishments. The armory grounds now include two memorial buildings, the Church of the Good Shepherd, built in 1868 by Mrs. ”

“ The inventor disregarded these birds of ill omen, however, and, persevering in his efforts, finally succeeded in securing the aid of some capitalists in New York. A company was formed in 1835, called the "Patent Arms Company," with a capital of $300,000, and an armory was established at Paterson, New Jersey. Mr. Colt then endeavored to induce the Government of the United States to adopt the arm in the military and naval service. Strange as it now seems, however, the officers of the army and navy were not disposed to regard the revolver with favor. ”

“ The "Coolidge" and the "Collier" guns, both flint guns of comparatively modern manufacture, exhibited the same radical defects of liability to premature explosion.
The invention of Nock's patent breech, and the Rev. Mr. Forsyth's introduction of the detonating or percussion guns, which latter principle, with the necessary mechanical arrangements for the caps, was essential to the safe construction of repeating fire-arms, constituted a new era in these weapons. ”

“ The mechanical construction of Colt’s pistol is effected entirely by machinery, and on this account superiority is claimed for it; in my opinion, however, the boasted benefits of machinery have never yet been realised. The manufacture of guns without [418] machinery is difficult, but the entire use of it is unnecessary. Certain portions of pistol-making can never be done as they should be by machinery; and I have not yet been able to discover anything in Colt’s manufacture to make me advocate the use of machinery. ”

“ True, the winning of the war seemed to make the plant unnecessary, but, in view of the excellent location of the island for an arsenal, its position in juxtaposition to Pittsburgh, the great steel centre, and the work actually done and expenditures272 already made, it might be held that it would have been better to continue the work at least sufficiently to give the Government a small plant which could be expanded if need ever arose again, a nucleus for a great-gun factory in the event of another war. ”

“ The great automobile factories have expanded amazingly in order to meet the demand for shells, field-guns, and motor-trucks. Turin, as an officer smilingly remarked, "now consists of the Fiat factory and a few houses." The United States is not the only country to produce that strange breed known as munitions millionaires. ”

“ The absurdity of exploding gunpowder in a shell at the breech of a gun, and persisting in the advantage of it, is certainly tilting at a windmill. It will be asked how it is that Government do not adopt the patent breech in the musket? I answer, because of a want of science in the direction, and an imperfect system of experiments. In fact, they say they do not find any advantage from the patent breech in a musket: that the range is as great without it as with it. ”

“ Great mechanical skill, and even scientific principles, are to be found in some of the earliest productions after the invention of fire-arms; and thus is established the important fact, that want of experience was the chief drawback under which they laboured: one elaborate machine being unequal to their requirements was succeeded by another; and yet, with all these examples patent to us, we still fruitlessly fall back on exhausted principles. ”

“ Within a few years after the building of the Colt Armory, manufacturing at Hartford had taken a definite character. From that day to this it has centered almost wholly on high-grade products, such as guns, sewing machines, typewriters, bicycles, automobiles and machine tools. Naturally, during the past generation, the skilled mechanics of the city have attracted many new and important industries, only indirectly connected with the armory, which we cannot consider here.
In 1848 Christian Sharps invented his breech-loading rifle, and in 1851 a company was formed at Hartford to manufacture it. ”

“ The United States Government, though possessing only a very small standing army, had established at Springfield a small arms factory, where, by the use of machine tools specially designed to execute with the most unerring precision all the details of muskets and rifles, they were enabled to dispense with mere manual dexterity, and to produce arms to any amount. ”

“ The Colt automatic gun is an American invention whose automatic action is due to explosion of the charge, not to recoil. The force by which the motions of firing, extracting, and loading are performed is derived from the powder-gases, a portion of which—passing through a small vent in the muzzle—acts by means of a lever on the mechanism of the gun.
This is also in two parts: (a) barrel, attached to (b) breech-casing, in which gear for charging, firing, and ejecting is contained. ”

“ Colton will tell you that the Dorfield Steel Works will under no circumstances purchase the right to manufacture the Kauffman projectile—or any other article of munition—until it is approved and adopted by the War Department. That approval is not easily obtained, because the officials are crowded with business and a certain amount of red tape must be encountered. Experience has proved that the inventor is not the proper person to secure government endorsement; he labors under a natural disadvantage. ”

“ In a complete machine-gun program not only must the guns themselves be built, but they must be fully equipped with accessories, such as tripods, extra magazines, carts for carrying both guns and ammunition, feed belts of various types, belt-loading machines, observation and fire control instruments, and numerous other accessories the manufacture of which is absolutely essential but usually unseen by the public. ”

