1814-1862

American firearms manufacturer who popularized the revolver. His single-barreled pistols and rifles featured a cartridge cylinder rotated by cocking a hammer. In 1855, Colt built and maintained the world's largest private armory. Although his guns were not initially wellreceived, his pistols were the most widely used in the American Civil War. His Colt Industries plant took the manufacture of interchangeable parts and the assembly line further than any industrialist before him.