Colt's Manufacturing Company
Colt is known for the engineering, production, and marketing of firearms, especially during the century from 1850 through World War I, when it dominated its industry and was a seminal influence on manufacturing technology.Eli Whitney Jr (born 1820), the son of the cotton-gin-developer patriarch, was the head of the family armory and a successful arms maker and innovator of the era.Colt ran his plant with a military-like discipline, he would fire workers for tardiness, sub-par work or even suggesting improvements to his designs.He organized a large display of his firearms at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park, London and ingratiated himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of the Ordnance.As the world's leading proponent of mass production techniques, Colt went on to deliver a lecture on the subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers in London.[16] Many English people saw Colt's advanced steam-powered machinery as proof of America's growing position as a leader in modern industrial production.[16] On a tour of the factory, Charles Dickens was so impressed with the facilities that he recorded his favorable comments of Colt's revolvers in an 1854 edition of Household Words.[17] Most significant, the Colt factory's machines mass-produced interchangeable parts that could be easily and cheaply put together on assembly lines using standardized patterns and gauges by unskilled labor as opposed to England's top gunmakers.[20] Colt's armories in Hartford were seminal training grounds for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists, who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century.[24] But the Colt's company itself was prevented by American laws from infringing the Rollin White patent and all along the 1850s and 1860s continued manufacturing percussion guns.Additionally, metallic cartridge revolvers were gaining in popularity, but Colt could not produce any because of the Rollin White patent held by rival Smith & Wesson.White and Smith & Wesson would take no less than $1.1 million, but Franklin and Colt's directors decided it was too large an investment on a patent that would expire in 1868.This revolver was one of the most prevalent firearms in the American West during the end of the 19th century and Colt still produces it, in six different calibers, two finishes and three barrel lengths.[47] The 1870s and 1880s provided sales opportunity to the Colt company via the spread of European-American society ever further westward across the continent, and the demand for firearms that it engendered in various ways.It became the first automatic machine gun adopted by the United States and saw limited use by the U.S. Marine Corps at the invasion of Guantánamo Bay and by the 1st Volunteer Infantry in the Santiago campaign during the Spanish–American War.In anticipation of this, company presidents William C. Skinner and Samuel M. Stone implemented a diversification program similar to that done at the close of the American Civil War.Colt weathered the financial crises of the time by cutting the work week, reducing salaries, and keeping more employees on the payroll than they needed.[52] The company had a workforce of 15,000 men and women in three factories and production ran on three shifts, 24 hours a day, and won the Army-Navy rating of "E" for excellence.[54] However, the company was losing money every year due to mismanagement, an embittered workforce that had been stretched to its limits, and manufacturing methods which were becoming obsolete.In September 1955 the board of directors voted to merge Colt with an upstart conglomerate called Penn-Texas, which had acquired Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool the same year.In 1956 Colt resumed production of the Single Action Army revolver and in 1961 began making commemorative versions of their classic models.The newsletter stated in part "In only 47 days, he wrote the specifications, designed the launcher, drew all the original prints, and had a working model built".Colt had long left innovation in civilian firearms to their competitors, feeling that the handgun business could survive on their traditional revolver and M1911 designs.[60] Some criticized Colt's range of handgun products in the late 1980s as out of touch with the demands of the market, and their once-vaunted reputation for quality had suffered during the UAW strike.Colt's stable of double-action revolvers and single-action pistols was seen as old-fashioned by a marketplace that was captivated by the new generation of "wondernines" – higher capacity handguns chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum, as typified by the Glock 17.Realizing that the future of the company was at stake, labor and management agreed to end the strike in an arrangement that resulted in Colt being sold to a group of private investors, the State of Connecticut, and the UAW itself.[64] In 1992, the creditors, state and shareholders enlisted the aid of turnaround specialist RC (Ron) Whitaker to overcome the bankruptcy challenge.[citation needed] During a 1998 The Washington Post interview, CEO Ron Stewart stated that he would favor a federal permit system with training and testing for gun ownership.[citation needed] The boycott of Colt gradually faded out after William M. Keys, a retired U.S. Marine Lt. General, took the helm of the company in 2002.[1] This formed a single company to develop, manufacture and sell firearms under the Colt name for all markets for the first time since the 2003 completion of the restructuring.
PrivateArms industrySamuel ColtHartford, ConnecticutFirearmsColt CZ Groupfirearms manufacturerWorld War Irevolversingle-shotColt WalkerEli Whitney Jr.Colt Single Action ArmyColt PythonM16 rifleColt CommandoM4 carbineColt DefenseWest Hartford, ConnecticutChapter 11bankruptcyČeská zbrojovka GroupColt First Model Ring Lever rifleColt Patersoninterchangeable partsreached commercial viabilityUnited States Marine CorpsUnited States ArmyMexican–American WarSamuel Hamilton WalkerarmoryEli WhitneyTexas RangersConnecticut RiverColt ArmoryArmsmearPotsdamosiersassembly lineGreat Exhibition of 1851Hyde Park, LondonInstitution of Civil EngineersTelford Gold MedalAmerican system of manufacturingRiver ThamesCharles DickensHousehold WordsAdmiraltyNavy Model Colt revolversBritish ArmyCrimean Warmachine toolsFrancis A. PrattAmos WhitneyPratt & Whitneytool buildingarmoriestoolmakersmachinistsHenry LelandBullardWorcester R. WarnerAmbrose SwaseyWarner & SwaseyRollin WhiteSmith & WessonSmith & Wesson Model 1Colt Army Model 1860American Civil Warsteam enginerheumatic feverElisha K. RootRichard JarvisWilliam B. FranklinCharles RichardsColt 1860 Army.44 ColtWilliam MasonCongressUlysses GrantNational Arms CompanyBrooklyn, New Yorkderringers.41 ShortColt House RevolverColt Open Top Pocket Model RevolverColt Model 1871-72 Open TopColt Single Action Army revolvers.44 rimfireUS Army.45 ColtAmerican WestNew LineDouble-action revolverColt M1877Colt M1878Indian TerritoryIndian WarsWalter ChryslerJack Blackopen carryOld WestColt M1889Colt M1892.38 Long ColtNew ServiceM1917 revolverGatling GunBattle of San Juan HillM1895 Colt–Browning machine guninvasion of Guantánamo Bay1st Volunteer InfantrySpanish–American WarElizabeth Jarvis ColtJohn Browningsemiautomatic pistolColt M1900United KingdomBrowningColt New ServiceJohn T. Thompsonstock market crash of 1929Great DepressionWilliam C. SkinnerSamuel M. Stonelabor union