“ Inventions.—Certain disarmament advocates have ingenuous ideas with regard to new war inventions, and their "handing over" to the League. How can an invention be handed over? If every country informed the League of its new scientific war developments, those countries would still be aware of them. It is possible, commercially, to hand over any invention by assigning a patent, but this is of no use for war purposes. ”

“ The machine gun of the present day, the murderous weapon which has numbered its victims by the hundreds of thousands during the European war, had its origin in the mind of a man whose birth dates back to almost exactly one hundred years before this war began, that of Samuel Colt, born at Hartford, Conn., on July 19, 1814. ”

“ In 1898 a new type was introduced with a lateral swinging cylinder which permitted the simultaneous ejection of all the empty shells.
Near the time of the Spanish-American War appeared what is known as the Colt automatic gun, operated by the action of the powder gases on a piston and lever near the muzzle of the barrel. This could be fired at the rate of 400 to 500 shots a minute, and by reason of its light weight could be very easily carried. The British used it effectively in the Boer War. ”

“ The manufacturing tolerances had to be nicely adjusted between the different parts of each instrument, so that wherever less precise work would answer the purpose the production methods were arranged accordingly. Only by a careful coordination of design, factory operations, and field performance could quantity production of the desired quality be obtained in a short time. Speed of production meant everything if our troops in the field were to be equipped with the necessary fire-control apparatus and thus enabled to meet the enemy on even approximately equal terms. ”

“ Nobody wants to be told that he should put the powder into a cartridge-case before the shot, but to begin at the vibeginning would involve the necessity of giving that and other puerile information. Nobody would be the better for a learned chapter on gun actions. In the first place, these actions are no longer patents, they are open to anyone who likes to use them, and consequently the days when one selected a gun-maker because his patent action was conceived to be the better, are long gone by. ”

“ Rubber dress shields, lined, made thousands. It is said wooden shoepegs paid millions. "Truth is stranger than fiction."
Toy guns are pretty old, and mama had always been nervous over the arrows, caps, etc. I patented the harmless gun in 1883—had it fire a hollow rubber ball. I supplied the trade for twelve years, and then sold the patent for $1,200. The invention has paid in all probably $50,000, and the guns are for sale in the stores as usual. ”

“ The concrete example of this is the transformation of the plants of the Renault automobile works to the making of munitions. In one factory, formerly wholly concerned with the forging and fitting of motor machinery, 15,000 men and 4,000 women are now employed 24 hours of each day grinding and filling high-explosive shells. ”

“ Dean and Adams, in 1852, revived the old invention of the trigger-revolving cylinder, which has the advantage of only requiring one hand to fire, but which is immeasurably inferior where accuracy of aim is wanted. Mr. Tranter, in 1853, patented a new invention, which, by employing a double trigger, combines the advantages of Colt and avoids the drawbacks of Dean and Adams. By a side-wind he has also adapted that invaluable application of Colt's—a fixed lever ramrod. Many other patents are springing up daily, too numerous to mention, and too similar to admit of easy definition. ”

“ We are now building at the Washington gun factory an experimental 6-inch rapid-fire gun, different from the rapid-fire guns we have now in service, which are supplied with what is termed fixed ammunition. ”

“ In all guns of this description there is necessarily a lateral discharge between the receiver and the barrel, and this lateral discharge may endanger the ignition of the powder in the loaded chambers not in contact with the barrel; but the ignited matter, by coming into contact with the beveled edge as it crosses said chamber, is effectually reflected off, and does not enter them. The beveling of the end of the barrel is not a thing of importance, it being intended merely to prevent its scraping or cutting the ball in its passage from the chamber. ”

“ A building, let us say, in which workmen, with sleeves rolled up, are busily engaged in shovelling heaps of gunpowder. How many know that a firework factory consists of dozens of small buildings, the construction of which is exactly defined by law, separated by spaces also specified by law; that workmen may not roll up their sleeves in the danger buildings; or that the amount of gunpowder in each building is strictly limited to a small quantity? All of these restrictions being enforced with the view, of course, of limiting the effects of any explosion that may occur. ”

“ In support of this contention, reference is made to finding number 22, which contains these statements: 'The cost of manufacturing the extractor ejector now in use (since 1868) is $1.25 per gun less than the cost of manufacturing the Allin device. Several witnesses of high military position, experts in the practical use of arms of this description, and familiar with the cost of manufacturing, have testified to the great value of the extractor ejector device, claimed to be covered (and understood by them to be covered) by patent No. ”